As far as the cranks, no offense but I'm just not a FSA fan. I have one road bike with FSA carbon cranks and I really don't like them. My R700 compact might be heavier but they just feel stiffer. 1st year trying a compact and it did make a difference climbing brasstown this year.

I'll look into the trails sometime. I'm only 2.5 weeks post op with a plate in my leg. Had planned to do a sub 5 hour this year and was hopeful for a 4.5 hour century this past weekend but that got put on hold. Trained most of the year riding to attempt it. Maybe that's why I'm grumpy. The best I can manage now is peg legging a road bike which really isn't smart.

I'm still trying to tell myself that I will still be able to do the 12 hour MTB race later this month but that would only be 5 weeks post op and my right leg looks so wasted.

Missing 3 century rides this month and a MTB race is a tough pill to swallow. Saturday was a century ride and so was monday. I'll be lucky now if I even get the same mileage as last year. I had planned for so much more.

Actually, missing about 1k miles of total riding is a tougher pill to swallow. I was riding 6 days a week. That gives me a LOT of free time now.