My route goes through an industrial park for several miles. The "roadies" you see, most likely in central park are the guys who buy a $6500 bike only to tool around with it on weekends. Plus they ride pretty slow to and from the park. I've passed many a road biker on my way home on my mountain bike since my going home route takes me through prospect park.
I used to take my specialized hardrock with 100psi 1.5" semislicks to work. I keep my eyes off my front wheel and on the road and my surroundings. Now I find I have to be almost twice as vigilant about what's in front of me.
The Ti and carbon fork soaks up the road pretty well but it sure doesn't seem to soak up broken patches of pavement. There's one road I'm on, I can hold 25 and ride smoothly but there are 2 sections where the pavement's completely ripped up, I gotta show down to about 15 there whereas on my mtb, I used to just bomb through at 25.
The litespeed rides beautifully though, I'm beginning to even feel cheated. I had to work a lot harder on my mtb and I got a good workout before and after work.