>>2058092not saying the aero isn't helping but one reason you could be going faster is that you have a pavlovian association between that specific sense of muscle activation from putting the extra load on your posterior chain by the more forward/down position, and pedaling hard. subconsciously you're like "oh, I'm going fast, so let's go fast". almost like a cute girl psyching herself up before a pole vault or something.
the true test is to get a power meter and do the same route at the same power in the drops and on the hoods, and look at the average speed. that tells you if your position is "more aero" to a significant degree. but that also ignores biomechanic efficiency for which you'd need one of those VO2max test setups in a lab. for some people being in the drops just doesn't work as well, they can't breathe as deep or they're spending all their energy holding an awkward posture. so more watts lost to air is worth the tradeoff.
the high saddle position you see in marketing literature is just to make the bike look faster, you're not actually supposed to ride like that. you should set up the saddle position first, in fact one trick to getting a good position is if you can lean forward to where the bars would be, but without actually touching. just hover hand it. if you can sustain that on a gentle climb, that's the right saddle position.
