I really appreciate all of the information. I'm actually looking into that gearing also- and I'm not 54. (I hope that made you feel more comfortable about the gearing, although you probably are self confident enough not to need it.)

May I ask why did you choose the TA Carmina crankset? I'm just going through my options: you could have purchased an equivalent sugino xd- 500t, deore XT (even though it might be very ugly on your road bike), or any other mid range trekking cranks? I've never heard of TA carmina before, I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.

thanks and once again that is a beautiful bike. I might have to start daydreaming about my own luna