You're not missing out on anything if you're not racing it. I can't say that I would want to ride my road bike with handlebars way up though (mine's a classic, traditional type road bike too). That's got to really mess up the fine handling that would have been built into this frame (and going out on a limb, I would think the bike would become a bit unstable), and also put almost all of your weight on your butt. Hopefully, you won't be riding very far. Any reason why you can't ride it with handlebars level with the saddle? I know that when I started riding more after a layoff due to illness, I had to let my body get used to the lower handlebars. It just feels unnatural at first.