OK, I am just a year younger than you and I have totally switched from a triple to a compact. First, I had a custom Ti Guru frame built, very similar to your bike. I went with a compact, with a mountain rear cassette , giving me even lower gears that were on the triple I also had (it's an 11-34). There was not much of a learning curve, except that I had to stop thinking of the smaller ring as the "granny gear." I use it a lot more! Last fall I bought a new carbon bike and it also has a compact. But now, Shimano makes a road cassette that goes to a 32 cog, which is what I got. You need to be concerned about the gear ratios, not whether it is a triple or compact. Unless you are going to be doing very heavy loaded touring (which you probably wouldn't do with this bike), there is no need for a triple.