Need Help with Bike/Parts Upgrades

Hi all - Need your suggestions and help...

Background: Cat 4 racer, moderately competitive; goals for next year (2010) are to move up to Cat 3 and become competitive in Masters 35+ races. Live and race mainly flat crits and road races with a few races having some small 1/4 mile 6-7% grade hills. 5' 10.5". Age = 41.

Current Equipment:
Bike - 2005 Lemond Zurich - spline technology with carbon fiber and steel mix
Gruppo - all Shimano Ultegra 10 speed
Bar and Stem - Bontrager Race Lite 6061 aluminum
Racing Wheels - Bontrager Race Lite with Bontrager hubs
Seat Post - Bontrager Race X Lite Carbon
Pedals - Speedplay Blue with Chromoly spindles
Saddle - Sella Italia Flite with titanium rails

All equipment works fine, a few chips in paint on bike and scratches on drivetrain, but nothing major. Ultegra FD has chain rub, but otherwise OK. Still shifts OK. Bike never been crashed...Has about 9-10K miles on it. I love the bike for its comfy ride and relaxed angles, as my upper body is disproportionally longer than lower body, requiring longer top tube. It's not the lightest bike, but for flat racing where I live I don't think that's as important as if I was climbing a lot. I have no idea of it's weight, probably 19-20 pounds with pedals. So, I've decided to keep the bike. Anyway, during the offseason I am looking for ways to upgrade parts/components to lower the weight and bring better performance overall.

First, realizing the engine is most important, I think I am going to get some power meter and start training with power (rather than HRM)...given cost and my modest goals/ability, I'll probably get the IBike Gen III (flame away, but the latest version has been getting good reviews). I'll also try to drop about 6-8 more pounds of body weight.

Second, I'll probably invest in a better, lighter wheelset (the Bonty's are almost 1800g I believe). Looking at Neuvation and Williams wheelsets right now (I'm poor and need to find value).

Other than that, I am open to suggestions as to where else to make improvements. Replace the aluminum stem and handlebar with carbon fiber? Get Speedplays (needed for my knees) with titanium spindles? Replace the Ultegra drivetrain with 10K miles with SRAM Force? Lighter saddle? Any other wheelsets to look at? Titanium chainrings or cassette? Carbon fiber bottle cages? Don't worry about anything else and just get faster?

Shoot away with any ideas! Thanks in advance.

Coach who will probably suggest a power meter. A good bike fit to ensure your position is proper

Yep, you can spend some $ on wheels that will weigh about 400 grams lighter, but that's 1 pound on a bike and rider package that weighs what? Teeny percentage. Same with any carbon doodads and sram(poor FD).

4 things make you a better rider/racer.

Fit-does your bike fit?
Fitness-are you fit?
Fat-lackthereof on you. lose those 8-10 pounds
Finesse-riding and racing smart-Coach will help here.

Like Eddy says, 'ride lots'.

From an equipment standpoint, I woul look at some handbuilt wheels built on Ultegra or DA hubs, built by a wheelbuilder who will understand your needs. There are some good ones on this site. You will spend less, and get something lighter, stiffer and more durable (and repairable) than the stock Bonti's. You may even consider wheels built on a Power Tap hub, to incorporate a power meter. I'm a fan of Velocity Aerohead rims, but I also picked up some cheap Campy Barcelona (tubulars) and they are a fantastic rim.

As far as carbon or ti bits, I confess to swapping out some (non-load bearing) steel bolts for ti, but it's really because I hate seeing rust in the bolt heads, more than weight.

As far as bar/stem/post, you can always shave some weight here, but if a seatpost doesn't slip, why bother. If the bar is comfy in your hands, and not overly flexy (I'm thinking final sprint in a crit), why bother changing it. Stem? if it's the right length and holds the bar well...again.. why change it?

On the groupset, I think Ultegra is fine and wouldn't change it if it's working. Speed is rarely lost here. Also, I tend to think the workhorse groups like Ultegra or Chorus (Centaur too) are perfect for about 99% of the riders on the amateur race circuit. Since we have to actually pay for our stuff.