[QUOTE=10 Wheels;12941050]For speed get a road bike. That is what they are made for.
Something like theses.
And make sure it's yellow so you can pretend you're Thomas Voeckler
Riding in front of the Tour de France while changing his shirt.
If drop handlebars were inherently faster than flat bars, time trial bikes would have drop bars and not handlebars that are flat.
The guy who passed you is faster than you mostly because he's been riding more than 6 miles a day for a few weeks. On the other hand, your bike
is holding you back.
I believe road bikes are faster than hybrids, but rider position, frame geometry, and overall bike weight are what makes it so. Not the drop bars per say. A rider can achieve a very aerodynamic position with flat bars just by lowering them. On the other hand, drop bars allow the rider to change position, sit more upright sometimes to ease strain on back and neck, and get down in the drops sometimes to reduce drag. Overall, on longer rides, this ability to change positions will reduce fatigue resulting in faster overall speed.
A road bike would probably suit you better than a hybrid, but the cost is typically a lot more. Test ride both styles and think hard about the cost vs. benefit. If you just want to follow fast riders at a safe distance, you can do it on a hybrid. If you want to race for real, rules require the use of drop bars in mass start events, mostly for the safety of the riders.
The Sirrus you rode and the Trek you mentioned are good hybrid bikes. Many people start out on bikes like these and decide they really want a road bike. If this happens to you, you can keep the hybrid for transportion, (commuting, shopping, etc.), and buy a road bike with money from the sale of your car.