When I first began riding drop bars, had this funny feeling that it was not all that right, at least for me. But everyone was doing it and it was built for speed and it did chew up the miles. Even with straight bars, great gears, it never felt good when you actually wanted speed as the flat back was not going to happen and neither were the arms going down more than little lower.
Not sure how the sportive came about but a tweak to angle, the shorter bar and some fangdangled suspension and anti-vibration (not sure if all these do what they supposed to do) a whole new world came about. You did the usual speed demon thing when you had to, but you also raised your head to see the world around you when you saw something striking catch your eye. You could also ride across some interesting terrain without rattling your bones. And you cover lot more miles without your posture taking a more permanent curve.
And its all in the geometry.
Not sure how the sportive came about but a tweak to angle, the shorter bar and some fangdangled suspension and anti-vibration (not sure if all these do what they supposed to do) a whole new world came about. You did the usual speed demon thing when you had to, but you also raised your head to see the world around you when you saw something striking catch your eye. You could also ride across some interesting terrain without rattling your bones. And you cover lot more miles without your posture taking a more permanent curve.
And its all in the geometry.