If I am remembering correctly the Sutra is the top of the line touring bike made to be tough enough to take out in the way boonies - they actually called it an expedition bike. If I may be so bold - it may be a bit of overkill for kicking around on - especially if you plan to replace it soon, but if you can afford it, it is a beauty of a bike. If you plan to do some loaded touring it is a honey of a bike and should be able to take anything you want to put on it and any terrain you want to ride on. For tri's it will be a bit slower - heavier and made for stability over speed, but people do tri's on all sorts of bikes so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

If you really want a cross bike Kona makes the Jake the Snake which is actually less expensive than the Sutra (and the "lite" version Jake too). The plain Jake looks like it has eyelets for fenders/rack and comes with a triple. The Jake the Snake is set up for cross racing - better components and a double.