Is it stock gearing??
I had the stock 13/42 on mine for a year or so. I took the highway from chicago to just into michigan (like an hour 15) and to me it felt fine. Recently I was doing 45 minuet, each way, highway commute for a week with my 13/48 and it definitely felt like I was pushing it too much and switched to a 1:15 side street route. As of now I usually hop on to the highway for 6 miles to work and it feels just fine.