When I first got my road bike, I went out to a park on the far side of town and rode the roads out there before riding in traffic.

My first ride on a real road, I was hauling - cruising at around 25 mph. I thought I was awesome, a natural. Then I turned around to come back. That's when I found out about the tail wind I'd had.

I was doing 8-10 on the way back. It was pretty miserable.