2014 Trek Madone 5.9 Review

I have been lucky enough to get a new 2014 Trek Madone 5.9, this bike is very similar to the Madone 5.2 I reviewed last year. The frame has not been changed since last year so I will not spend too much time reviewing that part of the bike, for more information on the frame design see my review of the 2013 Trek Madone 5.2 that I posted last year.

Falls Creek

There are a few differences between the Madone 5.9 and the Madone 5.2, the biggest difference being the most obvious, the Di2 group set. Along with this however is the upgraded wheelset, the Bontrager Race Light wheel set rather than the Bontrager Race on the 5.2. This upgrade saves a couple of hundred grams, having this weight saving off the wheels makes for a huge performance benefit. There are also the different handlebars and a titanium railed saddle that save a little bit of weight compared to the Madone 5.2.

For 2014 Shimano have really improved their Ultegra Di2 group set, the technology from last years Dura Ace group set has trickled down to the more affordable Ultegra level. The motors in the front and rear derailleurs are dramatically smaller than last year and they come with a much nicer finish on them making for a very good looking group set. The new crank set is a fantastic innovation, no longer do you need to swap crank sets to be able to run compact or standard chain rings. This new crank will accept any size chain ring from 34 tooth to 53 tooth, no need to have a second crank set, just change the chain rings as needed. 

New, smaller, front derailleur.

New, smaller, rear derailleur

This one goes up to eleven

Being reasonably new to using Di2, one of the first things I did was to spend way too much time changing gears. Gear goes up, gear goes down, gear goes up, gear goes down etc. The ease and consistency of each shift is what really catches your attention. It encourages you to use your gears more, for example, in a situation where the road is undulating gently and you might normally either spin out in a gear that is too small or stomp your way through in a gear that is too big, you will instead change up or down as needed even if it will only be for a few pedal strokes. This can make a big difference to your overall ride experience, allowing you to stay fresher longer and possibly even hold a higher average speed. The speed of the shifting is the other big thing you notice initially, so immediate that sometimes you will doubt that the shift was actually completed. The minimal effort required to shift on a Di2 system makes the still minimal effort required on a mechanical set seem like hard work. Being able to shift easily up or down with nothing more than your little finger feels pretty cool, I am not sure if the novelty will wear off at some stage but after a couple of months riding and a couple of thousand kilometres I am still enjoying it as much as day one. The feel of the Di2 levers compared to the mechanical version is just awesome, they are a much smaller shape to fit into your hand better and they allow more hand positions to be used on the bar and levers. I will find it difficult to ever go back to mechanical gears.

Overall, I would wholeheartedly recommend the upgrade from the Madone 5.2 to the Madone 5.9, it is well worth the extra money just for the Di2 group set alone, the other improvements are simply the cherries on top. 

- Brad.

7 Peaks Domestique Series - Christmas Holiday

Hello everyone, it has been a little while but I wanted to fill you all in on my adventures over the Christmas break. I decided to go up to Falls Creek for a few days to do the 7 Peaks Domestique Series, three days of riding up four of the seven peaks in the series. I am still struggling to  find time to train so I went up with quite a bit of trepidation as to how much pain I was in for over the three days.

The first climb was Falls Creek, 30km of climbing is hard in anyone's book but at the start of the ride I noticed the temperature on my Garmin telling me it was a cool 42.6 degrees. This added a whole new layer of pain on top of the actual climbing, just trying to keep cool was taking it's toll on my body. The first twenty kilometres went by reasonably easily but the last ten kilometres was soul destroying. I was telling myself that I had no business up there in those hills and that I needed to just get in the car and drive home with my tail between my legs. I finally managed to finish the climb and get my 7 Peaks passport stamp for proof then I started climbing the rest of the way up to my hotel room. I figured I would stay the night and go home in the morning.

Falls Creek

                                                                    Falls Creek

Two Down

The next morning however I woke up feeling reasonably good so I thought I would take a crack at the next mountain, Mount Hotham. Another 30 kilometre climb here but with some steeper ramps than Falls Creek has and a few descents thrown in to really mess with your head. After grinding away for so long to gain all of those vertical metres it is heartbreaking to just throw them all away on a quick descent knowing the whole time that you are going to have to climb them all over again. Towards the top of Mount Hotham the surroundings really open up to a moonscape type environment, the crosswinds up there are just brutal. I was struggling to stay upright and not get blown all over the road. The Hotham climb is split up into three distinct ramps with flatter sections in between, the first of these ramps being a section called "The Meg". This was the spot when I started to doubt my decision to ride again, I was really hurting already and still had most of the climb to go. It didn't help when I saw one of the Domestique Series organisers Andy van Bergen come past me on this section in his big chain ring seemingly doing it easy. This scenario kept going for the rest of the climb, telling myself that I was a fool for even attempting these rides with my severe lack of fitness. But I kept on going with the thought of reaching my goal of completing all seven peaks this year. I barely made it up to the top for my passport stamp then had to ride back down to Mt. Beauty where I parked the car.

Mount Hotham

Mount Hotham

I went straight to get some food in Mt. Beauty and then went down to the river to cool off and soak a bit. Again the internal dialogue was that I needed to just get back in the car and drive home but the food and the soak made me feel a bit better so I went to the start of the third climb, Mount Buffalo. Only 22 kilometres of climbing here and apparently one of the easier climbs in the seven peaks series. Easy is a very relative term, it killed me too, but it was a beautiful climb and again I finally made my way up to the top and collected my stamp. I must have looked pretty bad at that stage as people were asking after my well being with very concerned looks on their faces. I was an absolute mess, and yes, yet again I was telling myself to drive home and give up.

Mount Buffalo

Four Down

Lots of food and a good sleep can work wonders, I got up the next day thinking that I could just drive home via Omeo instead of the Hume Highway, and since I was going past the start of the last climb anyway I might as well give it a go and see how far up the road I could get before turning around and going home. Dinner Plain was the last climb of the three days and is also the longest, 42 kilometres. There are some long descents on this climb so the average gradient is relatively low, but considering the length of these descents it means that the road gets up to about 12% gradient in some spots. OUCH! I was cursing my decision to do this last peak, but again I just ground away on the pedals and slowly made my way to the top for my fifth of seven stamps in my passport.

Dinner Plain

Five Down

After getting my stamp I started to work my way back down the "descent" of Dinner Plain, I was OK on the actual downhill sections but when the second of the three climbs on the way down came up, I was finished. I was telling myself that I just needed to get back to the car in any way I could, since I had ridden up all four peaks I figured I was allowed to take it a bit easy. I had three separate people offer me a lift back to my car, yes I still looked that bad, but I needed to complete this under my own steam. So I reluctantly turned them all down, they were all cyclists as well so they understood what I was going through and cheered me on as they sped off.

I somehow managed to get back to the parked car at Omeo and went straight into the river to cool off and start to recover. Wow, I had never been through anything like this before, I know that I  could usually ride all of these peaks without too much trouble but to do it without any fitness and in these temperatures I went further into the "Pain Cave" than I have ever ventured before. I made it out the other side though, so I feel absolutely terrific that I did complete the climbs, my confidence to tick off the last two peaks is right up there at the moment. With only Mt. Buller and Mt. Baw Baw to go, I have done both of these climbs before so at least I know what I am in for, LOTS of pain and some gorgeous roads, I can't wait.

If you are interested in joining us on the last ride in this years Domestique Series up Mount Buller then follow this link for details and to register for the ride.

- Brad.