lack of pie

Made me feel hungry, so I helped myself to 55g of organic cashews thus proving…

Kryton you are mental

😀

As! The owner of three Defys, either race that TCX or winter road bike it. Long term it’s a more versatile bike than the Defy. People will be racing cross frames at the Hillingdon Winter series, but you won’t see a Defy in Central League CX 🙂

My best Defy is tucked up till spring. The Boardman CX is out on Winter training. You’ll all have to wait to see TiRed’s real CX bike. That is at least true to my name 🙂

Kryton – I know you’ll hate me for this but as I said on another thread, rather than acquiring more possessions consider your busy schedule, work fewer hours and get yourself a better work/life balance. I’m not saying this to be preachy, I’m just trying to give you some advice.

Get your money back and use it on someone to do your ironing for you… Another hour back. Do you have a cleaner?

This is where we are….my schedule used to look super busy with 5.30 – 6 am turbos most mornings, but it has lead to me being ill a lot as I was so run down.

I wish!

Long term it’s a more versatile bike than the Defy.

. This is something ringing in my ears, I could see it as a new winter bike purchase with disks and a CX option. I have some Vittoria Paves I could stick on it for winter. If I was buying a new winter bike I would be doing something classy akin to that Condor though, now I have a garish thing instead.

I feel like I bought a Subaru WRX in Rally livery to pop to the shops with, although I was buoyed by the same bike appearing in the video inside Ferrals CX racing thread.

Another of my club members bought a Voodoo Bizango this weekend on the same basis – He’ll only mountain bike occasionally but he got it for £430, and it happy to have it ” just in case”. Not sure why my head can’t be happy with the same conclusions!

Sell a couple of mtb’s and use the money for Zwift kit. Then you can do your base miles on the Turbo midweek and still race CX on a Sunday 🙂

Im not an expert in training, just dipping my toe into reading and theory at the minute, but everything I’ve read says if you’ve only got 6-7 hours a week you don’t have enough time to do base miles, you are the archetypal time crunched cyclist that should concentrate on shorter, higher intensity sessions.

If you devise a plan that includes racing CX on a weekend, won’t that general routine carry over into the summer XC season?

You’d be surprised at just how big a tyre you can fit on the TCX.. I’m using 38C Gravel Grinders for the winter when not racing (then I’m using Limus,Grifo,baby Limus,Almanzos), and I’ve a set of 38C Barlow Pass for uber smooth long distance hacks on the road (NCN hacks).

Guards do fit, look plenty ugly with them on IMO, if you intend to do Winter on it. I’m not a fan myself, it’s a CXer so you should expect to get muddy..or grimy.

I’ll agree on the decals and graphics, sadly Giant seem to imply Bold statements rule..

I have some 42′ bars and a 100mm OD stem if you need to change your position (assuming thats not already on it)

@mtbtomo, whats that then?

having swapped from a bike with proper road geometry

Cancelled.

What I really want is a permanent bike such as a Tripster, Enigma or that Condor of MCTD’s setup with guards. A bike set up for bimbling, enjoying and winter riding with an ability to get down a bridleway if necessary. Best get saving.

As for racing, its MTB all the way with occasional TT’s for fun/training. I promised myself to be a one trick pony for 16/17 which is paying dividends in training so far. If I want to test my legs in a CX races I can bring my 29er HT 😀

Phew.

What I really want is a permanent bike such as a Tripster, Enigma or that Condor of MCTD’s setup with guards. A bike set up for bimbling, enjoying and winter riding with an ability to get down a bridleway if necessary. Best get saving.

Charge Plug? That’s what I’ve got my eye on – out of stock everywhere til Feb tho….

If there’s a qualified “you don’t need 100k base, 1 x weekend CX will do” response I’m happy to reconsider?

I see you’ve already bailed, but traditional base? Ugh. You need to be doing way more to get any benefit (as in 10-15 hours per week). Use your turbo training for some sweet spot base and have more fun at the weekends.

@Buckster…. I was comparing it against my Giant TCR, but I also have others. I’ve still got the TCR, much nicer to ride on road than the TCX. But once I get the wheel on the TCX sorted, the TCR will mostly be put away till race season.

I also had a Pinnacle Arkose last winter. More like a road bike geometry wise but longer and with CX tyre clearance.

The TCX feels a bit perched by comparison but I’ve added a longer stem and will make do over winter.

Use your turbo training for some sweet spot base

I do 🙂

Charge Plug?

Theres a Plug 3 on sale at Wiggle, I like the look of it TBH

Wiggle also have a Raleigh Mustang Elite on sale for not much, SRAM Rival 1 x 11 (42-10) and Schwalbe G1’s/Tubless ready setup. It doesn’t look very “classic” though.

You know there’s a titanium Charge Plug now, right? 😉

Very much disappointed at this outcome.

Confused, is Kryton a racing snake version of Hora, or Renton?

Sounds like you made a rational decision. I’m in a similar position to you in that I’m focusing on training for racing (albeit road, not MTB). I bought a CX bike which I now use exclusively on the road because it fits in best with what I want to do. There’s no point in getting a CX bike just because everyone says they’re awesome if the bikes you have allow you to do what you want to do.

Yes my conclusion too. And that work and therefore earnings are a bit crap at the moment. So I’ll be waiting a while for anything like that Ti plug/tripster. It’s a pretty big investment.

Probably the right move IMO, you already have a light 29er don’t you?

Had a CX bike myself for a bit, really didn’t click with it – draggy on road and slower than my 29er HT overall off-road. I’ve never looked back since I sold it and got a winter road bike instead.