My observations:
Wednesday I rode with some guys who were recreational riders, combining a quick 10-miler with apre's bike beers. I was the only hard tail in the group of 8 or so. Did a lot of waiting for these guys on climbs, but they smoked me on the downhill.
On Sunday I went out for a "casual" ride with some racers. We did about 23 miles of mostly single track. Only two full suspensions with the racers, about 6 hard tails (two singlespeeds). Skill level and athleticism was way above the other group. (I got spanked thoroughly!).
Proves absolutely nothing, just my observation from last week. As I generally don't like having to do more maintenance than necessary, and I lock my bike outside the office. I am leaning at a hard tail for my next ride. But, will seriously look at the full-suspensions for the reasons Joe offered.