I suppose if someone likes the idea riding at a challenging pace than that is certainly valid. Far from it for me to take someone else's riding to task.

Riding with an inexpensive computer is good. You get the max spd, avg spd, and trip dist. That is all good feedback. Just remember, conditions can have amazing effects on avg spd.

As to what to do to motivate yourself to bear down harder, I think that is very individual. Most people find music to be motivational. I find music to be distracting making me back off.