Equipment

The Bike

My bike is an Orbea Vitesse. I call her my Spanish Contessita !!

It has an aluminium frame and carbon rear triangle, fork and seatpost. It is equipped with the Ultegra 2005 triple groupset and has Shimano R-550 wheels. Its a fantastic bike and I love it !!! The only changes I may make is to put a better custom built wheelset (DT Swiss perhaps).

Clothing

What I have is a bit worn out and slightly large as I have lost some weight from the date I bought them !! I will buy new clothing in early February so that I will have the opportunity of trying them before B-day. I am after something very good to help me during hte 10+ hours on the saddle - Assos or ExteOndo.

Shoes - Pedals

I am using my mountain bike shoes (Shimano) together with mountainbike pedals (Crankbrother Candys). I love the combination because it allows me to use the same shoes for both bikes, have the same "clipping" feel in both bikes and most importantly I can walk almost normally with the MTB shoes. The shoes are stiff as they have carbon soles and during my current rides I feel very comfortable in them. I may reconsider once my rides get into triple figures whether the combination is acceptable - I do not want to get those funny looking road shoes unless I absolutely have to.

Other

Although too early to decide, but I will need to have lights (front and rear), tools, spare tubes, and a bag to put everything in !!!