If you are even a little unsure on a bike, doing 30mph on a very light weight road bike will magnify your stiff, nervous and unsure riding 10 fold. It will come out in a wobble and you may feel unstable. I see this all the time with newer riders. They freeze up, get nervous and the fight the bike rather than flow with it.

I have an Orbea Carbon with compact gears. I think it's an 11-27. I can go super fast on it, but when it comes to hills, I sometimes wish for a lower (bigger cog in back) gear. I'm happy to have a compact for sure.

I also have a steel Bike Friday that weighs just a bit more than my Orbea. I could turn around backwards on that thing and it would still feel stable. But that's the point. Light road bikes are designed to JUMP when you even think about speeding up. Any twitch in your body will come through that frame because you don't have the weight to absorb it.

3 chain rings in the front will give you more choices and make the bike a wee bit heavier and your gearing a little more of a challenge.

Adding a larger cog in the back might be a better option. Especially if you are planning to ride a lot of hills. You may bottom out on the way down (run out of gears to shift to for more speed) but it's best to weigh what you need. For example - I only have 2 chain rings on the Bike Friday, but larger cogs in the back for uphill riding hauling gear. I bottom out on it often, but it's not my racing bike. ;-)

Denise