I have owned a trek 1000 for 2yrs and think that it was a excellent beg. road bike. Usually it is the LBS that will tell the components are crap so they can get more money from you but you get a lot of value for the price. This will give you the opportunity to find out whether you'll like road biking enough to want the more expensive bikes. I'm now looking to upgrade for next year as I enjoy doing century races.
The difference between the Trek 1000 and 1500 is not worth the price difference for a beg. in my opinion..