Well said!!!

Welcome back to riding... I feel the same way about bicycle technology. I rode an old freebie Schwinn Alum Comp Mtb bike for a quite a few years, but always yearned for a road bike. STI's (Brifters(?)) really boggled my mind when I first saw them at a LBS. I saw bikes that were so light, I could almost pick one up with a bent pinky finger. Most alarming, I saw bikes that cost more than quadruple the mortgage payment of my house!

So....long story short, I searched both Ebay and Craigslist and stumbled upon an absolute mint condition, "garage queen bike", that was used my a local college kid. Once the kid graduated college, he put the bike on CL, and I snatched it up quickly. Old classic & vintage, 70's and 80's bikes are still out there and are still ridable. Nothing wrong with them. Most LBS's look at them as "old school" but in a good way and have no problems at all tweaking/upgrading them for you.

Like others have said, get out and ride! It doesn't matter what you're riding, as long as you ride!