Here are few snapshots of the many bits and pieces that will be used in racing this weekend.

A cassette off the horribly untrue and low-tension wheel I’ve been riding on.  As much as Joel and I tried to save it, It’s about done.  Definitely no more racing to be had on this one.  The cassette, however, will find a new home on…

This wheel.  It was my primary racing wheel until the hub got all gunky and less than smooth.  It’s now the best I’ve got in spite of it’s shortcomings in the hub (found out today it’s in the freehub bearings, actually), and it’ll be my primary race wheel this weekend.  The new race wheels will be here soon, but not soon enough.  It’s still a fast wheel, though not quite as fast as that wheel lurking behind it.

Then there’s the new race tires.  These will replace the ones I’ve currently got that are getting low on tread, have plenty of cuts, and have encountered their fair share of glass and pointy rocks.

Finally as far as wheels go, there’s this pair, snagged off my training bike.  With a little cleaning, truing, and some new tubes they’ll make a great backup set of wheels.  If I flat in the race, I’ll have a good wheel to use this time.  No more of that nonsense from the second Banana Belt.

And the training bike.  I’ve been fairly merciless in tearing this bike limb from limb in order to keep the race bike in working order.  This one is very close to working order, but may continue to lose components over time.  There is a plan hatching in the back of my mind to take everything off it in favor of building up a cyclocross bike.

There’s the trainer that Phil very graciously lent me for the weekend.  This will be handy if not essential for warming up for the time trial and criterium.

And why not add some flair?  I replaced my other bottle cages (one had cracked at a weld seam) with some lightweight metallic blue ones I had sitting around.  Sure, they don’t match anything else on the bike, but who cares?