Flgirl, I weighed the "fitness road" against an entry-level road bike for a while. I ended up going with the road bike. Part of what tipped the balance was the thought that I'd be riding with DBF and another of our friends, both of whom have road bikes, and I didn't want to be left behind. The added bonus is that the drop bars spare my wrists--useful, because both of my other hobbies are a little hard on my hands.

If you want to ride distances, the road bike may be a better choice. I say "may" because I'm sure there are people who do long distances on flat bar road bikes. My wrists would probably start hurting after about 15 miles, but YMMV.

(I will say that at first, the fitness bike felt better; the road bike felt squirrelly until I got used to it.)