Hey, guys, thanks for the votes of confidence the past couple days. I got back to the States yesterday around 6:30am after a 16 hour flight (and a 2 hour one before that) and had a full day before passing out at 10pm. Today I am a bit jetlagged but not exhausted.

As for Body Glide, I have some but I am probably -1 to -0.5 sigma on that curve. Once you see my photos you'll understand. I am really heavy in the thighs. Exercise never causes weight loss for me. I lost 80lbs in 2008 but right now I am probably more than 10lbs heavier than my regular 140lbs. I was on some meds that made me gain nearly 20lbs but I've lost 5-8lbs since getting off it. I'm hoping the rest will just come off on its own over the next month. But, generally, for me to lose weight I have to modify my diet, not my exercise. Even when I am running 75 miles a week I don't lose weight if my diet is the same. In order to get the scale to move I usually have to scale down to a 1200 cal/day diet. I did that in 2008 and it was pretty f-ing miserable to live like that for 8 months. I'm not sure getting down to 120lbs is worth it to me.

Anyway, since we had a full day of family activities yesterday I was only able to try out a couple of bikes that were available in my size at REI - A Cannondale Women's Synapse size 51 and a Navarro Carema size Small.

I felt like the Synapse was too short but it wasn't truly uncomfortable. I felt like I was sitting up like I do on my mtb, though I know I was leaning more forward than on my mtb. I didn't like the 20 speed gearing. I felt like there could be more gears. But that might be something I have to get used to. Also, I found it incongruous that for switching gears it went like this: Big lever put it in easier gear on the right side but big lever on the left side put it in harder gear. I feel like both big levers should result in the same feel. Again, something to get used to.

The Carema is not a bike I would ever buy but I did feel a little more stretched out on it.

Here's my matrix with these two bikes added.

[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]Brand[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Roubaix[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Moto[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Tarmac[/TD]
[TD]Cannondale Synapse[/TD]
[TD]Novarro Carema[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Size[/TD]
[TD]49[/TD]
[TD]52[/TD]
[TD]48[/TD]
[TD]51[/TD]
[TD]49[/TD]
[TD]52[/TD]
[TD] 51[/TD]
[TD] Small[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Measurements[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Top Tube Length[/TD]
[TD]518[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #FFFF00"]537[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #FFFF00"]535[/TD]
[TD]540[/TD]
[TD]518[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #FFFF00"]537[/TD]
[TD] 52[/TD]
[TD] 52[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Head Tube Length[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #FF3333"]125[/TD]
[TD]145[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00FF00"]110[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #FF3333"]130[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00FF00"]100[/TD]
[TD]120[/TD]
[TD] 14.5[/TD]
[TD] unreported[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Seat Tube Angle[/TD]
[TD]75.5[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #E6E64C"]74[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #E6E64C"]74[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #E6E64C"]74[/TD]
[TD]75.5[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #E6E64C"]74[/TD]
[TD] 72[/TD]
[TD] 74[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Notes[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD] Felt cramped[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


The next two posts will have photos and video of each of these two bikes.