Welcome-- I'm the person who emailed you about this site! Glad you checked it out.

So everybody's suggesting a "good bike shop," but how does a newbie know the difference between a good bike shop and a not-so-good bike shop. I just checked out two bike shops last month while I was visiting friends in New York, and the first one I went to had no idea what a touring bike is (they kept steering me to city bikes), while the second one knew all about touring bikes. Obviously, the second bike shop was a "good bike shop," but how would a newbie be able to tell the difference?