Hi!
Do note, once you log out, you still have a cookie that prohibits edge caching, I think ;-)
My browser, while reloading,
Don't hit "reload" button, thats what it does - reloads all assets.
bits.wikimedia.org then again and then again here and there.... needed time to reload a simple, very simple web page: 12 s.
What kind of connection do you have? On a simple eastern european dsl I get under 1s rendering times.
I guess, that if a plain html + css cached version (without any default js and perhaps with a single, included css section) of the page could be found, such a time would be much shorter.
Though indeed we could have some more work done for first-load performance, which you are measuring with 'reload', it may not be absolute priority, as no skin assets are loaded on any subsequent page views.
Domas