Dear Trek, re: 2016 Madone 9

Dear Trek bicycles,

I am not in love with my new 2016 Project One Madone 9. I wanted to be in love with it, as I have been in love with all other Trek bicycles I've purchased. I hope this serves as information to help you better understand one of your demographic groups.

I am a mid 40s male with the financial stability to afford nice toys and the competitive spark to train and race basically as a second job. I'm a Cat 3 road racer and a Cat 1 mountain bike racer. I spend about a dozen hours on a bike weekly. I fell in love with Trek bikes with my 1998 Y22 because it fit like a glove, handled spectacularly, took an amazing beating, and pushed the technological boundaries of what I thought a bicycle was. I owned that bike for nearly a dozen years before it was replaced by a 2009 Fuel Ex 9.8 due to the Y22 being stolen. I now race the best mountain bike on the planet known as the 2014 Superfly 9.9 SL XX1, another Project One purchase for me.

I started my Madone path with the 2006 Madone 5.2. We were on a ski vacation in Steamboat Springs, walked by a bike shop, saw that beauty in the window, and the next day I owned it (thanks to my amazing wife gifting it to me). I moved on to a 2009 Madone 5.5 and a 2011 Madone 5.9.

Of course I needed a Speed Concept 9.5 to compete in stage races, upgrades happen, and my wife needs bikes too, so, our current garage looks like this. By my calculations I've owned over $55,000 of Trek bikes so far, where my newest Project One Madone 9 seen in white is worth $11,900.

Now that you understand the extent of my insanity, and hopefully the extent of my brand loyalty, let me get to the 2016 Madone.

I waited for this bike. I truly wore out my 2011 Madone. I ordered it the first week (maybe the first day) it was available. All my other Madones have been incredible and have been the best bikes I've ever owned, one after the other.

The 2016 is a Madone for sure. My second ride was a 100 miles, I've probably put 300 miles on it by now, and the Madone performs well; it is stiff under acceleration and it is comfortable. It is a stable descender and solid under my small-framed body. As promised the aerodynamics are superior to any other Madone I've owned, which is excellent, and kudos on the great work for making that happen.

What I can't wrap my head around is this: How can the top of the line $12,000 Madone 9 series possibly be 3/4 lbs heavier than my 5 year old Madone 5 series? The Madone is touted as the ultimate race bike. I chose against an Emonda because I wanted more than a pure climber; I wanted the whole package; you know, the ultimate. Did I end up with a sprinter-specialist bike? That is NOT my idea of an ultimate race bike. I suffer through flats and sprints to make some damage on climbs. I am now competing with people with 14 lbs bikes, how can my brand new, top of the line bike be 16.4 lbs?

The 2016 Madone 9 is a super sexy machine that climbs well. It feels good under acceleration. It descends amazingly. It is a Madone. I am disappointed that its climbing prowess doesn't surpass my older Madones. I've spent 3 times the amount of money I've ever spent on any Madone. I should be elated.

I hope this gives you insight and helps you produce superior bicycles.

Eric.

Hyperthreads review

Hyperthreads is the cycling clothing provider for our Diamond Peak team this year so I am getting the chance to use their products multiple times per week, for road and mountain rides, and for short and long durations.

First let me say these are some of the nicest looking kits I've been proud to wear. The design work was excellent. I don't know who to thank for that but I'm guessing it's a combination of Diamond Peak and Hyperthreads. Here it is on the Brian Head ICup podium; please disregard the stomach.



Since I spend many hours on a bike I spend many hours in jerseys. The Pro-model jersey is unique in it's "stickiness" where it is often difficult to put something in a pocket or take something out due to the jersey material causing my hand to stick or causing friction of some sort. This turns out to be a significant problem when there are only a few seconds available to grab food or put back food during a mountain bike trail section. And often times during a race there are few opportunities to eat so these times are at a premium. I never knew this could be an issue until I came across this jersey, and I happen to currently have more than 20 other jerseys of various brands that don't behave this way. I speculate the reason for this is the rubberized fabric.

