Just get out and ride. Just done a ride which was supposed to be a mix between aerobic and endurance. 8 guys who were out there on Isaac Impulses, Dogmas, and carbon fibre deep sections. Lookig great on their chiny machines and in their cool winter kit. But no they are not posers. Just guys who have enough money to spend on what they like. Yes one of them said that he noticed no diff between his dogma and his prince apart from a bit better shock absorption. A clique of guys who are between 40-50 and train a lot and love riding too and ride the equivalent of the Etape du Tour every month. We have a lot of "fondo" rides here. The big question going round was about getting a 50-36 over their 52-39. Almost everyone had a 12-25 on apart from the ISaac guy who had a 12-27. Compact seems to be the way forward and a sensible option and fashionable to boot. No I don't set the standards by what the world should go by but at the same time in Europe most important bike racing is done and is filtered down to the general public rapidly. Road cycling is not a fashion thing which people get into cos LANCE is the man. Yes people love to copy the pros and CSC's Basso was recently promoting the compact and Tyler Hamilton used the comapct blah blah blah. But this is a debate and discussion and not an oppotunity for trolls like you to insult others or try to eek out what you think they mean to impress the reest of the 95% american users on this forum. Come to Europe. I invite you and see how people ride here. You may even get to ride wit Flecha around the coastal roads. And whether you ride a 53 or a 39 or 34 or whatever, it is a persoanl thing but this post is designed to find out the best fit combo for most conditions.