I'm tired of all the commute-racing business. I ride slowly and sedately to work because I don't want to build up a sweat, yet I sometimes see folks going all-out just to pull ahead of me.

All this commute-racing business to me just illustrates guys (mostly) with inflated but fragile egos who are unwilling to really see what they're capable of. Commuting is not a race, and to get self-validation from "winning" a commute is ridiculous. You're just picking the lowest-hanging fruit and telling yourself that you're a better man for it. And this is coming from me - I'm self-admittedly uber-competitive, sometimes to a fault.

If you want to actually race, go ride with people who actually want to race - your local roadies. You'll either find out that you really are the next Lance Armstrong, or much more likely, humbled when you see your real standing amongst guys who actually race road bikes. I highly doubt that any commuter who has never raced a bike in a road race or a triathlon, would be able to even begin to keep up with a mid-level Cat3 road bike racer in in the first 3 minutes of a fast-paced ride.