Originally Posted by super-douper

Maybe I'm not slow, but it sure seemed like it last night.

last night i was in a hurry to get home but still wanted to get my heart rate up for a few mins, so I took the shorter long way home, 4 miles. I was turning onto a major road and had to stop for a roadie that was passing before I turned right to follow in the same direction. He looked like he was just cruising on a sunday afternoon ride. He certainly didn't look like he was goin fast, so I said to myself "Self, now you're going to have to pass this dude" So I began hammering so I could pass before the obstacles that were in the bike lane up ahead.

Well, me and my trusty old Fisher MTB were cruising along at around 25mph to try to catch this leisurly roadie. No dice. I wasn't even catching up. I shifted, 26mph, nothin....WTF?

I've never had a road bike, havn't ridden one either, but 25mph seems fast. I was pushing it, maxed out...and this dude looked like he was relaxing, letting the weight of his legs push the pedals.

It is possible that when he saw a jack-ass on a MTB with a rack trunk and airwalk shoes in his toeclips that he kicked it up a notch so as not to get passed or allow me to draft (I wouldn't draft anyway, I'd rather get the full workout).

I usually cruise at 19 - 20 mph on rides up to 30 miles, I thought that was decent. I know that road bikes are faster, especially if they're not carrying a full day's clothes and gear for work and tools (this dude was out on a rec ride, no bags or even tools that I could see), but I thought that I should be able to catch someone thats just cruising if I'm maxed out.

Am I slow? What the hell happened? Maybe my cyclocomputer is not calibrated correctly and I was really going 11mph, but i'm pretty sure it's correct.