It’s that time; time for the RadioShack replica Madone to go back. Time to say goodbye to a machine that has recalibrated my appreciation of high-performance road bikes; time to go back to quotidian reality…

As it happens, I haven’t ridden the Trek for a while. Either it has been raining or some other reason to choose another mount has intervened, but for a brief while some time ago, I rode almost nothing else. Reynolds Attack wheels as shown went on for the Dragon Ride, which was followed by a Rapha-organised event still talked about in hushed tones two months later.

The Madone has done an evening “10”, in which it kept me on even terms machine-wise with DA and denied me the opportunity to claim that his narrow win was down to riding a superior machine and is course record holder on my regular commuting route, over which it has proven the equal on comfort of any machine in my stable. And that’s with the Bontrager saddle fitted as standard.

It has, to put it mildly, shone at every discipline it has been used for. Which is as might be expected; it’s a replica, more or less, of the 2010 Team RadioShack bikes. Will I miss it? No doubt there will be the occasional moment when I wish I was still on it but, for the most part, I suspect not. There are plenty of other bikes to ride and although few may prove to be as easy to push along as the Madone, most of them won’t leave me feeling a bit “over-biked” while waiting for the traffic light grand prix. Although the ‘Shack has always left me feeling smug a few seconds later…