08 Madone long ride

This morning I took out the new '08 Madone out for a longish ride. I covered 50 miles in 2:40 and it felt great! The first impression I noticed on the ride was the lack of tail end mush. I normally ride an Aluminum 2200 and being 200 plus pounds I can really torque the frame on a sprint or a hill acceleration. With this Madone it welcomed the hills. I could power up the hill and it felt as if the power I was generating to the cranks was directly transferred to the road. The acceleration on the flats were comparable to my tri bike in the feel of taking off while still in the saddle. While not as aero, the feel was about the same. In recreational riding the performance model which is the one I was riding was quite comfortable. I normally ride a 58cm but this was a 60cm which stretched me out a bit, but not to the point of losing my center of gravity on descents. There seems to be a lot of flexibility on the saddle position. I used the long seatmast with the seat set as far forward as possible which put me on a rather aggressive tri angle where I felt the most comfortable.

I would like to use a PowerTap wheel on the TTX, the Madone and the 2200 on the same course to compare the power transferred and power average.

In conclusion, the Madone is a very impressive ride. It feels like a Ferrari at a Porsche price. It is feather light and suitable for large riders. I have no reservations in riding the Red Alpha level carbon frame ever again. It is a very forgiving ride. After 50 miles I got off not feeling beat up and able/ready to run. I even went for a quick 20 minute run afterwards to test that feeling. This is a frame you have to ride to re4ally appreciate. I was looking forward to finally riding it after working with it for the past 8 months and it was defiantly worth it!

The feeling of driving a Ferarri

That is what I felt after taking the Madone 6.5 out for a short, quick spin. It was very responsive like downshifting from fourth to third. It was a very stiff. I felt like the power I was pushing to the cranks was directly tranfered to the road. Now for the long ride tomorrow...Lets see how that shapes up!

The new Madone arrived...in my garage

Today I brought home the new Madone 6.5....and it is in my garage!!

I wlll be testing it this weekend and let you all know the results. I am pretty excited! The bike does not have decals on it because they are still in the works. The frame is just the nude carbon no paint. From what I have heard from other riders who have ridden it, it is like no other. One has to ride it to appreciate it.

My other bikes are a road aluminum, aluminim mountain and one other tri bike that is OCLV carbon. I was told by the engineers that the Madone will just put the TTX to shame in acceleration (well in comparison) and there is no comparison at all with the aluminum. Stay tuned for the results!

Bike to work Time Trial

Sunday morning 5:20 am I depart my residence for a sprint to work. The distance is 20 miles only because of a road being chip sealed so I had to take the long way. One hour 4 minutes there 5 minute break to get some water and my new found friend Jelly belly Sport Beans compliments of the Trek 100 last weekend. The return trip was a negative split and I couldn't belive it! I pulled a one hour and one minute return on the same road. So doing so some quick math, a another 16 miles to get the half split now is way ahead of last years 3:10. Now to start running again..........

A night to remember

That is what tomorrows event is titled. Well tonight (thursday) was a preview of that night to come. Over the past 6 onths I have been working on a totaly new revolutionized road frame for the bikers out there. Well tonight was the night it was first unveiled to the public. It was at the ever so beautiful Milwaukee Art Museum.This is what you see as you first enter the massive building. There were roughly 300 of the WORLDS top dealers at this event. Little did they know they were going to be part of history! There was going to be an unveiling of the 2008 New Madone Trek roadbike but they didn't even know was going to happen. This coming weekend is the Trek 100 an annual sponsored ride to raise money for the MACC fund and a lot of people were there for that. Well were they wrong! At 6:55 sharp the presentation started. The president of Trek was speaking and introducing the new road bike. He explained the entire bike, brought out a few people to talk about the project and BAM, Lance Armstrong walks the new bike right out on stage.



He got a standing ovation and sat down to talk about the new ride. He has been riding it for the past 9 months we found out. Guess what? He loved it!!











We all thought the presentation was over and then another suprise. A new mountain bike was unveiled too! This also was one of my projects over the past 6 months. Between the new road bike line and the mountain bike line, it will give people a whole new reason to get out and ride. The Madone pictured was one of my favorites.


I think I have a thing for yellow bikes!




This was the most impressive company function I have ever been to. For the sole reason the employees and the people involved got to participate should have been enough. The venue was phenominal, the food was incredible and the atmosphere was filled with bike geeks from all over the world, to be part of history, priceless.

Here are some closing shots of the Art Museum. The poor resolution photos don't do this justice. I sure wish I had a Canon Rebel to shoot some better shots.