Another byproduct of the fabric is its elasticity. Fill the pockets with enough food, supplies, and a large water bottle for a 50 mile race, and you'll find the jersey starts bouncing and stretching after a few hours, giving in to the weight in the pockets. I've experienced enough stretching that the back of the jersey caught on the back of my seat, forcing me to sit and change my pedaling style. I'm weird in a lot of ways, and maybe this is another one of my quirks, but I'd rather my jersey not play a role in how I ride, how often I stand, and what size water bottle I carry. I've now changed my plans to carry smaller water bottles to avoid this bouncing and stretching.

I am happy with the fit, the cooling, the look, the feel of the chamois, and all other aspects of the new kit. I am especially grateful for the sponsorship with our team, which is why I feel it is important to provide this feedback. I hope this helps Hyperthreads and others.

Iron horse weekend

We traveled to Durango, CO to take part in the 44th annual Iron Horse Bicycle Classic weekend. I raced the classic road race on Saturday, Vanessa rode the Grassburger ride on Sunday morning, and I raced the MBS cross country race in the afternoon, you know, just so we can feel like it was worth the drive.

The weather was mostly wet and colder than usual for the end of May, yet we were lucky enough to avoid rain and snow during the 3 bike events we attended. Overall we enjoyed our second visit to Durango and highly recommend the voyage.

Iron Horse Bicycle Classic

Here is a quick view of the course from the pro viewpoint. I was only a few minutes behind that group so luckily the weather didn't degrade much from what is visible in this video.


We got started at 7:38 in a pack of 75+, rolling along at a nice and easy pace for the first dozen miles or so. At around mile 16 the leaders shed everyone but the best 25 ish, including me. A second group of 10+ formed as the road flattened, where only 4-5 of us actually worked up front. For the next dozen or so miles we had a good group effort, good pace lines, and friendly group. Nearly every climb I ended up taking a pull, out climbed most of second group, and caught some of the first group.

Once we hit the Coal Bank pass climb I stepped up to the front and left the group minus one person which became my pacing buddy (#207) for a significant amount of climbing. We were a good match and had fun pushing each other yet no trying to destroy one another. He got away, I kept him in sight, but didn't quite reel him in. Got within 20 feet at top of Molas pass, so close...He likely grabbed on to a bigger group and flew down because the little group of 3 I got in on the last descent didn't catch him.

I had a decent finish picking a guy off at the line but watching the sprint get away. Not enough juice to go with sprint, maybe some mental issues but legs were worked from holding on during descent and getting into town. Guy I passed at the line yelled in disappointment; kinda funny, I've been there.

The Finish: dropped into Silverton, last hairpin I was on 260 wheel and 204 clawed back. 204 is a big guy so he crushed the false flats through town. 260 held back, got a rest, took off around, I couldn't match. 204 tried to match, got a gap on me, I clawed back. He looked back 100 meters from finish to see if he was safe. I was maybe 3 bike lengths away and sat down so he felt he was safe. Once he looked away I stood, drilled it, and caught him by a wheel or less. The picture to the right shows 260, 204 (DWC), and me a few hundred feet from the line. I would end up catching and passing 204.

Overall a good race. Legs were strong, kept a good pace whole race, tried my best to mitigate losses when dropped by lead group. Good descending but compact crank runs out of gears too fast. Pegged effort trying to hold group on descent which I paid for on the subsequent climb and finish sprint.
Legs. were. worked. Spirit was high.

Results: 13th out of 75 finishers in the 35-44 age group, and 60th out of 450 finishers overall.

The rest of the day

Interestingly it was nice to get kudos from other racers at finish. I typically don't get congratulated after a road race. Are the roadies usually less friendly than mountain bikers? Absolutely. This time, nice sportsmanship from a few of the competitors.

I cooled down a bit, changed, had Ultragen for recovery since I knew I had a race the next day, looked for train, ate pea soup from Grumpys, looked for the train, found end of train tracks in dirt road, dropped bike off, waited for train, had difficulty with train, the only train in town was the wrong train, the wrong train left, the "right" train arrived and I waited to be told to board, decided to just board, some people had reserved seats, what a mess. Race organization could be clear on what to expect, where to get train, etc.

