I gave in and got a road bike

I've been cycling since late summer of 20201. I started riding the greenways and multi-use paths near my home on a Trek Verve 1. I gradually began spending more time on the lower-traffic streets, and venturing out on longer rides, and switched to a secondhand Specialized Crosstrail in July 2024. My rides got longer and more serious, and I started wearing more spandex. In September 2024 I did my first properly long ride: the 40-mile circuit of the local cycling club's annual "All-You-Can-Eat" Century ride. I went back last year to tackle the 60-mile "metric century" route. And I've registered for that route again this year. Somewhere along the way, I changed from "someone who rides a bike sometimes" to a cyclist. And after putting over 3500 road miles on the Crosstrail I decided it was finally time to get an actual road bike. I went to my local bike shop a few weeks back to check out some options, and I wound up ordering a bike↗ since they didn't have what I wanted in quite the right…