slowly but surely

Its been a little under a week since my last Allez post, and I've taken off a great deal of weight & added a great deal of efficiency.  In preparation for my new terrain, and to take advantage of a great deal, I decided to go with the Shimano Ultegra 6650 Compact crankset.  These are running at 175mm for the arms, and 50/34 for the rings.  I've only used the 34t ring once, last night, and climbed one of the 15% grades seated at around 34x20.  Accordingly, my legs feel the burn of high cardio climbing, but this will pay off in the mountains.  Also, with the Ultegra CA's I had to switch out to the Ultegra 6700 bottom bracket.  These together gave my pedal stride the power transfer it needed to propel such a heavy build to do anything.

I also put on new wheels yesterday - Mavic Kysrium Elite's - that are a 16/20 spoke count, and in around 1580g for the pair.  Paired with the cranks, this bike can finally be called efficient, and I'm really starting to enjoy my rides, now. 

In summary, I've cut around 4.5 pounds from this bike, and I'm narrowly closing in on the 19lbs range - not bad for a weeks work.  Next to swap on the list is a new front derailleur (I have an Ultegra 6700), new cassette (a Dura Ace is on the way), new rear derailleur, new seatpost and new skewers.  I think these will A) have the bike at a performing weight B) most importantly, having it performing soundly.  That was my update.