New at Tri Training...Discouraged about bike :(

[VeloVT]

I am 5 4 and the bike I have now is smallish--43 cm, so I might benefit from wsd, and that is more money.

I don't know ANYTHING about how hybrids are sized, but that sounds small -- my gut feeling is that you'd take a bigger size in a road bike, and that at 5'4", you'd have a choice between WSD or non-WSD. I'm 5'6", and do OK with standard (non-wsd) bikes. I have a 54 cm bike that's a hair too large (but still quite rideable) and a 52 that's perfect (but less aero !), just for reference (they have pretty different geometry though, so it's not as straightforward as the one simply being "a size smaller" than the other). Of course you'll just have to try as many bikes as possible to see what fits you best. Tough medicine .

On gears: I don't know the terminology, but on a 21 speed I am riding most in 1 on the left and on the right I have it on 4-5 on flats and 1-2 for the hills.

When you say "1", do you mean the largest or the smallest chainring?