What I'm seeing here is pretty much what I've seen everywhere. 6 of one, half dozen of another. We've got serious hills/grades here and I like the idea of the 34/32 low gear of the Apex but the 105 is a saple of the bicycle industry.
Can't you just use 105 shifters with a mtb (deore xt etc.) rd and a mtb cassestte to get the same gears? Mtb stuff might not be cool, but it would give the best of both worlds.