KATHERINE’S CANYON SPECTRAL 125 CF 7 £3,555.98 (inc. P&P)

Tester Kat tackles some tidy trail centre tech in Snowdonia National Park

Wow, what a roadtrip! After leaving Cannock Chase we spent a night in a campsite next to Llandegla in North Wales, planning to ride there the following day. However, we ended up heading into Snowdonia, on the basis of a more favourable weather forecast.

Not many people have heard of, let alone ridden, Penmachno. The car park is a gravel layby and there are only two trails – the 19km Dolen Machno red and the 11km Dolen Eryri extension. It’s straight up the fireroad to begin, hauling up to reveal stunning views of the valley below, before diverting onto typical Welsh singletrack; sometimes technical, mostly up.

Back onto fireroads, we climbed another steep incline, beside a river of gorgeous cascades and up to the start of three trail sections – Ffastis un, Ffastis dau and Ffastis tri. The arduous ascent was instantly forgotten as we flew along the winding valleyside singletrack, over rocky slate steps and back down to the tree line.

The Dolen Machno loop just kept giving, with a rocky traverse that tested our bike handling, a smooth pumptrack section through the trees and a fast and furious descent at the head of the valley that was reminiscent of some of the Afan Forest trails. It saved the best for last, though, with Super Sync proving to be the roughest track of all, with a series of rock slabs, 180-degree switchbacks and roots to contend with.

By this point I was pretty shattered, which actually worked in my favour.

I was so keen to get back to the car that I let loose more than usual and ended up doing some of my best riding in ages, letting the suspension do the work under me, unhindered by braking forces. I’m not usually very competitive, but I was pretty stoked to be in the top 10 per cent of women’s Strava times on that last descent – what a rush!

Since getting home to Devon we’ve enjoyed some more chilled rides, thankfully with a bit less elevation to contend with! The Spectral has had some TLC after I took delivery of a Topeak Torq Stick torque wrench. I’ve also swapped out the hefty 2.4in Maxxis Minion DHR II EXO tyre on the front, to give me a little more speed on our local loops. www.canyon.com