Thanks to a last-year model still sitting on the showroom floor at the bike shop, and a sponsorship arrangement our team has with Orbea, I am now the proud new owner of a 15.5 pound race-rocket. Full Dura-Ace 10 speed components and Mavic Ksyruim SSC SL wheels. Doesn’t get any better than that.

It was love at first sight.

This frame is a little bit smaller than my LOOK, and has semi-compact geometry. I was really looking for a more aggressive riding position and this fits the bill. Not to mention it is LIGHT!! Good-looking, too. I hope I can do it justice.

What a cool race! One of my favorite riders (Jens Voight) got 2nd. He is a crazy-tough hard riding dude. I really admire how he puts it all on the line and busts his butt to get results. Today he instigated the winning break 50k out and did the lion’s share of the work to keep it away – never by much more than a minute with all the heavy hitters trying to bring them back.

Now this is European road racing…