Hi All, I'm really enjoying snooping my way thru the site and the countless discussions.
here's the introduction…

I first started riding (road bikes) around 1989 with a entry level steel frame and whatever the basic Shimano group that it came with was -I honestly can't remember. A year later I upgraded to a Cannondale R400 w/ RX100. About 2 years after that I ended up with a crack in my frame. Surprise! (insert sarcasm here) and Cannondale upgraded it to a very early run 2.8 series frame that I still have today. Over the years the parts became a mix of RX100, 105, Ultegra and Dura Ace. The bike still had down tube shifters and was a seven speed freewheel on a set of Phil wood hubs. I never did any racing but was more into longish group and solo rides often in the 100-150 km range most ever in one day was 236km. Most of the upgrades were unnecessary foolish wastes of money but hey I was young and could have been blowing my coin on worse things.

I eventually got drawn into mountain biking as that was where all my friends seamed to stray in the mid to late 90's. I did do some cross country races but not being one with good balance and some carpal tunnel problems leaving me with numb hands I lost interest in the sport and the bikes sat in mothballs for several years.

The early part of this decade were spent in a dark personal place I won't bore you with but I started to reemerge from there almost 4 years ago. I started looking at my Cannondale again in the fall of 2008 and took it into a shop for a service and new tires. I proceeded to start using it to commute to work and then with past spring with some friends who have also started to get back into road riding (they were back into it well before I was) went on a 3 day trip on it in the Canadian Rockies. -B4 the trip I found a set of 7speed Sora STI levers on ebay. This was it I was now completely rehooked on the sport. But one thing we did figure out on that trip was that the Cannondale which was sized to me when I was 17 did not fit today. I still got in about 2500km on it this year. I would have done more but my work schedule limited my riding time.

This Fall surprisingly with my wife's blessing I spent the better part of a month's salary on a 2010 Wilier Izoard w/ Ultegra6700 which I hope to get at least few years out of. The only real upgrade I'd like to make in the next couple years is to a bit lighter wheelset than the Fulcrum Racing 5's it came with. But that can wait until its in the budget and/or becomes a legitimate need. With the professional fitting that was done for me It's hard to describe how much more comfortable I am on this bike.

My buddies and I are planning another trip in the mountains this spring and eying a couple gran fondos that are running in our province this year. The new bike is 6 pounds lighter than the old one and I'm just over 15lbs lighter than last spring so it should be a bit easier hauling my late 30's rear end over the hills in the coming year. My goal for 2011 is 4000km on the road. Plus whatever I can get in on the used trainer I picked up. Still not a lot by some people's measure but between work and time with my young Family It's an achievable goal. If I can get in more than that I will, but Vancouver's Winters limit my safe riding time for a few months out of the year.

The goal for 2012 is a second bike (Cheaper) that I can use for more night, winter and wet weather commuting. An early front runner would be a Salsa Veya but I'm sure that will change. My buddies almost have my wife convinced

Cheers!