Day Two of James' Portuguese Cervelo jolly. Wherein James (AKA lucky bastard) gets to ride more pro-level Cervelos with three women from Cervelo Test Team...
A chilly morning but the lovely clear blue sky promises it's gonna be another good day. It's an early one today, quick breakfast and on the bikes for 8:30am. Today our tour guides are three girls from the Cervelo Test Team who were the number one ranked womens team in 2009. It just so happens the mens team were also ranked number one as well. Pretty impressive for a pro team in their first year of competition.
My ride on day two is the new Cervelo R3. Again equipped with the same groupset, but this time the bike had full carbon Zipp 404's fitted with tubular tyres (which are almost 400grams lighter than the wheels I used on the S3).

As we head off lead by our pro rider I could feel the bike wanted to accelerate straight away. Was this just the wheels, the frame or me? I think the first two had something to do with it.
We took a different slightly flatter route to start which did cross a few rough sections of tarmac and railway crossings and the bike just glided across each obstacle with ease. You do know your riding across rough stuff but the frame really dulls every thing down leaving you feel fresher and less beaten up. As we hit a few climbs I gave it some juice and quickly find myself near the front of the group each time, leaving me with a massive grin on my face.
The R3 again has large chainstays which keeps the frame undercontrol at the back when putting power down. The razor thin seat stays are so thin they are almost on the bike just for show (and also to comply with the UCI regulations for racing bike design). The other feature of the bike is the Cervelo 'Squoval' tubes which have a square/oval shape. The frames tubes change shape along the length of each tube. This is NOT to look cool like some brands but to actually cope with the different stresses that occur on different parts of the frame. This bike was engineered first and then tweaked to look like a bike second.
I think the R3 just looks great. It's ultra-modern design, using the latest materials but still has the minimal looks of a classic bicycle. Having ridden many sportives in my time on different bikes I definitely think the R3 is up there as one of the best bikes I've ridden.
Although 2008 TDF winner Carlos Sastre uses the Cervelo R3SL as it helps him as a climber the other bike in Cervelo's catalogue is the Cervelo RS. This bike uses all the same
technology of the R3 but is 20mm higher at the front to provide a more upright position for us mere mortals. You may also notice that the thin seat stays are curved to help absorb vibrations quicker.
Anyway it was another afternoon in the classroom to learn a bit more before it was time to pack up for the early morning flight the next day.
So was it a good trip? did I learn anything? do I want one? Yes,yes and yes (now just need to convince the wife we need a new mortgage).