Originally Posted by SnareSide

@Kawriverrat & @tyrion - thanks for the info on the dropbars. Very helpful info!
@AngeloDolce thanks for those notes. Very helpful as well.
@Slaninar Those resources were awesome. I did the sliding scale test which was very cool and I am currently reading through frame size information to get a foundation on sizes. Great resources.
@wphamilton Yes the uphill climb is a definite concern of mine. I am in decent shape and I'm looking forward to the challenge... but I also want to make sure I get a bike that's going to allow me to make the climb without having to get off and walk it. As I understand it, a bike with bigger rear cogs is going to have a lower gear which should make the uphill climb more doable. I will be looking into that for sure.
@Hub Spanner @spivonious leaning more toward getting the bike from a shop at this point for those exact reasons. Thanks for your advice on this. My initial concern was that I wouldn't be able to afford a new bike from a bike shop, but it sounds like there are some decent options out there for around $600 or so, which is perfect.
@Slaninar @Hermes1 I'm also now leaning toward the idea of getting a rack because I know I will be biking from home to the gym, then to work on some days. So I'm going to need to bring a gym bag with me on my commute.
@old's'cool yup it's going to be pretty much coasting all the way down with the exception of right by my house there's a small hill I have to climb. Other than that, it's pretty much all coasting.
@rmfnla yeah we get some gnarly winds out here too. Excited for the challenge though.

You guys have all be incredibly helpful. Thank you for your advice and feedback. I will keep you updated on the progress and of course post additional questions that I have.