When I was down in Arizona, I rented a road bike from Arizona Outback Adventures. The cost of the rental was expensive at roughly $300 USD for the week. The website claimed that the rental bike was a high performance, top-of-the-line Trek bike.

I had sent my measurements down ahead of time and I had also passed along my requirements for pedals. I brought my own helmet, clothing and shoes.

The bike arrived properly sized in accordance to my measurements and the bike was also equipped with a similar set of pedals to my own road bike. My current ride is a top-of-the-line Specialized S-works and it is an amazing bike. The Trek was okay but it was not a top-of-the-line bike.

It did have a Dura-Ace derailleur and I assume that the rear cassette was also Dura-Ace. But the rest of the groupset and the crank was Ultegra. Don’t get me wrong, Ultegra is a good groupset but it is not top-of-the-line. Tires, wheels, saddle were all mid-level components. And the frame, much as I expected, had been in service for a while. Where I was expecting a bike at the Madone 6.5 level or better, the rental was an older, mid-level machine.

Despite the somewhat misleading website copy, the machine did ride well and it was smoother than I expected. I had a few challenges switching from Red to Shimano — definitely not used to long-throw double shifters — but adapted well after the first ride.

The desert rides were amazing. I would get up at 5am and hit the road around 5:30am. The loop was roughly 20 miles on lightly traveled roads not too far from the resort. The weather was perfect for riding at that time of the morning. Unlike this current long week-end in Ontario. Winds gusted to 50 km/h yesterday and the temperatures were 8 to 10 degrees Celsius below normal. We did not get above 11 degrees Celsius. And this morning it is a balmy 6 degrees Celsius. I don’t have the clothing for cold-weather riding as I usually spin indoors during the winter months. I guess I didn’t think that the May long week-end would bring a return to near freezing temps. Looks like I have to pick up some heavier outdoor bike wear.

Here is a photo of the rental bike.

And here is a photo of my current bike.