Well, let's see... I had an old, trusty, steel Gitane that I road a lot in the early to mid '80s
Loved that bike and I put a lot of miles on it but, like for you, things changed and I didn't ride anymore.
Fast forward 20 years and the bike is gathering cobwebs and taking up room I don't have.
So, I dumped the bike for fifty bucks.
Fast forward another 6 months and I get the bug again (with the enabling assist of the ever lovely Mrs S) and I'm back in the saddle of a great, new Gary Fisher hybrid.
Fast forward another year and I realize that -while the hybrid is nice. Really nice- the road is my one, try love so I buy a nice new aluminum bike. It is LIGHT YEARS better than the old Gitane ever was. Even had I started up again with an overhauled Gitane, the LeMond would still have been a given just because it is so much better a bike.
Fast forward another year -to now- and I get the carbon bug and it is to the LeMond what the LeMond was to the Gary Fisher
The moral of this shaggy dog story?
Get thee to the LBS and test a bunch of new bikes and then buy one of them.
Things are that much better now.