Hello,

I'm looking for road bike advice.

I've been an on again off again avid cyclist for my whole life. The last 10 years I've had a Bridgestone mountain bike. That thing is a workhorse and has more miles on it then my car does. I've ridden 5 California Aids rides on it and much more. Don't really do off roading. Mostly on the road. That said.....

Now I want a road bike. I've been reading all the other posts and the info is good but it raises a lot of questions too.

I've been looking at the Specialized Sequoia and Sirus and Roubaix. The reason I am looking here is they say they are designed more upright like a mountain bike but light like a road bike. The website says they are designed for comfort on long rides.

I have a lot of aches and pains all the time but I ride anyhow. My biggest problem is my upper back. After a long ride or after several consecutive days of riding I have such severe pain between my shoulder blades that it feels like there is a knife jabbed in my back. So I think (although I'm not sure) I would not do well with a low back position.

I'm 5'6" and I think my legs are average but my torso is a bit on the long side so I tend to feel cramped in the upper body area on a lot of the bikes I ride. I have my seat pushed as far back as possible on the mountain bike.

I am wondering what type of components and what type of material you all recommend the bike be made out of if I plan on riding three or 4 times a week. I tend to do 50+ miles a day on the weekends if I have time. I also try to take yearly biking trips where the mileage is longer and you ride for 7 days in a row. My goal is to cycle all around the world (except Iraq and Nebraska). The Specialized bikes I am looking at have several different levels of the same model and I'm not sure what the difference is but presumably it's better components. I think the frames are the same though.

So if any of you have advice please send it along.

Thanks.