By Paul Beech.

I thought that I would share my first opinion on our new race bikes provided by Leisure Lake Bikes and Specialized, which I used for the first time on our training camp in Wales.

The first thing I noticed (apart from the colour scheme and great looks) was how responsive the bike was, the speed and acceleration whether I was in the saddle or stamping on the pedals was excellent and made you want to push even harder. Where I found the biggest difference was in the descents, there were no hairy moments of wheel wobble and I felt very much in control of the bike and not the other way round with me gripping the bars for my life. Following the first descent I couldn’t praise the bike enough as I can be a little nervous on some fast descents but following the first descent I have been much more relaxed and confident on the bike.

Climbing was a joy which is clearly down to a lightweight and stiff frame, it made the whole experience much more pleasurable. The comfort of the ride was a welcomed surprise with a race bike of this pedigree, which I was very appreciative of with being on the bike for over 6hrs in Snowdonia.

Paul.