I will agree with others, test ride some road bikes.

Giant Defy and Fuji Sportif are two examples of what is often referred to as "relaxed" geometry....each maker has a "name" for that. The growing field of "gravel" bikes share some of those features too, and will run bigger tires. Another key word for less racy geometry is "endurance" geometry.

Saddle tilt front to back has a HUGE impact IMHO in how a bike feels....if it is nose down IMHO it feels like a lot more weight is on your hands because you your trying to shove yourself back onto the seat, so as you test ride look for that and ask them to help get that ....if you can ride 2-3 bikes at a good shop once they get the first one setup they can get the next bikes ready while your out riding.

Old school was that skinny tires, as skinny as 19mm were "fastest" but more and more real world data is showing lower tire pressure is faster, and you need a bigger wider tire to run lower pressure. If you can get strong enough to ride faster a wider tire starts to add wind drag but not if your at 14-16 mph average speed.

You will read and hear a lot about "race" geometry being more twitchy but I was surprised to see that with over 1000 miles on relaxed geometry race geometry did not feel that way at all....of course I'm not doing 50mph descents so maybe it shows up then :-)