Road bikes are fun, but do not make good tourers or commuters. Road bikes have light and fragile wheels, only clearance for narrow tyres, and their frames are not stiff enough for luggage, and their geometries are often too nervous as well. Finally, modern road bikes do not normally have eyelets for racks.
For a tourer you want a stronger and stiffer frame and wheels, and clearance for wider tyres, both because those can carry more weight, and because they allow you to ride rough roads and trails in comfort. For a commuter you want clearance for wider winter tyres such as the 37 mm Conti Topcontact Winter II, and for mudguards. Finally, on a commuter bike you want a hub generator and good lights. In short, demand for a tourer and a winter commuter are quite similar. How stiff/strong and wide tyred your tourer should ideally be depends on the amount of luggage you plan to take (I love camping), and the roads you have in mind. I like routes that include sections of rough stuff, if only to avoid dangerously busy roads.
Of course you can perhaps make do with a road bike. This depends on where you want to ride, how much you want to take, and what kind of bike it is. If you take little, have a more traditional steel road bike with clearance for 32 mm tyres and traditional wheels with 32 or 36 spoke wheels, and avoid the worst roads, you should be fine. If you have a modern carbon monster with trendy wheels with few spokes you better leave it home. Your Cannondale probably falls somewehere between these extremes, and may just be usable if you take only little luggage in a saddle bag.
If you really want a bike for touring and commuting, get something like a Surly Long Haul Trucker, a Thorn Club Tour, or even a Thorn Sherpa, with lights and a rear rack. If you really want to go touring, go camping. It is so much more fun than hotels, really. But do not take too much luggage if you do.
Willem
