Name

Rob Ballard

Age

30

Height

180(5-11)

Weight

84(185)

Miles in a Year

Last Year or Two

500

Previously

2000

Goal This Year

3500 and up

Location

El Cerrito (East San Francisco Bay Area)

Bikes

Centurion LeMans (Bought Used)

Shimano Exage, with Campy Derailers, and Shifting. This setup was not working well until I added a new SACHS chain. Had to get rid of this ride because aging components (yes, the Shimano crap) were not worth replacing on what unfortunately turned out to be a poor fitting bike.

Mongoose Low End Hybrid/Commuter

Great bike for what I could afford and needed it for at the time (getting to and from school). Now as my only ride, it is woefully under equipped (Shimano crap) for the great riding I have right outside my front door. I will keep it to drag around the kid in his Burley, however I got the fixed gear fever and this ride will be the victim. The sweet deal is that I will get rid of the Shimano drivetrain!

Torelli Countach

I will be in heaven in about three weeks. I have been casually looking for a while, waiting for the right ride to come along. Finding the great ride was difficult because time and time again the salespeople wanted me to consider Shimano equipped rides. But I just said NO, not on the bike of my dreams.

Bio

I just plain love riding my bike. I am a working stiff so commuting was a great way to get more miles in, but now my job makes that unfeasible. So now I am dragging my butt up the Berkeley Hills on Sunday mornings with my neighbor and good friend with plenty of coffee and talk along the way. With my new ride we can plunge down the other side, and that will open up miles and miles of the East Bay's great road riding. I also gotta ride more often than once a week so I can complete my first ever Century-which I plan to do on May 6.