I was checking out what Trek have been up to, particularly in the context of Lance Armstrong’s return to racing and what he’s going to be riding, and I was shocked to discover that a customised, top of the range Trek Madone would set you back in excess of R170 grand, based on the current insane rand dollar exchange rate.

I recall about a year or maybe a bit more ago, Bicycling Magazine published a feature where they deliberately tried to rack up a huge bill building the most pimped road bike available to humanity, and only got up to a tally of about 100k. The pricing landscape has certainly got a lot more mountainous since then. Like Alp d’Huez mountainous.

Anyhow, the customisation / build your bike app on the Trek site is pretty cool, and in my case thats almost certainly as close as I’ll get to one of these things. Not being one to skimp on the trimmings when it comes to virtual bicycles, I managed to get my price ticket up to the oxygen tank – demanding altitude of $15,900.

The site lets you go as far as having your signature printed on the bike and then mailing the pdf of your creation off to a Trek dealer to have the bike built. Apparently the turn-around time is around 30 days. Here’s the bike I ended up with – oh the hotness. Be patient, it takes a little while to start loading. Build your own Madone here.

Here’s a video breaking down the Madone 6.9 as ridden by Team Astana – favourites to win the 2009 Tour de France.

Lance Armstrong on the Madone

Funny article on Boing Boing tonight. There’s been a mini-demonstration in LA with cyclists and rollerbladers riding down the highway, apparently to demonstrate the impracticalities of rush hour commuting in a car. Obviously the traffic was more or less gridlocked (as it is there every day for around 6 hours apparently) and the bikes easily overtook the cars.

Well this is something I can well believe and relate to, for the simple reason that its something I do in Cape Town fairly regularly.
• I cycle a lot.
• I live in Kalk Bay
• I work in Town
• I commute to work and back on my bike

If I can see that the M3 is gonna be totally backed up from Claremont (usually around 7am), the quickest way to go is, well, the M3, and I’ll ride down it, sometimes all the way from Wynberg Hill to the road works at Hospital Bend.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a death wish, and I don’t ride on the Blue Route through Tokai – negotiating offramps with cars doing in excess of 120 does not appeal to me – its not a safe option for me or the people I’m sharing the road with. But I have thought about it, and seen other crazy cyclists doing it.

The thing is, highways are nice and smooth, wide and pretty safe when the cars are doing about 20km/h and you’re averaging 40, whereas the main road alternative is a taxi-riddled death trap.

Long live congestion.

By the way, if you cycle or commute long distance in Cape Town, please leave a comment. Particularly if you ride in or around the deep south and want someone to ride with, I’m keen to get in touch with you.