Well....if it were a boat.

My Marin San Rafael hybrid started falling apart after 6 months. Yesterday I visited REI and returned it for a full refund and 2 hrs later walked out the door with a Novara Randonee. I originally wanted a Cannondale T800 but with a 20% off coupon, the refund, and my dividend, spending $300 for this bike was a steal.
That and I threw a cyclocomputer on it.
My wife is lucky I did not walk out of there with the bike, a jersey, bib shorts, and more.

Keep in mind that I have only ridden MTBs and hybrids before this. Thus, making the Randonee my first drop handle bike. Heck, figuring out how to shift took me a minute. The drop handles will take a bit of getting used to. I ended up using the straight part of the handles most. Probably, due to the types of bikes I have ridden in the past.

I have determined that I can not estimate distance and\or speed. 35 miles from my house to my work was actually 30 miles. I thought I was hauling on my hybrid. However, the speed was probably more like 12 miles an hr.
When I hit 17 mph on the new bike I felt like I was flying. Then the 30mph I hit going down a hill.....egads.

One wonders how others manage to pull 20mph+ as their average speed. Guess I will blame it on my fully loaded panniers My average was an amazing 15mph. In a month this should be up quite a bit. Too much fiddling around with the bike on this commute.

Incidentally, would 45mm fenders look odd on a bike with 700X23 tires?