In the 1980's, my first road bike post BMX, was a locally-made (South Africa at the time) Reynold's 531P racer, followed by a Vitus aluminium bike and then a Trek 2500 carbon in the early 90's. All raced. I preferred the carbon even back then for racing, I felt it provided the best compromise at the time of both the aluminium and steel bike advantages.
Now I have a 2019 Wilier Zero.6 lightweight carbon road bike with Sram Red eTap and Zipp 303 wheels - coming in at 6.1kg, it is my 'climbing bike' and is a joy to ride. Comfortable, fast to accelerate and great on steep climbs, of which, there are plenty in my area.
I have a 2019 KTM Scarp Sonic full suspension MTB with XTR for off-road and, at 9.2kg, it too is a relative lightweight - very nimble, very fast and has taken me to two decent race results so far.
In two weeks, I'll take delivery of a new 2020 Trek Madone SLR 6 which will be my first foray into the aero bike arena. Looking forward to it, I do think it will make some gains for me given I'll race it and I am a keen Strava segment PB chaser for training where every second here is competitive!