Well, my fast LD bike is a Softride
. But I have it set up for tri/TT so i don't use it for group rides or brevets. For those I use my old Vitus 979 aluminum - a racer that I've done nothing special to "comfortize".
I've never looked into the "distance" bike market although I do see quite a few from local builders (Dave Anderson, Chris Kvale, and I thought I saw a Bob Brown once) at the brevets.