When I was a kid on my 70s 531 Trek, if I could see them ahead of me I could pass them.
Nowdays most of the people I see are passing me. A couple of years ago I rode the Dairyland Dare; right from the get-go everyone was pushing hard. It took a lot of discipline and lack of guts on my part to ride slower than the rest
but I was really only trying to finish. I was so slow in that race it seemed like there really only were 3 or 4 people I passed that actually stayed behind me. Later I found out that I came in 3rd in my age group. I honestly don't want to be that old and slow but that's how it goes... at least I'm still riding.
These days I ride an expensive machine with a custom stainless frame. It does seem faster than some of my earlier rides, but in this case I didn't get it to be fast so much as comfortable. I figure that if I'm on it a long time the comfort will translate to faster further down the road... How's that for backwards thinking?