I think it would serve you needs nicely. Cross bikes have a more relaxed geometry than a traditional road bike. I'm assuming each way on your commute is 12.5 miles which is a nice number for getting the feel of the road bike style riding. Mechanical disk brakes might pose a problem or those racing the bike but for daily riding you will have plenty of reliable stopping power. With the cross bike you have options on tires to match the style of riding you'll be doing. The bike comes with Kenda 30's that will have some knobbys. With the 700 wheel you can put a 23 or 25 road tire on it and use the bike for longer rides including centuries. It's a 9 speed with 48/39 that may leave you looking for gears on really steep hills. I believe that you can get a smaller chain ring(36?) that will fit the 130 bolt spacing of the crank if you need climbing gears.