realskiers

Thanks Jim, my legs held up fine but aenerobic (sp) element was where I got killed. I don't want to say it was just altitude but on the short very steep climbs, it just burned you out you just can't replenish the O2 levels, on long climbs it was OK, you just drop gear and get into a nice slow cadence. You can do OK on those.  Ira has really trained for that and it shows. 

The bike color in "person" is really a sweet intense royal  blue with some metailic flake. I am very happy with it. The performance of the rear in climbing and descending was crazy good. It was so much different that I really had to modify the way I climbed and descended. the most dramatic difference was the absorption of the terrain, 6" rocks and roots were basically smotthed out so I was really able to ride faster and more aggesiively (for a gaper).  140mm up front and  5.5" on the rear. The fit of the bike is just fantastic. We went with the XL 21" frame and i was realy concerned with the size but the top to seat tube was the exact same as the trek but the crank is more forward, End result was that with a 90 stem, the fit is just right, I even ended up moving the seat back a few MM's. it weighs in at 27#.  When I upgrade the wheel set next spring, it should be about a pound lighter.