New bike, first impressions.

I picked up my new bike during a really cold period in Dec. Way too icy to risk riding. Link to that post. So I had to walk past it to the turbo trainer for a whole week. Each time wondering if the weather would improve by the weekend.

The sparkly iridescent midnight holographic colour scheme as it's called looks good. It should be even better in full sunlight. It got lots of complements from the club. Depending on the angle of light you can see purple, green and blue; maybe more will show themselves as the days get brighter.

From the first few yards it felt efficient; that's the best word for it. The bike reacts to every input much more keenly. It accelerates and climbs more easily; cornering feels more stable. 

It's lighter so that will account for some of the improvement, the frame is stiffer and it's more aerodynamic. The geometry is more race focused, which gives the cornering the extra sharpness. But it's not too extreme, even quite strong sidewinds don't throw it off line. I can feel road imperfections more acutely, not so much I dread riding it.

The roads were wet, with some big puddles; at one point the road was flooded to a depth of around a foot. Having disc brakes really paid dividends over the rim brakes of my previous road bike.

I know it's only the first sixty miles; but it's already delivered what I'd hoped it would. I can't wait to attack the time trials next year, and go touring on it. 

It's really lifted my spirits, and restored my mojo.