That's just the thing. I'd love a Rivendell... for riding. Slow riding, relatively fast riding, through rolling hills in the countryside, etc. But I don't race. If I did, I'm sure that Riv could build me a custom (if I wanted to wait for 2 years - their waiting list for custom frames is really that long, folks) that would perform well, but I'd probably go for an aluminum frame. Because it would be cheaper and would perform as well or better in terms of BB stiffness.

The annoying thing with Riv is that they don't distinguish between what you'd want in a bike purely for racing, versus riding centuries for scenery and some speed.

The annoying thing with most cyclists who don't race is that they still think they should be riding a bike designed purely for racing. Marketing is powerful.

My point being, Riv is making some inaccurate claims, but they're thinking about general regular riding when they're making them, even if they don't specify it. And they should specify it. But they're reacting against some pretty stupid stuff, too.