Oak, I get what you are saying, but, I do have the combination I need... it's just in a different place, if you understand that. It's when I am in the big ring, which I discovered near the end of my ride yesterday, when I was so tired from the 2,000 feet of climbing and the wind, and just wanting to get to the end. I discovered most of what I need is in the big ring . I started my ride thinking I would mostly be in the small ring, but I was wrong. The big jumps come at the lower end of the cassette and if I need to use those when in the small ring (I did going up Oak Hill and Madigan Rd) it doesn't feel so big, it feels perfect! It's just practice
DH rode his Guru to work today and discovered a lot about the shifting and just how the bike feels. Although it's light, it's not as fast as the Kuota, but that's OK. By his ride home, his average was pretty near what it usually is. He had a compact on his Trek when they first came out and was impressed with the smoothness of the shifting compared to what he had. I probably won't ride again until Wednesday, possibly tomorrow. I want to work on the shifting, but not on that saddle!
Red, I can reach the brakes fine from the hoods. I can reach them from the drops, but according to the specs, they are about 5 mm further away than the Ultegra short reach ones I have on the Kuota. I can feel the difference, but this is the best I will get. I have to get my hands really far down into the curve of the drop. I guess it's not an issue because I still haven't got up the nerve to descend a curvy hill in the drops.
I am not overly concerned about the shifting; this is something that's been kind of intuitive for me from the beginning.
Muirenn, very funny. I live in the house where bikes have no names.