My long awaited sportive/audax road bike arrived on Friday. After a late night putting it all together (and hunting for a T25 Torx driver), here it is, ready to ride.

I’ve ridden it a couple of times (see the Strava rides to the right) and I’m impressed. It’s smooth, comfortable and when I stand up on the pedals, accelerates better than I expected.

When I got on the bike this morning, strangely it didn’t feel like I was sitting on a bike. There was none of the familiar saddle-soreness or shoulder aches. It felt more like running, more instinctive, more natural. I guess this is because being custom-made it simply fits.

My performance on my favourite 3 hills route was average, but I’m fairly sure that is down to my current lack of fitness and the couple of times the chain fell off due to my inadequate gear set up. More tweaking and more training required!