Note that the article you linked assumes 26-36 pounds is the bicycle and the rest is gear. The discussion above is only 60 pounds of gear. So the comparison is more like:
86-96 pounds vs 55-110 pounds. One range is narrower than the other but I wouldn't say 60 pounds of gear is "on the lighter side".
Most of the touring people I've run into run with 40 pounds on the back panniers and 30 pounds in the front panniers including handlebar bag, plus the tent, sleeping bag, and water; and their rear panniers are larger than mine, mine were the size of their front panniers! I talked to quite a few of these people at various campgrounds. I only run a panniers on the rear, and a handlebar bag, that's it, plus the tent, sleeping bag of course, and my camping chair, those three items get strapped on the outside on top of the panniers, some riders didn't take chairs, some did, I found the chair to be nice to relax in. So I don't think from what I've seen that 60 pounds is heavy for gear.
That's not to say there are ultralight tourers out there, I only ran into one guy doing it that way, his whole set up weighed about 35 pounds not including water and the bike. But his set up also cost about 4 times what most people spend on gear.
Then there's the expedition people that go out into desolate places, those guys will carry a lot more weight, at around 80 to 120 pounds in gear, The guys a long time ago that use to tour their stuff was even more heavier due to the lack of modern materials! I can't imagine pedaling around with that much weight, which is why I will never do an expedition type of trip!
I packed my panniers to see how much they weigh, with food too, since it's all prepackaged and I'm petty much loaded and ready to go next month, and each panner when balanced came out at 13.2 pounds each, the saddle bag is 2 pounds of stuff, the handlebar bag came in at just a hair under 10 pounds, the tent is around 5 pounds, (it's a two person tent because I wanted interior space to put stuff); the sleeping bag is about 2 pounds; and the chair about 1 1/4 pounds; and my Tenkara fishing rod including tube is 1 pound, not including water I have about 48 pounds rounding up some more. I do carry two 52 ounce bottles of water, along with 2-24 ounce bottles, and a 16 ounce bottle, all plastic, no stainless, so fluid weight is rounded up to 11 pounds. So with water I'm running 59 pounds, with the bike weight at 33, that's 92 pounds total.
If I'm willing to go to a store everyday I could carry less food, but I carry 3 days with me at any given time, try to buy food every 2nd day which seems about what I run into store wise, so the third day is for emergency, some people only carry 1 1/2 days worth of food.
Like I said, talking to others they're carrying a bit more due to the additional stuff in two front panniers I don't have, plus their rear bags are larger than mine. Most were running 70 liter Ortlieb rear panniers mine are 45s, and most were using 40 to 42 liter front bags, some had smaller 20s and 30s. Those liter capacity ratings are rated as a pair not each.
I think the weight I carry is under what most carry, without a doubt there are ultralight guys out there, but they are far and few between on the road, most of those guys are running off road.