Dumb Ass Bike Questions

1. See above

2. Both rate very highly in reviews if you put any store in them. The Ribble bike builder makes it easy t spec a bike to how you want, plus I reckon they look better too. I'd probably go for a Gran Fondo.

3. A big gear & boredom IME.

yeah what he said.
Velodrome is worth a try but gets boring quickly unless you want to race and to do that you need a pink slip (long process to qualify iirc) and strong legs.

As far as I know the Ribbles are built with quite a long TT. They and Planet X are awesome for the money though