I have read almost nothing about ridley's, but i thought like, cannondale's they were built with stiffness and efficiency in mind? That said cannondale probably make some of the best aluminium frames. As for carbon, i really like my cannondale synapse, it might be something to consider, it has stock options for cannondale carbon compact cranks. I have a hard time thinking of the R3 as a more comfortable bike, but CSC used it over the soloist for paris roubaix so..... Apparantly the super thin seat stays work the comfort magic, but it's still a stiff efficient bike. You might also like a trek pilot, i beleive they still have a type of suspension built into the seat stays.
As for gearing, go compact, 50-36 (or 50-34 if alot of your hills are steeper then 8%) with a wide range cassett, like the infamous 11-26 or 12-27.