Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 7,726
Likes: 4,191
From: Berkeley, CA
Bikes: 72 Cilo Pacer, 72 Gitane GT, 72 Peugeot PX10, 73 Speedwell Ti,l, 75 Peugeot PR-10L, 80 Colnago Super, 81 Zinn, 85 ALAN Cross, 85 De Rosa Pro, 86 Look 753, 86 Look KG86, 89 Parkpre Team, 90 Parkpre Team MTB, 90 Merlin
Once you get up to speed, there are a myriad of forces that conspire to slow you down. A body in motion stays motion only in a vacuum. Thus, you have to input energy to maintain a constant speed. Also, you may not be expending much energy on a descent, but you probably put in more effort on an ascent than a typical walker does during a three mile walk. Road cycling is not about maintaining a constant effort, it's more about the total energy output.
Cheating is a poor word choice here. So is uncorrect.