I agree with you about the hills, I definitely live in a hilly area, at the base of the gunks. I generally like to spin more in the early season until I get enough base miles, the compact on the training bike will fit that bill perfect. I can run an 11/25 and not miss out on too much gearing I think.

I will keep in mind about the fit issue regarding cranks on the cx bike, my current crossbow has a shimano 600 crank on it, 53/39, and has no issues, but as I said before, I do have a narrower bb for the single chain-ring, to prevent too much wear when cross-chaining. Thanks.