Says who? I am always trying to beat my best time for commuting in...it makes the ride a lot more interesting.

As far as tires (getting back on topic, that is): I have the stock tires that came on my Novara Randonee, which work quite well in wet and dry conditions. They are Vittoria Randonneur 700x32s. And rolling resistance is no problem when they are properly inflated. (As an interesting side note, when I increased the inflation from 45 to 70 psi the same route decreased in distance on my computer from 16.2 to 15.8 miles. I am guessing this is a result of the very slight increase in diameter. Fascinating stuff.)