Do I have the ribcage clearance though?
At 6’8” tall, you do have rib cage clearance
I definitely feel this disparity too. I am a completely different cyclist going uphill than on a flat road. This probably means I need to train the flats more but I just really love going uphill! 
That’s always a good shout. Power over the top to open up a gap.
I am personally very excited about the prospect of a gravel bike with 32" wheels. It’s proportional to the 2XL frames I ride.
Long cranks might help too. I really like to push big gears - I’m on a loaned Aeroad for road racing just now and it’s got the standard issue 48/35 chainset up front (10-33 on the back) and the lack of high gears is really irritating. I find myself in top gear almost all the time over 50kph, which obviously is quite often on an aero bike in aero kit.
I think that there is also a conflict on the flat between what is most powerful and what is fastest. Holding an aero position saves you something like 50w at 40kph, but then it also reduces your effective FTP by 30w or more. Balancing that is tough.
On a climb though, you don’t really have to think much about being aero. It’s just you versus the hill and how much power can you put out. There are of course aero considerations below 5-6% though.
They equipped you with a compact crankset? 
Pretty sure those are good for people with half your FTP.
Even I run a 52 big ring.
48x10 is bigger than anything Eddy Merckx ever had on the road, IIRC.
Haha! I know! 
I have to admit that it’s one think I really like on the gravel bike - the 50x10 big gear, plus the larger rear tyre means I can just crank happily at 60kph.
I just don’t have a high cadence. If you saw the size of me, you’d understand why!
I agree with all of that.
I think that personally I’d sit up on steeper hills so that I can open my lungs up more, but that’s just my placebo telling me what to do
Not sure if it’s been mentioned, and this is 100% my opinion so remember that.
You are less of a cyclist if you wear headphones of any kind. And I instantly lose respect for you. If you want or need headphones, stay inside and ride on Zwift. At best they’re annoying for other, at worst they’re dangerous. And I will die on this hill. Headphones don’t belong on the open roads.
I’m maybe not quite as dogmatic as you on the topic, but I do agree.
I once rode with headphones when I was 20 (22 years ago). Just once. I got hit by a car at a junction. It wasn’t my fault, but it wouldn’t have happened had I not had headphones in.
Obviously not everyone can hear (and I wouldn’t discriminate against the hearing impaired in any way), but if you are able to hear, you should be able to hear when cycling. Cutting off one of your senses is daft.
I think this will win as the worst opinion in this thread.
To pass a single cyclist safely you have to cross the center line no matter what. Riding side by side reduces the chances that someone will try to squeeze through without crossing the center line which is way more dangerous for the cyclist.
+1
Depends on the road. There is nuance here and people struggle with things that aren’t black and white. It’s certainly good practice to take good portion of the lane (whether riding single or double) if wanting to discourage a driver from passing without crossing the center line. But if the lane is wide enough and/or has a nice shoulder with plenty of room for a car to pass without crossing the center line, you are absolutely going to piss off drivers if you double up taking the lane (whether it’s your right or not). And there are additional nuances as well around the size of the group, how far up the road the driver can see, etc. Bottom line, we should all make our best effort to keep traffic moving smoothly on the road IMO. Even when what we are doing is legal and consider “best practice”, it can be the wrong thing if it’s enraging drivers (which often results in rash/dangerous reactions). I’m not for giving drivers a free pass for being idiots, but I’d rather be safe/alive than try to force my will and educate someone when they are in a hurry out on the open road.
One of my biggest pet peeves is cyclists who will have a line of 20+ cars behind them for an extended time on a road where passing is impossible. Just find a place to pull off for a minute and let folks pass. Whether you are on a bike or driving a truck pulling a trailer up a steep grade in the mountains, just pull over for a minute when convenient if you are holding up traffic. It’s just being a decent human being. IMO, too many cyclist take pleasure in flexing their right to take the entire road to the point that it builds animosity towards all cyclists.
100% agree with all of this! there is always relevant context and nuanced situations to consider. Just didn’t have it in me to try to drum up examples of every possible eventuality to try to educate someone who already thinks it’s cool to “scare the shit” out of cyclists with his horn when driving his truck 
But I’m glad you did take the time because your post is spot on 
Besides being a dick move and dangerous, it’s also illegal. What @grwoolf said about nuance definitely applies, but maybe operate your 40t vehicle safely even if other road users are being inconsiderate.
Absolutely.
And sometimes there are reasons for riders to “appear” to be ‘hogging’ the road. Glass and other debris in the shoulders, crosswinds, etc.
And as much as it’s true that there are some fkng entitled riders out there a lot of the time there are reasons for that cyclist taking that line that the driver could not possibly know about from within their cozy temperature controlled cocoon armed with a horn and to get angry and honk thinking you’re teaching someone a lesson is ignorant and reckless and bullying behavior and that is about as mildly as I can put it.
It is not stupid ,its dangerous…people are getting killed only because they chatted with their cycling buddies next to each other. Its easy to say that is Stupid, because you have great wide roads in US /i presume you are american or canadian/. No shoulders next to the lanes in my country. What is average road in US is considered highway in eastern europe. I spent 3 years in US, some road maryland between OC and Salisbury had 4 lanes, thats a highway here. My close friend almost got killed because of situation like this. Climbing next to other cyclists on narrow main road. Almost got killed by hauling truck.
Thats dangerous behavior of us cyclists, it is easy to say that i am wrong without you having lived where i do and actually road/drive on the main roads. Glad you have shoulders beside the lanes. I should have edited my comment to give more detailed view of roads here, not to trigger such comments. Its my mistake.