I started road riding in my 20's - was an "A+" group ride guy, could ride with the Cat 4/5 people. Was only a roadie for 3/4 years at that point... and found myself quickly humbled by roadies that had 5/10+ years in the saddle, were Iron Man types, were regional road racers.,,
In my 50's now, started back on the road 4 years ago - working back up to the A group... and every so often I will get flat blown away by someone, just flat blown away... at this age, some roadies have 20++ years and 100k+ in the saddle. Ex racers, ex Iron Men... or just long time club riders...
You don't know the pedigree of the person blowing by you. And there is a huge performance gap between the recreational/5-6 hour per week person and the 15+ hour per week athelete.
And, as hard as it is to admit - there are athletes and there are regular people. The "athlete" group is a small subset of humans, people are just born with genetic advantages. I am not, nor will I ever be in that group.