I got a Madone 6.2 about five years ago. I put 4200 miles on it and then got sick. Now it sits in the basement. I want to ride it so bad but I just don't have any energy left in me. I ride my rainy day bike 5 miles and then I am sick for three days. 
But the bike was an awesome bike.
I am having the same symptoms, a bit of exercise and wasted the rest of the day. Since moving to Arizona from Colorado five years ago my health has deteriated. i continue my search to find a decent doctor that wants to improve my health without pumping me full of pills.
Today, I went for a ride with an old friend who has just bought a pristine '92 Cannondale 3.0 Criterium with Campagnolo Chorus 8-speed. It was interesting to see how quickly he got used to the ergo controls and the grin on his face when we pushed through the first tight bend. There were nothing else like them in the early 90-s, it took others nearly 10 years to make something better for the pure racer when it comes to power transfer. Chis, I think you will really like your '90 when it is finished. Did the '90 still have the higher BB compared to the "normal" racing frames? That was gone by 1992.
We found some things that need work on his bike before he rides it much more, but it is in a remarkable condition.
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I'm one of those weird people who can't ride a bicycle at all - which is odd because I owned motorbikes most of my adult life, only stopped riding a couple of years ago due to retirement and sight problems which make it difficult for me to ride a motorbike safely at speed or at night. I thought it would be easy to switch to occasional cycling, but I've tried several times now and just can't seem to get my coordination to work, all of my reflexes are geared wrong for it. I generally get a couple of feet then fall off!
It is strange how different the coordination between weight and steering is when switching from bike to motorbike or the other way around. I think it is the balance between steering input, countersteering and weight distribution that needs to be very different when you as a rider are such a large part of the total mass.
Have you tried riding something like the traditional British 3-speed roadster? The Carltons, Pashleys and the lower-end Raleighs feel more motorbikelike than most other bikes in my experience.
Reading the comments about the bridge opening in Ladies tour of Norway has been interesting. I wonder how many of the enthusiasts who don't know the rule book have ever raced... The breakaway had only 25 seconds on the peloton, so the commissaires did everything correctly. Had the split been 31 seconds or more, the break would have been allowed to start before the peloton. None of the magazines or other media seem to have grasped this fundamental rule when it comes to race incidents.
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Sorry for the delay replying - So far I've only tried the rental bikes that are available in London, which have three or four gears I think - I weigh enough that I don't want to risk damaging a friend's bike until I'm sure that I can actually get the damn thing to work.
The Borisbike is probably one of the most difficult bikes there is to ride as it is heavy, has little trail and a quite long wheelbase. The bottom bracket sitting so far forward doesn't make it easier.
An old Worksop-made Carlton or a Nottingham-made Raleigh with a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hub is cheap and if you find that you can't ride it, it is a nice piece of British industrial history to own. They are much more forgiving to ride than the London rentals as the geometry is much more stable.
It is probably extremely difficult today to have a complete bicycle with the frame and all components made in the same country. Unless that country is
Taiwan or Japan.
I used Look road pedals for a while, never got used to them. Should have tried a bit longer.
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Just popping to say, "Hi" and tell everyone we're still very much alive ha ha. Been busy, company merger and such, and it so insufferably hot and humid! Seriously,I have to be careful not to sweat damage the shutter etc. on my camera, all of which which has led to not much shooting. Though we should get some relief from the tropical storm/hurricane that's supposed to hit nearby Friday afternoon. Potential for 15-20" of rain, woo hoo! Keeping an eye on whether we'll need to evacuate.
Marcus Rowland, I',m 6' 1" and 200+ even in great shape. My favorite bike for tooling around town is a flat bar single-speed. More upright than a road bike, and easier to pitch around and dodge cars, potholes, etc. with the flat bars. If you want gears, they make the same type of bike with 3 or 5 speed hubs like Peter was talking about.
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Marcus, to describe the Borisbike with motorbike comparisons, it is like having the twitchy steering of an early Kwak sportsbike with the mass of a Goldwing and the seating position of a Harley '74. The classic three speeds ride like a Meriden Triumph or a featherbed Norton, without the lack in reliability.
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