Why are men faster on bikes?

[Bad JuJu]

My husband is stronger than I am, hands down, and on the bike, on a flat road or a hill, he's usually ahead of me. But riding into a headwind, I can leave him in the dust. Go figure....

[Dogmama]

Same reason men are better at running, better at basketball, football, volleyball, hockey, baseball, and pretty much every sport.

Absolutely.

Because we let them!

They're such crybabies.

[neuroticcyclist]

I too am faster than my husband. Lots of training, low body fat, years of use of my muscles, good core strength and large lung capacity have given me high v02 max.

I think, though, that there are behavioral differences between men and women (broad, sweeping generalization, I know) that result in men pushing themselves harder. I frequently do group rides with men who push themselves to the point of being out of breath (heart attack potential) trying to keep up with the stronger women (after all, it might be a fatal blow to the ego to be unable to keep up). Doesn't mean those guys are faster than the women in the group (even those a bit behind) but it does mean that they are willing to exert themselves in a way the women aren't. Do that often enough and you do build strength. As a result, when I train women for triathlons or distance cycling events, I try to push them ("keep up with me", "first up the hill" or hill training) to build strength, etc.