Shorts to spandex? Mud covered to shaved legs?

Allright.. here's the skinny... As ya know - I love mountain biking. No suprise.
Biking shorts, usually no shirt, hauling my keister (is that spelled right?) through some tight shrubbery - going home with bruises and scratches.

Rambling....Anywho....

A friend of mine said that I should ride in "the DALMAC".

Sidebar -

Well, for those of you that don't know about the DALMAC, it was founded in 1971 by former Michigan State Sen. Dick Allen. The DALMAC offers 2300 bicyclists a choice of five road routes beginning in East Lansing , and ending in either Mackinaw City or DeTour Village. It is basically 100 miles a day, for the duration of trip.

That's it for the history lesson on this post. Back to the action.

The DALMAC sounds like a good challenge, and its right up my alley. I would need to switch from technical, hill climbing of around 20 mile rides to 100 mile road coverage... The first problem to overcome was the only road bike I had was a Beacon Cornet bike.. This bike is awesome for ole school looks and hardware (I am looking for ANY info on this Beacon Coronet Bike - so if you can provide that, it would be GREATLY appreciated). I felt the need to upgrade. I also was also riding my mountain bike to work (~12 miles one way), and a road bike would cut a couple minutes off of my trek. I did some serious shopping, and ended up with a 2006 Giant TCR C1. Here is a pic.

I ended up putting some Crank Bros Candy C's on there to match up the color, and I love Crank Brothers pedals...

So... I end up giving proper respect to a pedal that I love.

I also was notorious for just cramming a couple of water bottles into the cages on my mountain bike frame. I was definately "forced" into switching to a higher OZ hyrdration source. I ended up purchasing a Camelback Siren pack -

This purchase ended up changing my hydration from bottles to packs.. I love the ability to fluidize and not lose focus or balance on the bike. Oh yeah, and its yellow to match the Giant!

All set on being fashionable and getting a bike worthy of the challenge! :)

Now, I only have my self to blame when I bonk after 20 miles on a 100 mile ride!

So - I have to admit that training for this rode ride has greatly improved my mountain biking. It seems like a 20 mile mountain bike ride seems so much easier on my lung capacity and stamina. I have also realized that mountain biking seems to make hill climbs for road riding seem easey. I am still not ready to throw on the spandex, but I have great respect and realize the value in combining road and mountain biking.