StephenH

Just remember, if you wreck, it'll be you sitting around in a cast for 6 weeks and not the people telling you to go faster.

People tend to have a natural fear of heights. If they work up high or take up rock climbing or skydiving or whatever, they get used to it, and it doesn't bother them anymore. But, that doesn't make it any safer either, and so periodically, you'll read about experienced ironworkers or skydivers or climbers that get killed doing it. It's kind of that way with riding fast. Do it enough and you'll get used to it, but that doesn't mean you should. And come to think of it, wasn't there a rider killed in a race earlier in the year in Europe in a high-speed wreck?

Anyway, ride good, ride at a speed that's comfortable for you, and if that's slower than everyone else, that's okay.

By the way, I use disk brakes, but they're not a perfect solution, either. There's still adjustment issues and all. As applied to your situation, the main thing I notice is that I can be riding around, and I normally hit both brakes together, but it may suddenly dawn on me that the front is doing 90% of the braking. A quick turn of the dial and I'm good again, but if I had just started down a long grade when I noticed that, it could get awkward.