I think it was back in March that I first saw and fell in love with her. She's definitely been worth waiting for. Took her to work today and was amazed at the smoothness compared to my Raleigh. I moved the seat forward a bit at the weekend and I feel I'm sitting more comfortably now. The seat has been left on the low side (I've got short legs) at my request but I think I will probably move it up by an inch or two once I get more used to the bike - in a couple of days.

Definitely don't like the clips and straps on the pedals - they're a pain in the neck. I've only been using the right one. The left one I've not been bothering with as it keeps going upside down. More hassle than it's worth. Not sure what type of clipless pedals I should go for - SPDs or what.

Recommendations please girls (got to be something that's easy to clip in and out of).

What a difference going up hills. On the steepest part of the hill (on the way home is all uphill) normally with my other bike I can go 7.5 mph max, usually it's around 6.5 - 6.9 mph. I went shooting up the steep part of the hill today at 9.1 mph. I only used the second chain ring. Going to have a play later on with changing the front derailleur to get the feel for it. Just so happens we have new neighbours - and she's a keen cyclist At last I've got someone to cycle with. She's coming round when she finishes work and we're going to have a tour of the cycle paths - once we fix her bike - it's lost a pedal. There's a couple of pedals going spare on my son's old mountain bike so we'll put them on.

Yeeha!!! I can feel FUN coming up