I've been riding my hybrid on a mix of rails-to-trails paths and paved roads. I'm now looking for a bike with drop bars. I keep going back and forth between a cross bike and a relaxed geometry road bike (think Giant OCR). At my current fitness level I need a triple (trust me) but both of my local shops will configure a new bike however I want. So what do you think? Buy a cross bike and swap to road tires for long paved road rides or a road bike and swap to heavier tires for the trail? I do plan on doing some centuries in the future. To give you an idea of where I'm at, I can do 10 miles on the trail averaging 14 MPH. Ten miles on the road with what most of you would call small dips I can average about 15 - 16 MPH. I have ridden 30 miles on the trail averaging about 12 MPH and that's my longest ride to date. My current bike is an old Trek Multi-Track 720 steel frame.

Thanks for your input.

Joe