I'm sorry to be a bit off topic, but... every time I see the header to this thread, I think:

"The bike matters one hundred percent! Without the bike you're just running!
Of course it does

Pretty unsuccessful day of bike browsing today. The first shop (Cannondale, Jamis, Kona) dealer didn't have any road bikes. The other shop (Cervelo, Scott, some others) didn't have any that interested me.

I test road a LaPierre S Lite 100, but at 46cm, it felt extremely small to me. Almost like riding a clown bike. And the weirdest part is it made my upper back hurt the worst. I thought that pain had been from reaching too far on my bike (people have said that I look really stretched out), but I'm confused now. The Felt yesterday didn't cause that upper back pain and the top tube was 5mm longer.

Maybe my current bike is fine? I could get a smaller stem (70mm would be the minimum that I'd be comfortable with, I think), lighter wheels, better components, and compact handlebars?

To be continued...