I'm two years into riding after 25 years. I'm 62 and not to sound like a jerk but I could go out today and buy a $6000 bike no problem. My primary bike is a 16 year old Cannondale Synapse 4 AL. This is a 3x9.
This summer I rode on about 15 weeknight club rides, these were 22-30 miles long and usually between 1600 to 2300 feet of climbing. It was great because it taught me a lot about group riding and I met a lot in nice people. The rides were mostly C+/B- skill level, so not really beginner as there were some rides that riders dropped out but not advanced either.
Each ride I found it was impossible for me to not look at what everyone was riding and make a mental comparison. I would say out of those 15 rides I had one of if not the least advanced bike in the field. Almost everyone was mounted on carbon fiber, disk brakes and many had compact gearing and quite a few e-shifting and tubeless tires.
The first few rides I was cautious and conservative not wanting to look foolish but not get dropped. By mid season I was the one that had to wait at the top of the hills for everyone else. I never got dropped and quite honestly always had a little something left in the tank at the end. I have concluded that while this is a hobby and as such we should do what we want with our hobby money and if that means buying high end bikes or upgrading what we have then by all means we should do it.
To the OP I really wouldn't worry about the components on your bike, what I would do is get the most you possibly can out of what you have. Looking over the specs it really isn't all that bad. That bike will get you into a state of fitness if you do your part.
I bought my bike used for $350 I haven't done any upgrades to it except the saddle, cables and will put on new tires in the spring but I have over 2000 miles on the ones that came with it. My money has gone into a Garmin Edge 530, Garmin Vector 3 PM/pedals, Wahoo speed cadence sensors, Bontrager shoes, Wahoo optical HRM, PI shorts (3 pairs) and a few other things. Add that all up it is way way way more than I spent on the actual bike. While I'm really happy with my bike performance and on track to ride 6000 miles this year, I'm far from being able to say with a straight face that my bike is holding me back.
My advice is ride the wheels off what you have, save up for something better but in my opinion it will take a few years to wear that bike out.
Last edited by Thomas15; 10-31-20 at 06:02 PM.