The hurt you inflict on yourself in a hard effort is different than the hurt caused by a harsh or poorly fitted bike. I had a Cervelo Soloist that was pretty harsh. It was an awesome crit bike: super quick handling and so stiff it felt like every watt was directed into road. The problem was that it just beat the crap out of me on rides longer than 90 minutes, especially on the rural roads where we have road races out here. When you're all beat to hell, it's harder to do high quality work outs that build the engine during training, or to find those matches at the end of a race.

That is precisely what brought me back. Increased comfort, coupled with increased speed. And many older riders have the disposable income to afford nice bikes. Cheaper than classic sports cars, and as another said, hookers and blow.

I don’t have a problem staying away from the hookersand blow, but the cars are a different story.