I partially agree with you.

If you look at slowtwitch, Cancellara has never won a thing in his life, his P3C has - its practically zealotry the way they all preach at the altar of Vroomen and White over there.

However, i enjoy riding my race bike way more than my commuter/winter ride - shunning technololgy just because you can makes you a luddite.

If Lance/Eddy/Miguel/Insertanyprohere was on my DH bike and i was on my TCR i would cream them in a road race, no contest - not even close. All three of them would be putting out greater power than me, but they would be hating it and i would be having fun.

I dont NEED a massive HD telly, but i sure as hell want one.

Oh, and as for riding crappy equipment making you a damn strong rider, the pros all train on astronomically priced equipment, are you suggesting that riding cheap MTBs would make them faster - i really dont see you point here.