Originally Posted by agarose2000

I'm primarily a triguy but spend 80% of my bike time with pure road cyclists most of whom race, and 20% with myself or trifolks. I've never had any problems with group riding, and I've done a lot of group rides in NorCal / SoCal, some of which are on the faster side. (Simi Ride, Spectrum Ride, Palo Alto Noon Ride, etc.)

In terms of seeing why being smoother might make you accelerate slower or reach a slower top speed, I look at pro sprinters at the end of a flat stage going for the finish, or even at climbers making an important break where they really want to power away. They're usually out of the saddle, and the sprinters have their bikes waving to and fro. Of course they're holding a great straight line since they're pros, but that doesn't look anything like what you do on rollers. Even the climbers in breakaway mode don't look like roller riders as they get out of the saddle and crank away.

If I saw someone looking as smooth as a roller rider in a critical final closely matched sprint (or even breakway), I'd wonder if they didn't go hard enough.