tacomee, appreciate your bolstering my ego there, but I had a solidly mediocre performance overall, though I suppose not at all bad for someone who is, by definition, obese. Combine that with the extra-wide drops I use and I cheat wind about as well as a parachute, which only adds to the bizarreness of how fast this bike was downhill. Everyone was coasting already, so shifters had nothing to do with it. I've read that smaller wheels are said to be more aerodynamic, and that is my best guess as to why it happened. If so, it's certainly one more argument in favor of converting an MTB versus buying an American style 700c tourer, if it lets you shave away some of that wind resistance you pick up when you hang a couple of barn doors on each side of the bike.