Thanks for the support, guys - I appreciate it! I'll continue to commute 40-80 miles a week for the next three weeks, in preparation for the MS 150 ride, while adding a few longer rides on the weekends - and maybe a back-to-back (Saturday/Sunday?) set of 60-ish mile rides on the weekend two weeks prior to the ride.

A couple of pics of my Surly LHT:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...urly-Rocks.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...nyon-Large.jpg

The bike is a stock "complete" LHT, with the addition of Ultegra triple cranks running with an Ultegra 12/27 cassette, Topeak rear rack, Schwalbe Marathon Supreme (25x2") tires and a Brooks B17 saddle. I originally bought the bike to handle my weight and be a comfortable and relatively fast commuter. I then continued to tweak the build with a focus on comfort and function. The Marathon Supreme tires eat up the cracks and bumps on the bike paths that I ride on for most of my work commute (9.9 miles each way), while rolling much faster than a knobby tire. These Schwalbes are almost slicks, but offer excellent traction on both wet and dry pavement - and have very low rolling resistance. Note: traction on wet dirt and sand is pretty sketchy! The Ultegra drive train upgrades improved the quality of the shifting, reduced weight and increased stiffness (energy transfer). The Topeak rack has been great for stuffing lots of extra weight onto my bike (laptop, clothes, shoes, etc). The Brooks has literally saved my arse.


I apologie for the attached pic, which is upside down. It seems to be easier to attach a pic through a link than it does to post a pic directly.