I "misread"? Right...You posted this in General Cycling Discussion, not Road Cycling or Road Racing. In your original post you mention "commuting, road racing, touring, and cyclocross." I don't know, maybe I'm just slow but I certainly didn't pick up on the fact that we were solely discussing road bikes for the purpose of racing. Or is that group rides? You seem to be flip flopping back and forth in between the two .throughout this thread in between talking about how much money you've spent on cycling gear, which I'm beginning to believe is the main reason you started this thread.

I started out cycling again, after not doing much since childhood and some short commuting and path riding in college, on a $700 road bike. For me, it was an awesome bike when I bought and still an ok bike 5 years later when I sold it to my dad. I did various club rides on it, some organized rides, and a few solo centuries including a 143 mile, one day ride to a friend's house for a BBQ. I lost close to 40 lbs. riding that bike too. I only sold it because it became redundant after purchasing another road bike and then a very road bike-like commuter. The price of the bike certainly never held me back. I out rode plenty of people on more expensive bikes and people on less expensive bikes out rode me too.