It was totally worth the effort. I walk in the door of the shop and start chatting with guys. They tell me that Trek just so happens to be in town doing test rides. I get my butt up to the Weber State Stadium (location of said test rides) as fast as I can. Sure enough they had several Madones and I was able to spend time figuring out the right size. They swapped stems and frames. I wish I would have know they would be there. I would have taken my bike clothes and shoes. At any rate, we figured out that the 58" is a better fit. I used a 90mm stem with a 17 degree rise. I wonder if a 12 degree wouldn't be better, but I might not find a Bontrager stem with those specs. That is fine.

I was pretty sure I was going to do a Project One so that I could get a SRAM Red groupset. The guys around here lean that way. The guys at the shop down there and the Trek rep both said that for the money they would go with the stock bike. The price works out such that I can do a stock Trek 6.9 and get Race XXX Lite wheels or do a Project One with Race X Lite but get the Red Group. It is a hard call. Maybe it shouldn't be. I still don't know what to do. I don't want 2008 to be over before I get a new bike. I really wish I could get the new Dura Ace 7900 but we won't see that until September which means it won't ship until next spring.

Now, having said all that and after coming of my drooling high Cycling News did a review of the Madone 6.9. Their conclusion was that the 5.2 was almost as good of a bike. It weighs 600 grams more. However, most of the weight savings comes from the expensive wheels which shave 290 grams. The new Ultegra SL looks cool, works great and is almost as light as Dura-ace. You can almost buy two 5.2s for the cost of a 6.9 which means that I could get one for myself and one for the wife.

At any rate I think I might head to the local shop at lunch and find out what my riding habit is going to cost this summer.

I hate waiting but I am looking forward to the day when I can max out my credit cards.