If you plan on climbing anything but a small hill and still want to ride long distance with more hills I suggest the compact and the 12-27. I have two bikes I use for brevets. One is a fuji mtb running a 28/38/48 triple and a 12-32 in the back. The other is a 16 speed roadbike running 52/39 and 11-34 on the back. I used to run 12-25 on that bike it made climbing zero fun. Too painful in the knees. In all honesty I almost never use my 53-11 and if I go on a 300km or longer ride I always ride the fuji. Great to have more gears than I need after 20 hours in the saddle.