Here is the first ride summary....

Some friends had stopped into the shop on Sunday and told us about the charity ride. I've never done an organized road ride and thought it would be a blast, so we said we would join them. I've never done a ride over 35 miles and this one was 62, so I was really hoping everything on this new bike would be set up properly. There was a lot of pressure on her to perform

After only 3 hours of sleep (dh had people over a bit too late) I awoke and got ready for the ride. I was way more motivated than expected due to the new bike. We get to the ride, take out our bikes and my bike was beaming with pride. I couldn't wait to get on! We started the ride and it was perfect. The bike fit like a glove. After 25 miles, it felt like nothing. I felt like I could ride forever on this bike, the miles kept adding up with what felt like very little effort. Everything just came together so well and felt so great underneath me. She responded in the way I wanted her to. The ride was smooth, but a bit stiff in the rear. She plowed through the downhills, and climbed really well. The handling was unbelievable, I really felt like I could shift my weight well and take the corners at a lot more speed than before. Overall a fantastic ride. I couldn't believe after my longest ride on a brand new bike that I had no aches and pains!!

As for the SRAM groupset, I'm impressed. The rear derailluer shifing was spot on. It was extremely easy to use, intuitive, and smooth. There is a solid click when you shift and it's very responsive. The FD, well, that's going to take a little getting used to. To shift from the big chainring to the little is great. It's extremely fast and smooth. Going from the little back up to the big....well, that is a bit difficult. It required a long stroke and quite a bit of effort. That is the only negative I have about the Sram group. Luckily, my area is flat so I don't use the small too often, but for other girls who do use it frequently, I would definitely try it out before you purchase. This was my first ride though, so I'll have to see if there is anything I can do to improve it a bit.