Road Bike - What to get?

I've been looking into roadbikes a bit lately. Definitely a complex field and it's hard to make a decision on what to get.

First of I need to define what kind of riding I want to do... Looking at the terrain around here it will most definitely involve tons of climbing. As far as I gather popular rides in the area are between 20 and 60 miles. That would call for a light frame... Aluminum or carbon.
Other things to consider:

• Do I want to race my bike? Probably no, except for a Tri perhaps.
  
• Do I want to tour? No.
• Do I want to commute by bike? Unlikely.

Alright...

What else is there to consider?

• Gearing: Questions here: Double or triple? What cassette? 12-25? 12-27?
  
• Wheels: Box vs. Aero? Which tires? 700-23? 700-25?
  
• Components: Compagnolo or Shimano? Which level Ultegra? 105? Dura Ace? (or equivalent)
  
• Size: Probably in the neighborhood of 62cm
  
• Cost: Yeah... well...
  

Perhaps it's time to hit the shops and look at some bikes... I hear the most important factor is fit...

Comments anyone?

week 17

Mon: Rest
Tue: climbing PG SV w/Dan. Two warm-up TRs, 4 leads 10a, 1 crack
Wed: Yoga, 90 min
Thu: backyard WOD: 21-15-9: push-ups, squats x2, pull-ups
Fri: Bouldering 40 min. 12 as a warm-up for the WOD: 400 m row, 21 Deadlifts, 21 Push-ups, 400m row, 15 Deadlifts, 15 Push-ups, 400m row, 9 Deadlifts, 9 Push-ups, 400m row. DL @95#
Sat: hiking: Huddart County Park and Phleger Estate OSP approx. 10 miles 3.5 hours
Sun: Climbing PGSF 7 climbs

El Corte de Madera OSP ride

Last Saturday I met Les, Chris and Dan at Skeggs Point on Skyline Blvd at 9:30 in the morning to go on a mountain bike ride in the El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve. My past experiences at ECDM are not the greatest, because of the rather technical trails, and my limited- to non-existing skill set on a mountain bike. However I had felt rather comfortable on the last rides inspite of my sprained ankle and I had made sure that the Resolution trail would not be on our route.

When I got to Skyline it was pretty chilly and quite damp, so we didn't linger for long but rather got going quickly. I don't recall the exact trails we took, but we took the Manzinita trail descent into the valley. Here was my first mistake... I had made sure that we wouldn't take Resolution, not realizing that Manzinita is as bad... oh, well... Of course I made the beginner mistake and went too slow...taking a spill in the first technical section of the day.
Somehow I made it down the hill and enjoyed the next part of the ride...again: I have no idea which trails we were on, as I was just following the blue and orange dots of Dan's and Les's shirts between the trees. At some point we started climbing again on the North Leaf trail... which was about the point where I was ready to throw my bike in the ditch and hike out. I kept unclipping and picking up my bike. Twisting my and loading my injured left foot more then I had wished for. At some point I thought: "Oh, that's why I only rode my bike 5 times between last June (last time at ECDM) and now: It's just not that much fun!" I really couldn't get back to the parking lot fast enough! Apperantly this is a common problem though, since Lesley had a similar experience at Waterdog the previous week. It would have helped if I had slept better the night before as well...
Long rides are taxing... almost more mentally than physically...

After 2.5 hours on (and off) the bike the beer and burger at Alice's was highly welcome!

week 16

Mon: Rest up from the weekend
Tue: Climbing: PG SV with Dan, first time in forever trying to push into hard grades again. 7 climbs incl. several 11b's. Left index finger is fine. Ankle hurt the next day.
Wed: Wanted to do a WOD, but fell asleep on the couch... Ouch! Rest day.
Thu: More Rest. Damn!
Fri: Climbing: PG B w/ Ben.
Sat: Mountain biking: Skeggs Point aka. El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve
Sun:Rest

Scary!

Ben brought this to my attention today.
Scary! I mean these things look like old friends and the 5-for-the-price-of-1 sounds tempting...But what about the "working around certification procedure for this gear according to CE & UIAA standarts" part?

Big Sur Marathon weekend

The Big Sur International Marathion is taking place this weekend. Local runners are raving about it in different blogs, the media coverage is increasing, and the excitement is big.
Not for me though. I was supposed to run the 21 miles as a long trainings run in preparation for the Rock'n'Roll Marathon in San Diego in the end of May. But I haven't run in almost five weeks after spraining my ankle on a trail run in Wunderlich Park. The rehab is taking longer than expected. Cycling, climbing, walking are fine, but running is still a no-no.
So no 21 miles in Big Sur and consequently no marathon in San Diego...

Quite the change of plans for the spring...

I hope to be able to get back in shape for a fall marathon.

Yosemite: Knob Hill

Or: Never stop exploring!

Last weekend's trip definitely sparked the 'climbing outside bug' again, so I needed to get out again as soon as possible. During the week it seemed unlikely that I would be able to make it out due to a pretty big work load. But by the timeFriday came around things didn't look too bad. On Saturday Dan and I decided to drive out to Yosemite in the evening and climb on Sunday.
Our destination was Knob Hill, where I had never climbed before, but it seemed like a nice crag to get back into the groove of leading outside.

We wanted to start out on 'Just for Beginners' and scouted the rock to find the route. At some point I saw a few bolts higher up and figured it had to be the route... I racked up with a few draws ans started up. Just as I clipped the third bolt two guys show up and ask how things are...We chat for a while, when one of them asks: "You know that you need gear up there, right?" After what the following conversation starts: "Hm, the book says just 7 draws..." "Nope... that climb is not in the book" "huh, ok!" "I can bring you your rack!" "Cool, thanks!" "You need some tiny stuff ..." At this point the second guy whispers: "It's his route!" "Oh, you're Eric then!"

It was quite fun to bump into the guy who set up the route and get beta from him. We apparently climbed "Beanie Wienie" or something like that... Quite the nice climb... 4 bolts to a 5.6 flake, protectable with the orange Metolious and the blue Metolious TCU.

After topping out we made our way over to 'Just for Beginners'. Here I took my first Yosemite lead fall of the 10a crux down low. Dan caught me nice and soft though. No harm done. I was quite excited that I was able to get right back on to the climb and even face the runout sections high up without freaking out.

Next were 'Sloth Wall' and 'Anti Ego Crack' both fun climbs. To finish the day I led 'Pot Belly' via the undercling start.

The high temperatures took their toll: By 4PM we were pretty exhausted and decided to call it a day, although we would have had a few more hours of daylight. Back in the Bay Area at 7:15PM.