New Wheels (of the two-wheel kind)

Now, why a new bike as well?  I don't want to go into too many details here...lest people think I have a short fuse :).  Let's just say that after 4 tube changes last weekend,  the phrase "Your bike is not a shot put!" might have been uttered while out on the road.  It was time to abandon my 14 yo super-uncomfortable-on-bad-roads hybrid for something a little less bone-jarring and a little more reliable.  

My biggest quandary in this once-in-a-decade (or so) purchase process was road vs. hybrid.  It seemed to come down to three significant differences:  tire size; rider's stance and flat vs. drop bars.  Since I had never taken my old bike on any kind of non-paved trail, I assumed that I could probably go with road- size tires and get myself the speed/acceleration boost.  One of my main challenges was the more aggressive stance of road bikes given that I spend so much time navigating crazy car drivers and clueless pedestrians.   I found out that there were "road" bike models which had significantly less aggressive geometries more approaching that of a typical hybrid.  I tried a couple of these and convinced myself they were good enough for city street travel.   The other challenge was my lack of familiarity with drop bars.  I tested out "road" bikes with both drop bars and flat bars and I always felt more comfortable with flat bars:  I liked the wider stance of flat bars which I felt gave me better control.  But I had read over and over on the "interwebs" that drop bars were recommended for distance bikers because of the multitude of hand positions available.   I am usually cycling 30-40 miles or more at a time, so it seemed experts would tell me I should go with drops.  After narrowing down the choice to two all-carbon bikes, one with drop bars and the other with flat bars, I tested them side-by-side at least 3 different times.  I still felt more comfortable with the flat bars, but figured it was just a familiarity issue and in the end ended up with this Specialized Roubaix, all-carbon baby.  So far it has 100 miles on it, even with the crappy 4th weather and I think it was the right choice.