Thanks for the fitment tips Tim I will make sure to lower the seat and see if that helps with the feel.
ovoleg - I guess the main reason why I keep leaning towards the cross bike is that a lot of posts that I read about road bicycles give me the impression that they are somewhat more fragile than a cross bike. Some posts mentioned how you have to be careful when riding on grass, potholes, poor roads, etc and it makes me wonder if I really would know how to handle a road bike. I know these things all refer to the tires and getting flats or damaging the wheels...but is it really that fragile? The riverbeds sometimes have small potholes that are hard to see from a distance and also cracked pavement, glass, a small bit of dirt sections...