Grumpy's saloon

The wrong train

Silverton organization is interesting. No train station, just tracks at the end of a dirt road. Looked for train station for 20 ish minutes, asked people but didn't know. 3.5 hour train ride back. I guess I chose the cheaper option and wonder how long the bus would have been with after race traffic.

Train is klunky, creaky, rough, and ends up tedious. Scenery is amazing. Probably nice to take a day trip to Silverton, grab a bite, shop, and return. Silverton seems quite well set up for tourism.  Not a great option after the race.



The train ride down

Above Silverton

Beautiful tough race. Need to do it again? Nah, mainly because of return logistics.

Mountain bike Specialists Cross Country race

Have you ever raced through a brewery? It's worth every penny.

Lined up with world class athletes, Todd Wells for example. Got interesting looks. As expected I didn't have the legs to keep up even before we hit the dirt. Dead last by the dirt. Passed 2 in the first few turns because one guy screwed up, one tried to pass back, tangled handlebars, made me go down. Dead last again.

Passed one back before the end of the climb; he also had raced yesterday. Passed "tangle" guy back by the end of the lap. I ended up catching 4-5 people by the end of the race where at least one was having chain issues. Better than expected. Ended 29th out of 36 finishers so I apparently wasn't ever dead last.

Crowds were awesome again all over the course although crowd through town raised the bar a few notches. Steamworks is bad ass to let us ride through and fill the place with screaming fans, cow bells, and beer hand ups. Took 2 beer hand ups this time cause it was just that kind of race. Crowd went nuts both times. Didn't feel confident on the man made obstacles this time though. They weren't positioned the same as last time and I just didn't feel like wrecking. One crash per season is plenty. Less is more here.

Legs felt ok during the race and ok after. Not as crushed as iron horse race. Maybe due to downhill finish without massive sprint at end.

Emotionally feel excited from a great race weekend. Proud of my efforts regardless of results, and happy to be back from injury.

EFS Pro cucumber first taste

I was fortunate enough to get a few servings of EFS Pro cucumber flavor a few weeks ago. Today I took a bottle on a training ride to try it out and here are my thoughts regarding the non-performance aspects of the drink. In other words, if you want scientific reasoning of why it works and why it's the best product ever, go see First Endurance's web site.

Test subject

That's me. I haven't used an electrolyte drink on the bike in years. I've found that I prefer water in my water bottles. When I am racing I supplement my water with Elete for electrolytes, and use mocha flavored EFS liquid shot for nutrition. That's it. No matter if the race is 1 hour or 12 hours. For what it's worth I've had decent results with that formula.

In the past I've used CarboRocket, CarboRocket 333, CitoMax, Heed, and EFS drink.

Test environment

That's today's training ride. I did Anaerobic Endurance Hill Intervals which means I pounded myself to my maximum up steep short hills 3 minutes at a time with 4 minutes of rest in between. The ride took about 50 minutes. Proof is on Strava.

The Product

EFS Pro cucumber. 3 scoops in a 20 oz water bottle.

First taste

I took a taste in the kitchen before the ride and thought "Um, I don't know if I can finish this bottle. I better take a water bottle with this for my ride in case I can't do it." It wasn't a bad taste, just unusual. At this point I thought the product was named "cucumber water" and I agreed it was a more subtle taste than other sports drinks I've consumed.

During the ride

I admit I had to force myself to drink the next few swigs, but luckily I was pummeling myself so I wanted hydration and chose to use the EFS Pro. After about 1/2 the bottle I started getting used to it and didn't mind it much anymore. I liked the fact that it drank easily and wasn't sweet. I did notice a bit of a syrup-like feel in my mouth after a few minutes, but much less than what I remember with previous sports drinks. I only ended up drinking from my water bottle (the non-EFS bottle) twice during the ride and just about finished my EFS Pro bottle.

Summary

I suspect people that are used to drinking sports drinks will enjoy this more subtle formula. Personally I may try to add some EFS Pro bottles in rotation, maybe one in four bottles, during long endurance events to benefit from the excellent nutrition provided and add some variety to my nutrition strategy.