Just for kicks I got out Silver, my old faithful '05 Specialized Sequoia, and took her for a ride. This bike weighs probably about 19.5 lbs and has a triple and 700x25's. I jumped on her and away we went. I noticed that my av speed and cadence were the same on this bike as my '08 Roubaix, which weighs 17.5 lbs.

I then took her out for hill climbing today and I thought I'd have an easier time with a triple. Turns out I couldn't tell much, if any, difference in performance. Occasionally ghost shifting occurred on the triple. Aside from the better components on the compact double Roubaix, I didn't see a big difference in the performance of the two bikes.

So it's true--it's not about the bike.