Lol, I commuted in on it today which was a blast pacing alongside 20 MHP traffic in a school zone. It's a rather short commute, with about 10 lbs. in my backpack. Didn't seem to be too bad.
I have my dedicated commuter still, an All-Araya vintage steel beast and sold my Karate Monkey. That was why I was looking to buy the 29er, because the group I know around here does singletrack riding on Thursday evenings. The "decision" was made for me when my wife picked up one extra class on Thursday evenings, meaning I have zero dirt time now.
So I'll train on this, continue as weather permits between it and my Araya and build up speed and strength again.
There are no less than 3 good 60+ mile rides coming up, plus 2 tris that I'm considering so I figure I get the most bang for my buck here.
I have a LHT frame that I'm going to build up, but I wanted such a specific build out of it that I refused to buy another complete at this point. So there it sits, hanging on my living room wall like art. Pisses off the in-laws when they come down to see bikes everywhere, including on the wall
I went with the CAAD because it gave me a bit of wiggle room financially to pick up my 9 year old his first Specialized Hardrock (he got a 4.0 GPA and is really doing well in school).