Sunday, June 24, 2007

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!

2 Comments:

Blogger Bullet said...

Hey Moo, I've heard good things about the Madone. I had a friend test ride it through Trek up in WI a few weeks ago. He loved it. It's on my wish list now.

8:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sounds like a very sweet ride!

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9:17 AM  

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