Move from triple to compact is killing me.

[Cataboo]

I still need the pills and shots and IV infusions just to be able to walk. It's the exercise that let's me be 'normal' (well, as normal as a crazy gal like me can be, I suppose ).

But yeah, I have a different perspective on life than most. And I wanna be fast again dammit!

Lo123,

you're faster than me!

[Cataboo]

I should work at work, instead of researching hypothetical bike builds:

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/in.../t-433254.html

Looks like the IRD 11-34 10 speed cassette works with shimano mtb rear derailleurs, but works better with older XT or XTR ones than the newer ones.

Various people saying they got it to work vs. didn't - santana 11-34 cassettes seem less finicky than the IRD ones...

But I think at some point it's going to come down to, how patient of a mechanic do you have...

I know the BF tells me a lot of times what I want to do doesn't work... and gives up and does something else if I let him. Then when he wants it to work on his bike, magically he fiddles with things long enough to make it work. Other times I have to just pulling up webpage links going "it says so right here it'll work" and he'll roll his eyes and keep at it to prove me wrong, until he makes it work.

I could of course get better at tuning stuff myself, but I haven't gotten to the point where I can make finicky stuff work yet.

[Becky]

I should work at work, instead of researching hypothetical bike builds:

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/in.../t-433254.html

Looks like the IRD 11-34 10 speed cassette works with shimano mtb rear derailleurs, but works better with older XT or XTR ones than the newer ones.

Various people saying they got it to work vs. didn't - santana 11-34 cassettes seem less finicky than the IRD ones...

That's sort of what I was wondering....if a Shimano MTB rear derailleur had enough swing to cover all 10 cogs. Sounds like it does!

[tribogota]

I am just plus one-ing on what other people have said. First of all living with pain sucks.
On the bike side though, I have the same compact ultegra as you and I ride up hills at an average of slow, in other words SLOW.
And I ride with professional triathletes (ok, not with, behind). So, I am extra slow compared to them. I started riding this bike one year ago and in that year I have gone from 4-8mph going up to 6-12 mph, lots of improvemente in one year. It is hard to be the slow person with fast riders. One of my mates just went and competed in his first Ironman at kona and came in 3rd in his category and 71st overall, trained 1 year, 6 mos seriously, talk about freaks of nature. And yes, at the rest stop they rest and wait for me and as soon as I get there, off we go again, spelling NO REST for me.
But, in the half ironman I did this year, who would have thought, I zipped by people left and right, it was kind of fun. But alas, I am most interested by my own improvement to myself, this week I went up one of our steep hills in the second to easiest instead of the easiest, boy was that an improvement!

You are gonna get there but it may be slow at first. All things have learning curves and we don't get to just jump ahead and those freaks of nature, well...we aren't them, they aren't us. (BTW, my kona winning friend takes way longer than me to finish a book, so he thinks I am a freak of reading nature.)