II've recently relocated and now I have a 12 mile commute instead of 6 mile commute. My hardtail MTB with road slicks was just fine before. I'm looking at getting a better road specific bike for a longer commute. I put a rear rack on my MTB and it made a world of difference on sweat level when I got to work. I would really like to get something like a CAAD 10 that I could jump into some races with, but I also want to be able to have a rear rack for the commute. I'm a little torn, i've been eyeing road bikes for a while and I was planning on keeping my current commuter, but now with a longer commute i'm wondering if I should lean more towards a touring style road bike.

I'm very interested in racing (and maybe tri's) but i'll definitely get more riding in if i'm commuting. I'm a father of a few small children and i'm finding the time for my hobbies is hard to find. so:

1- I know I like biking, and it will be hard to dedicate 4 hours every saturday to do rides without the family if I were training
2- Integrating my bike time into the commute is awesome
3- I like to go fast

Do I Just give up on the racing bike for now and get a solid touring bike? A lighter bike will definitely be quicker, but is it worth the back sweat? I don't really need to race to enjoy biking, what high quality bike should I look for?


I've had the time struggle for a while, my oldest is 5 now. I enjoy running and i've limited myself to half marathons so I don't spend too much time training so that I can spend more time with the family. I've always had the battle of wanting to do epic endurance races and family time. I've slowly been reducing the races I do, accepting that my priority is time with family.