As a flat bar commuter who lives and dies by cat 6, I have a few tips for you OP.
If you can, downgrade your bike and add stupid pointless stuff to it like a flag or basket. Nobody likes being passed by an inferior bike, this is a surefire way to trigger a race. Eat the aero loss and extra weight, you don't care. Maybe ride a tandem solo
Hands off your handlebars. Your are out for a casual ride and not trying hard, once you start hammering you can get in your drops.
Lower your speed, if someone passes you, destroy them. varying your speed gets people overconfident and thinking they can hang with you.
When passing someone, compliment their pace and tell them it took a lot out of you to catch them, especially if they were slow. Lots of people are out for base miles, but you can mess up their recovery ride if you're savvy enough. Remember that its their fault for blowing themselves up chasing you.
Last edited by LarrySellerz; 07-02-21 at 09:47 AM.