Update:

So I got a chance to ride both the Trek and the Roam 1 - It was still drizzling so it was very brief. It was very hard for me to say which was better, they were both amazing and a huge leap over anything that I've ridden before. That being said, I felt more confidence on the Roam- I'm not sure why, but I felt that it would be better on the trails than the Trek. But both were fantastic, and I want to go out and test them a bit more on a dry day.

I also had a chance to go down to a performance bike shop here (a little far away, but a new one is actually opening right my by house in June) - and the salesman there was great! He showed me of ton of different types of bikes and took the time to explain everything. They don't have Trek or Giant bikes, but he showed me a GT Transeo 2.0.

2010 Transeo 2

It was a 2010 model on sale for 449.50 w/ tax (until next monday) - Based on the specs, do you think that this would be a good choice?