Oh I'd love to get back on my bike (I f'n love bikes) but the time just isn't available and something recently just has me irked about riding on busy roads. There's no paths or dedicated bike lanes where I am. My bike is classed as a hybrid (Giant FCR2) basically a relaxed geometry road bike with a flat bar, aluminum frame and carbon fork. I've done some work on it so the drive train is mostly 105 now, better pedals, a true flat bar that I cut down to be skinnier + horns for more hand positions. It works nice. The 28c slicks on it make more noise than the drive train... I love silent bikes! I do have a MTB (Giant XTC0 + some parts) that has never seen mud... actually has 1.5" slicks on it right now. Insert swear words here! LOL! Awesome fun for bombing around the subdivision and jumping off curbs but kind of a waste too.
I pushed hard for that 30km/h but i got passed a lot. Really makes me want to get a full on $2k+ road bike to see/feel what the difference is, but I won't because I don't have a place to ride it. FWIW the 30km/h is a rough guestimate, might be 29 or 28 for all i know. My computer is GPS so i might go back and see what I really did for curiosity sake. I remember though pushing to break 5 miles (no idea anymore why it was in miles) in my first 15 minutes which I usually did but not always. Past that I found the body calmed down and I could keep the same pace easier, usually my last 5 miles was a bit faster than my first.
FWIW I gotta say averaging 22km/h on a looong up hill and on something less than asphalt sounds impressive and outta my league!!!
Not sure where you live but in Toronto there are good bike trails throughout the city - for path/road as well as even Mtn Bike trails. You can get a bike route trail guide for the GTA, or use Map my ride, or ridewithgps, or a similar free service to look for uploaded routes. And if you get out early in morning you can ride straight down Yonge Street to the Lakefront, then go East or West - very good bike paths. I thought the 30 km/hr was a guesstimate. If you ride in the city you are doing well if you average over 25km/hr, in my experience - you need to get out of the city to find long enough stretches that you can get into a rhythm and faster pace. Having said that - there is lots of room in the City for sprint intervals. My dawn route is right up Yonge or Mt Pleasant to the Lake, then West to The mouth of the Humber (waterfront trail is good along this entire route), then back East. If I have time I’ll go up Cherry street to the beach and along the trail to the Leslie street Spit, turn north (on weekdays) or do the Spit (on weekends) which adds 10k - then west to the Beaches, back then home through the valley trail system. There is a great speed section along Lakeshore between Leslieville and the entrance to the beaches. You can go full sprint for almost a km.
If you do get back into cycling would highly recommend adding a powermeter (lots of choices now, and prices have dropped). For serious training, power is a much better indicator as it is more or less an absolute measurement. I rarely look at speed anymore when I’m riding - just try to target power output (Watts) if it’s a training ride. Heart rate is ok as a training measurement, but some days you just feel bagged so you might have a higher heart rate for a lower effort and think that you’re getting beneficial training - when in fact, you might need a rest day. Remember - it’s far better to train fewer days, effectively than a lot of days ineffectively.
