As I age rather ungracefully, I find slower is so much better, or I seem to enjoy riding simply for the sake of riding, I don't have any ulterior goals as I did for so many years when I was racing. That had its own high and was quite compelling, but this feels more true to me.
I feel like Winnie the Pooh smelling things and noticing things, and, gosh, smiling... rather than being totally focused on the bike computer, HRM, and my rpm's.
Really, letting go of the need to be fast can be totally liberating!