The Sutra is a nice bike, with a great name. It will take you where you need and want to go without any problems. It will certainly work for commuting (lock it up bigtime), longer rides, and the occasional triathlon. Why do you say that if you get this bike you will still need a performance bike? Remember, it's the rider who makes the most difference, not the bike (assuming the fit is right). Put Lance on a low end bike and he'll still beat most people on a custom carbon.

It's also a steel bike (chromoly), whereas the Jake is aluminum. You might want to ride the Jake to see how it compares.

I've found that I have different bikes for different uses, and they are not all top of the line by any means. My Luna is for longer road rides, and it's nicer than my abilities call for but I don't care. My Jamis Coda is for commuting and it has taken the place of a car in my life for the most part. My Dahon Matrix (a folding bike) is for winter commuting (with Metro involved), my mountain bikes are for offroading (but I don't do too much of that anymore at the moment), and my JC Higgins 3-speed is for getting groceries and looking at flowers in the neighborhood. I've accumulated these bikes over the years.