Thanks fbg! Today I went back to the LBS I started at in January and to my joyous surprise I found a female, who was also the manager!! She explained the +'s and -'s of Trek and Specialized for me. So she had me compare apples to apples on a Specialized (Myka) and a Trek (was one of the __00's). After doing that side by side I found the Specialized fit and handled better than the Trek! She told me that Trek makes a good bike but she felt, as does the store owner, that the Specialized is just a better bike overall...and I agree! I compared the Safire Comp and Elite and the multi adjustable front fork and the Shimano shifters on the Elite did it for me! The bike lists for 3100 but she quoted me 2800, as did another Specialized store I stopped at afterwards, which is local for me... Gonna go with the 1st store even though it's a hike for me to get there cause the latter store had zero good vibes!!

Finally, I can now focus on purchasing, getting fitted, and RIDING!!! I'll keep you posted on how things go!!