New rider here...I need advice.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I've been talking to the people that I'll be riding with, and their advice is basically "get a road bike." This makes sense, as both of them will be riding road bikes and I don't think I want to completely wear myself out trying to keep up with them. On the other hand, I'm not sure I want to sink that kind of money into it just yet. (I don't know what I mean by "that kind of money", to be honest. Just that the low-end road bikes cost more than the FCR3.) That, and I have a feeling that the posture that road bikes put you in would kill my back and shoulders.
Thoughts?

Sounds like you need to go to a couple of bikes shops and test ride different kinds of bikes so you can start getting a feel of the differences.

[Owlie]

Sounds like you need to go to a couple of bikes shops and test ride different kinds of bikes so you can start getting a feel of the differences.

This will occur, once finals are done.