Personally, I think anything can be a rider properly assembled and maintained. When I was restoring bikes regularly years ago, my first step upon completion would be to take a new bike on a 30-40 mile ride to check it out. Remember, people once rode identical bikes in the Tour de France and other European stage races. At that time, the bikes were state of the art.

As far as wheels, if spokes and or rims are questionable you should rebuild. And new tires. Brakes should get new shoes, housings and cables. Of course, all the bearings should be cleaned and regreased and adjusted. The only other issue is the gearing given the route you're going to take. The old steel cranks typically had chainrings that were pretty close together, like 50/47. Quite a challenge unless you're Fausto Coppi!