Just walked up a load of them using StreetView.

Piece of piss, not even out of breath.

I used one as a recovery aid after a fairly bad wrist break. Seemed to help. Always good to have in the office for a maximum rpm competition.

Agricultural…

Your mileage may vary / YMMV.

I would be up there and my hand would slip on a rung or something, and I'd get that massive rush of adrenaline, then I would just hug the pole and not move until they lowered the pole with me attached to it to the ground.

I was going to order one for my gf, think it would be good. Only reason I didn't is that the library she uses is now doing e-books but not in a format that Kindle will recognise. The library uses epub (Adobe). I think these can be converted to azw but not sure… It's crappy that there are different standards…

As current RRP on the Croix de Fer is £1100 I would say the Evans price is a bargain.

I got mine from Evans on ride2work scheme. Can't lose.

There was one a couple of weeks ago, down at the end of this thread –

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cyclocross-commute-fun-bike-options

He seems very happy with it.

Oooh yeah that's me he's talking about :-)

Yes I really like it, got me back into biking again after a bit of an injury. The brakes are great I am very pleased I went with discs, especially with the weather deteriorating. Used it offroad a fair bit already and it seems to be very capable. For me it's a perfect solution as I didn't want to buy a road bike. I commute on it a couple of times a week.

Do you need to buy a wetsuit or can you hire them from anywhere? That's what I've always wondered (wondered – but never bothered to research)…

Obviously there is the Genesis Croix de Fer as mentioned, this looks nice too:

Alfine makes a lot of sense I think, maybe not for CX racing? Not sure…

More here…

SkillWill, what size is your Croix de Fer?

It's a 58cm.

Love it!

Oooh here's mine on that theme:

Just a late post to say I got the Croix de Fer and absolutely love it, really got the buzz back. Thanks for the advice.

Few pics

GUILTY! THE DEFENDANT SHOULD BE TAKEN FROM HERE TO A PLACE OF EXECUTION WHERE HE WILL BE HUNG BY THE NECK UNTIL HE BE DEAD!!!!!!

Hanged ;-)

What Scotia said.

Mozilla Songbird. Free, quality and does it all. Lots of (free) add-ons too.

Just got this:

Rab Alpine

and would definitely recommend. It's thin but still warm, I reckon you could wear on walks in UK for most of the year. It's even helmet compatible!

Ordered some lights yesterday (in stock). Haven't arrived with post today, just checked order status and it is 'Processing'. Third time this month things haven't been with me next day.

I always used to use CRC not for the prices, which are good, but because I could guarantee that things would be with next day. I'd rather have predictability than cheapest. Looks like that's gone.

We didn't bother plucking it – found a vid online showing how to skin it:

Shooting Times

you didn't hang it for a week or so…are you mad?

Yeah I did read about that, I was just a little worried as there was a bit of a wound and didn't know if that would be a problem when left hanging for a week – maggots getting in or anything.

It was very tasty still.

We've eaten a pheasant that my dog caught. Brought it home, skinned it, pan seared and then casserole'd it with cider and shallots. Now that's good eating. Even let Max (the dog) have a little as he caught it.

I usually leave the rabbits though, figure a fox will eat them.

Yep, done it in Wales near Machnylleth. COLD! Good fun though.

That guy modelling the dhb shorts is dreamy…

Sounds like bib shorts are definitely the way forward I can't believe I've been so naive all these years. It certainly will be a nice treat for my girlfriend too.

Saw that from Lance Armstrong tweet, oddly enough. Thought it was very well written as all his stuff, and moving too.

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it. Sounds like some similar injuries to me except Ciron yours sounds similar but much worse!

I'm happy enough to hear it takes a long time to get back to reasonable strength again, if everyone had said it was fine again after 4 weeks I would have been concerned. I'll try and get some physio exercises to do which should help.

I guess I'm just being impatient because I used to be so strong and my tremendous strength is my livelihood (computer programmer) not to mention how I get chicks.

UK Campsite lets you search for campsites with no caravans for example. (That search is just for Surrey) but you could play around…

Yes, been using it for 18 months I would say and I love it. The wealth of add-ons make it perfect for me.

I use it and sync to my HTC Magic and also an iPod. I also use an add-on called FolderSync that lets me write the MP3s contained in a playlist to a folder with the playlist written as a .m3u to a specified location too. So I have (for example) a "Top Rated Dylan" playlist which is songs by Bob Dylan that I have rated – I can select to have all the specific MP3s in that playlist written to a specified location as well as the playlist. I use that to write it to a little USB stick and play in my car.

Also have MediaFlow add-on to display album art in a 'flow' form and I use the Chromibird feather. There are loads of great add-ons, Last.Fm, lyric lookup etc. Player works nicely, don't think it has crashed for months, doesn't use too much memory, no additional services run (like iTunes).

As you may have guessed I'm a fan :-)

Plenty of good rolling hills out in the Wolds (Louth way). Would have thought it was easy to do a nice loop, even out to the Wash and back.

Unfortunately I've moved away now so not much help!

To Ramona by Bob Dylan.

Your cracked country lips, I still wish to kiss, as to be by the touch of your skin;
Your magnetic movements still capture the minutes I'm in…

Piss is only sterile while in the body…

I often do it when reading/tired/hungover/half asleep.

A bigger question is whether you sit down or stand up to 'wipe' after a solid…

Ooks of Hazzard – MGMT cover.

Awesome :-)

Was watching the Typhoon yesterday but the best display (IMO) was the F22. Awesome.

Does look awesome doesn't it?

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated.

I did look at the Spesh Tricross and agree it seems well specced, I must admit the look of the fork put me off a bit, it seems strange!

Will be using this bike 75% on-road 25% off so I think cantis will be fine. I keep injuring myself mountain biking (just recovering from broken elbow and rib) so I'm thinking this will be good for still getting out there but not quite a fully roadie bike.