Winter riding is no harder on bicycles than any other season. Snow, slush and ice, however can be pretty hard on a bike. In fact it isn't even winter yet, so i think winter should have little to do with your experience.
Also, it is important to point out that a $10,000 Madone will likely be uncomfortable the first time you ride it, if you haven't ridden it for a long while. So give any "new" bike a chance before you give up on it.
EXAMPLE: I had a rigid fork put on one of my mountain bikes over the summer. It is a bike that i use the most in the winter. I really "hated" the rigid fork, in particular i hated the geometry of the bike after the fork install. I was convinced that i was going to ditch the fork before winter.
Thing is, I really hadn't ridden the bike much. So I decided a month or so ago to give it a fair shake. Since then I've ridden it 5 or 6 hundred miles and am completely comfortable on the bike. In fact, i love it and have a hard time riding my other front suspended bike.