First CX Ride – a pictorial journey :)

awesome! Riding a cross bike is one of life’s best experiences.
Looks like a nice bike and like the spaniel reference.

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Uncle John[/url] by h4muf[/url], on Flickr

I love fast exploring on mine.60/70 miles a day is easy on one!

Seen a few of those Boardmans about and its got me wanting one! Got a road bike a month ago but it’s not as fun as I remembered it being. Still not sure whether to try and trade it with someone for a CX! All the bridleways round here are a bit tame for a mtb but are too much for a road bike.

h4muf – where’s that then? Looks ace.

Heading out on mine in a minute, i’ll take some pics 🙂

Alex = Ashover in Derbyshire.That bit is little cheeky 😉

Ah, man! My journey to work is perfect for a cross bike.. 50/50 road and offroad, about 15miles… please tell me those Boardmans are really really expensive and I could never afford one… please!

get some nice yellow tape 😉

I’ve been using my Spesh Tricross as a winter trainer and it’s consistently only 1 mph slower over my normal rides that my carbon summer bike. I guess wider tyres and heavier weight are the reasons. It does mean that the roadie will feel fantastically fast and racy when I get back on it; I’m taking it to South Africa in 10 days…..

sefton – nope it’s still gopping 😉

on a mtb I feel I’m sat on top plugging away at the pedals. on the cx bike I feel like I’m in it spinning with no loss of power.

sefton – thought you had a Flux – what size is it and how tall are you?

Ashover? Not too far from where I used to live. Nowt wrong with a bit of cheeky 🙂

@DezB: I paid about £770 for mine with a discount code and cash-back. Pretty good value for money. Looked at second hand ones (of which there are a few) but all Large!

I’m 5 10 and the flux is a medium with a 70mm stem (feels great comfort wise)

I’m just making the point that a cx bike will put you in a different position (that for me is easier to spin and get some good speeds)

A few photos from todays ride. 40 odd mile route from Poole, 30 of which are off road. No mud and no need to clean the bike afterwards. 😀

5 minutes from home and we’re off road
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Shortcut bit of singletrack through the woods
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5 minute coffee stop to look at the steam train
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Dive into the woods
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For a couple of 20 minute laps
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A little bit of this
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Plenty of this on the way home
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And the sun even came out 🙂
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Roll on Saturday, lets have a bit more of it.

looks like a great route 🙂

Looks fab. No mud you say. Is that Poole, California? 🙂

Daaarset me dears! I did have to swerve two puddles if that makes you feel any better. 😉

How do you rate the GW frameset rusty trowel?

Good enough fenred. It was one of the only few 54s long enough for my monkey arm/short leg combo. Done a few races this winter on it as well as trail work.

At £300 for the whole bike off ebay i have no complaints.
It’s going to get a carbon fork on it as soon as i can find a second hand one cheap enough for the wife to ok. 🙄

Bloke i know has one as well, built posh with shimergo (campy ergo shifters and shimano mechs) set up and he seems happy with his too.

I may be wrong, but i think they might be the same as the Dolan ones.

oops, double post

Bit of thread resurrection. Out again today. We have all the mud missing from a certain Mr R. Trowel’s ride 😉 Found some more trails to act as non road links. Not much singletrack but a fun/scary rocky doubletrack descent and some cracking views. All of which I failed to catch on camera. Got these instead.

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Getting lost within sight of home[/url] by Alex Leigh[/url], on Flickr

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Cheeky but nice[/url] by Alex Leigh[/url], on Flickr
Nice bit of singeltrack behind there.

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Do you think the FC will notice?[/url] by Alex Leigh[/url], on Flickr
Kids today eh? 1 min from a fireroad on a well used trail. I rode up it jumped off the bike and then made a tyre mark some 8 foot down the trail. That’ll fox ’em!

Had another great ride. No way I’d have bothered going out on the road bike or MTB today. Not enough time/raining/etc. Back out next week I hope as still loads more exploring to do 🙂

Bit more confident with the bike in the singletrack as well. Feels stable yet quick steering. Hopped a few logs and rode a bit more on the drops. All good!