?? for the bike Gurus

well, something the size of a serving platter appeals to me.  Karl, I went with the '04 which is a 9 - speed cassette.  I am going to get another wheel and looking at which cassette to put on it.  It's not very hilly where I live, but I plan on doing some riding in NH as the '05 season opener is a 1/2 in NH. 

Thanx for the link Bear, off to torture my brain.

the chainrings are 39 X 53.

I almost never used the small ring on my triple, this year anyhow.  When I bought the bike a few years ago I almost never got out of the middle ring.  I figured my riding was not going to improve if I didn't venture into the large ring, and once I was there I never went back to the small one.  Except for that long climb at the Danskin race in Webster.......

now if you guys could only tell me why my shoulder hurts and I cannot move it.  I haven't done anything to cause an injury but I can't ride like this.  Inhaling vitamin I (ibuprofin) has not helped either.

Chain "stretch" is actually wear. as the plates and pins wear, they develop slop that allows the chain to elongate slightly. The general rule of thumb is that if 12 links of the chain measure longer than 12 &1/8 inches it's time to replace the chain. Some folks say 12 & 1/16 inches. The sooner you replace a chain, the longer your cassette will last. I am bad about remembering to check the chain for wear and end up replacing the cassette and chain about every two years or so. I am running Ultegra, so it's not too much $$ if I can catch a sale at Performance. Once again, have a gander at Sheldon Brown's site. I believe he's got a good article on chains.

Your shoulder sounds like a fit issue (stem length, or maybe saddle tilt)

yeah, that would be my first guess, but I haven't done any swimming since sunday, and hadn't done a lot before that.  This just started late last night, out of the blue.  Feels like a pinched nerve.  Just called my dr and she's out of town til tuesday.

Ellen, a lot of it boils down to "Do you ever use the 11 tooth cog?"  If not, then the jump to the 12 x 26 is probably a good idea.  On your current cassette, if you need a lower gear than the middle chainring combined with the 23 cog, you can always drop down into the granny chainring, since you have a triple.  But if you find yourself mostly riding on the top 2 chainrings and hardly ever using the granny, then switching to the 26 cog freewheel probably makes more sense.  The only limitation is the loss of the 11 tooth cog, but since you probably don't sprint downhills at 40 mph, (or are freewheeling when you DO hit those speeds), I'm betting you will never miss the 11 tooth option.  I rarely use my 11 tooth, unless it's one of those hairball downhills, and you've ridden with me enough to know what those are like.  I have yet to be on a flatish road yet, even with a tail wind, in 30 years of cycling where I could push a 53 x 11.  My Jan Ullrich days are over!