The bike

So this is a bit overdue but here's the bike I'm riding this year. It's a 57cm Orbea Opal with mostly Ultegra components. I'm not normally much of a gear head but this thing is very nice. Definitely the best bike I've ever ridden. The seat tube angle is a little shallower than I like but I'm not even sure if my old geometry was UCI legal so this is fine :-)

And... count those teeth.I'm running compact cranks. 50T and 34T. A 50x11 is equivalent to a 53x11.66 so I'm not giving up much on that end. And a 34x23 is about like a 39x26 so even when I'm running the 11-23 on the back I've got a great climbing gear. For the really nasty climbing races (like Gila) I'm gonna run an 11x26 on the back which will give me a gear equivalent to a 39x30. I may still not be able to climb but at least I won't have to grind :-)