thanks for the welcome. I'm in so cal, and the weather was PERFECT today, hovered around 80 degrees
I'll most likely look at joining some of the local rides to start off with, and work up from there. Also trying to get some of my friends to buy bikes as well haha.
And about flipping the stem, I was in between a 54 and 56, ended up going with the 54. However, I do feel like I need some more stretch, so I may end up flipping it to see how it will feel. Or I may just wait for my fitting and let the results of that decide.