I am really, really curious to see what difference a road bike will make, though.
The biggest difference a road bike makes is the weight and road/tyre resistence
I have a compact crank set on my EMC2 as I didn't want "granny gears" and that gives me all the benefits of the low gears without having three chain rings.
Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow".