Last weekend I did the track tour. Duncan>Victoria>Vancouver with a loaded backpack. Two ferry rides and a metric century later I was home.

81 gear inches fixed. Any ride is what you make of it. I think riding a bike with gears is something you use for going over long mountain passes. Look at where you want to go and what the terrain is. If you will go (loaded) over a 1000ft differential summit take a bike with gears. Example: Start at 2000 ft and the summit is 3000ft. Start at sea level and peak at 1000ft. Unloaded? I'd tackle that on a ss/fg with less than 75 GI.

Either way, the easy route is derailleur>ss>fg