....the gearing issue is another topic, and one you'll have to look into (although, be prepared for all store empolyees to tell you that "sure, the gearing is really low on this bike, you'll be able to tour on it Nooooo problemmmm")
It's been my experience... Granted I live and mostly ride in an area with sh!#y terrain and am old as well so low gearing is always a priority to me. The classic was when I was in a local shop looking at the new Sequoia Expert and bemoaning the gearing, he was selling hard, to be fair I was just wasting time while the wife was next door, but I told him if I did purchase it I'd have to change the gearing right off the bat as it wasn't low enough for me. He gave me a smug, "I can easily climb Canton Avenue on this bike", comment... I can only guess the local shops push the gearing because it would be bad business to denigrate the products they sell. FWIW, I deal with a 1460' elevation gain the last two miles of my daily commute and have a Sugino Compact plus 48/30 front double coupled with an 11-36 rear cassette and wish for lower. However, I'm hesitant to go lower than 48 or 46 on the front as I enjoy downhills as much as I dislike going up hills.
Canton Avenue for those who don't know this town...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_Avenue
However there are guys around here that can handle the hills with road doubles, I'm not one of them!