Its -10c in Texas USA at the momment.

I lived In Minnesota for a year as a student working in agriculture, we lived in -30 for several months, had to clear 3 foot of snow daily just so we could get the pigs out in the lots fed, had to put additive in petrol so it did not freeze, tractors had to be pluged in at night to sump heaters, run nipco heaters blowing on them to keep the oil warm, then let the tractors warm up for an hour before the oil was warm enough to use them, used snowmobile for work feeding the pigs, dressed in 2 sets of insulated overalls to stay warm, you had 20 mins to move the stem cleaner from one building to another or it would freeze, 20 mins to fill the slurry tanker get it to the field and empty it, or it was a 9 ton ice cube for god knows how long, young pigs (5 weeks) if the heaters went out you had an hour tops to get them going or they would Die
So we are concerned about the little amount of snow we have got, Christ sake Just take it slow, dress up for the waether and get on with it. and all this 4×4 crap, we had 2 4×4 pickups but we rather us the Honda Estate car in the snow and ice as it was far more predictable as to what it would do, Plus the last thing you needed was to be stuck in a drift with snow rammed between the engine and fan and the not be able to run,with the Honda you were not tempted to run the drifts, and perish in the cold, one couple got stuck out in a whiteout one night, they ran the truck till it ran out of fuel, then started burning parts of the car to get some heat, they were found the next morning perished, they were 100 yrds from the local radio station, but the whiteout was so bad they or the people at the radio station could not see/here them.
So come on, lets just deal with the weather,

Because they are havin fun and not so F**** bashfull as us Pissee Brits.

Dont go near a SS BB,
We use HOPE BB on 90% of the Salsa Team bikes and have no problems with them, the Shimano BBs did about 6 to 9 months before we needed to swap them out, we run SS Hope BBs, I dont think ceramic is worth the money.
I run King head sets in my own bikes and one is now 10 years old and still as good as the day I purchased it. so if the BBs are as good, its worth the money.

Hope the team cars dont break down!!!

Agree with GB, I used to think Assos was way expensive, but now I have some it is the best money can buy, Capoforma is great kit aswell but I can only get it from the States even though its italian.Northwave also make some nice summer kit.

Davina DVD

John, I understand your frustration,Myself, Paul (Bike Art) are always banging our head against the wall with the FC, they just go from one meeting to another and another but dont actually get any progress with the trails, Paul (Bike Art) we spent 2 hrs yesterday out in the frost looking at the damage and attempts at repair the RED TRAIL after felling, and we were not happy when we were told the BLACK TRAIL was going to be closed last weekend due to a 4 metre track were the forestry machinery had been running in the week, we managed to get them to put caution signs up and keep the trail open.
As you know I have been dealing with the forestry in Thetford for over 15 years with racing and Frank, Slumpy and I were trying to do the same thing you guys are trying so hard to do But decided we were flogging a dead horse, so we just went out and rode our bikes.I think you guys would be far happier if you did the same.
The one things that I cannot get my head around in TROG at Tunstall do not have the problems you guys do, Maybe we need a few more rangers like Tunstall who lives in the the real world.

I have a hot and cold tap outside, I use the hot 90%, great for cleaning the bike on them cold days plus it come up great using Turtle Wax, Hot tap is the way forward. Be sure that you can isolate the taps from in the house, so you can drain them in the cold and stop the neighbours etc using your water.

Nokia 6310i the workhorse of phones, long battery life, No frills, great signal, robust, available on ebay.

Buy a Reno, cheaper to run, 6 speed box, more reliable, not so nickable.

Wellies

Screwfix or Toolmart

Changing lanes dont work, also watch the mobile "revenue collection" camera vans, they can get you coming at them aswell as going away from them. I know, B**** got me last year for 1mph over the % limit.

What ever you get, get an oil free compressor and put a water trap on the line, I use a Clarks 25ltr, 2.5hp compressor with a retractable hose real, get 2 blowers, one to blow the water of the bike/dust yourself down with and the other, purchase a track pump hose repair kit and attach it to the other blower with a jubilee clip, this makes a tyre inflator.great for tubless, It the most used bit of kit on the team van,well apart from a 5mm allen key

Yep, seat post bag for shock pumps and the stem bag for tube, multi tool, lever, phone etc all tucks in the jersey pocket, also them washing machine bags good for inner tube, multi tool, tyre lever, fits in the jersey pocket.

I had a Brenderup box trailer about 12 years ago, same as Ifor but with better running gear, made for higher speeds in Europe, It was a 12ft box and I had 12 fork mounts down each side to fix bikes to, and the front wheels just sat on top of the bikes, if you get the spacing right you will not get any damage to bikes. my advice on trailers is get one with proper size car wheels, not the little ones,and be sure to have spare, my Brenderup had the same size as the car at the time. I now have a 7 mtr Humbaur (german built) and this is just the next step up and one fantastic trailer to tug down the road. I have towed Ifors, they tow good but not sure on the finish with their box trailers, for Ag use, they are fantastic, we use a little ifor for moving the Quad and towing behind it when setting race course and it will take the abuse off road. there you go my trailer knowledge, hope it helps

I will be out next Saturday strimming parts of the course and the bomb holes, we had planned to do it today as the Huskys were in the Forestry calendar to be at Cranwick Heath,Cranwick,(Further North) but for some reason they were on FR24.