Cyclocross: all of the faff

Here's a little film from Dave Haygarth featuring the two of us faffing. A lot...

It’s the National Championships at the weekend, and time to reflect as the season approaches its finale.

Cyclocross is a strange sport. It breeds and harbours obsessives. For a discipline that involves belting around muddy fields, there is an inordinate amount of fine-tuning, preparation and finesse… from the meticulously exact tyre pressures for the conditions in the correct tubulars with the correct tread, to the perfecting of the right line on the course recce at 8am in -2°C. The right clothes, the right food, just enough sleep, the right warm-up… the training, the bike fettling, and even the Dirt Bags to make sure we clean off properly after a play in the mud.

This short road movie is about all of the faff of cyclocross for team mate Alan Dorrington and I as we covered the northern half of England in the final three rounds of British Cycling’s National Trophy series.

Yeah, we raced, too. But that was just for a few minutes every fortnight.

La tempête

I had a little cry to myself as I headed toward the finish at Helwith Bridge. I usually feel a wave of emotion once down off the Penyghent track and heading for home on the last road section, but at the end of this year's Peaks my 'wobble' was particularly intense....

Part relief at being able to finish after all the preparation, part relaxation after several hours of deep concentration, and part a recognition of the almost primal feeling of having survived something quite threatening and at times deeply unpleasant.

Neil Welsh captured a pensive yours truly at the start

I know the Peaks well enough to know what I have to do to put together a successful ride. Even after some experience it still takes a bit of effort and luck to get through unscathed and enjoy the eclectic commentary as you ride up the finish funnel. This year was different though. The wind, the rain, the course conditions were as many observed, the worst they could remember and those with longer memories agreed that they were the worst in 30 or so years.

A quiet, grim mood seemed to grip all as the field hit the saturated bogs of the lower slopes of Simon Fell. There was almost no joking and chatting like in previous years - mostly an eerie silence among the riders. This soon gave way to greater anxiety as little tasters of the wind arrived from the left before morphing into a feeling of full survival mode by the top as the 50mph plus winds threatened to tear everyone's bike from their grasp, and throw any stumbling bodies after them for good measure. It was the same for all, though I claim a little special place in the insanity for riding with deep section wheels that turned my bike into even more of a sail. Muppet.

And so it continued. Wild, sometimes slow-motion but still careering descending in the howling gale down to Cold Cotes, a bike swap to get ride of the carbon sails, I mean wheels and then the relative aural calm of a howling tailwind to Bruntscar. A vicious two wheel slide over the cattle grid on the farm track to wake me up and then a repeat of the process as the wind wound up to maximum speed over the top of Whernside, again from the left but this time with a precipitous drop to right to punish a wobble on the narrow track.

I tried and failed to make the Whernside descent flow, it again proving to be my nemesis during the race. Got some of it right, lots of it not right. Must try harder next year.

Onto to Penyghent Lane in the now cold and heavy rain after a morale boosting cheer from the Cycle Sport Pendle gazebo crowd at Ribblehead, fretting about chilling down and becoming too cold to ride later in the race.

Luckily it eased for a bit, and the Lane passed in it's usual blur of pain with the brief excitement of 'The Puddle' which was indeed rideable down it's centre despite being almost up to my knees. Of course the weather worsened the higher I got as the wind returned for its final mad turn. Back down, praying I didn't make a mistake and puncture or worse, crash and then that slightly surreal feeling of tarmac again. And tears...

In amongst the wind, the bogs, the eye-stinging rain and the wrecked paths the only thing missing was cramp. And for that I am truly grateful. As grateful as to Mark my faithful support crew who turned up where I needed and expected him, without fail and was probably as wet and cold as me at times during the day.

I posted a time of 4:31 - over half an hour outside my recent best, and adrift of some of the riders I would normally measure myself against. Disappointing? A little, but underpinned by a deep sense of satisfaction as to having completed the race on a day that was too much for many folk. The Dirty Disco and the Planet X Ti were simply incredible on a day that tested equipment to the absolute limit. Almost no images of my ride seem to exist as evidence but the memories will be vivid for a long time to come.

T-363 till the next Peaks.

Countdown to the Peaks

I hate this period, with about a week to go, when you are just sitting around waiting for it to happen.

I'm not robust enough to undertake and recover fully from any further hard training, though I might race cross this Sunday just for the intensity, though for me I risk being a little tired still by the Wednesday before Peaks Sunday.

It's just a matter of sorting equipment, clothing, nutrition for the day, as well as looking after body and soul as best as one can. Germ avoidance is the biggy - I enter a state of horrible paranoia around now, jumping when anybody sneezes around me and praying my kids don't commune with the walking pathogens in their respective schools. That my wife is a Teaching Assistant in a third school doesn't help either.

Whilst I am almost always a positive sort of soul, the Peaks eats away at your psyche and all sorts of doubts can invade your head, most irrational, some real enough and none of them helpful. It can be an effort dealing with them all. It's not that the Peaks is impossibly tough, though it is hard, nor unfeasonably dangerous. It is just 'the Peaks' - it has an aura.

Social media doesn't help these days - someone's bound to have a cold, an injury or their own demons that they share with the world. I'm no different but I'll struggle with my own issues thanks.........

As to bikes, this year I have what I consider to be my ultimate set up, and along with team mate Dave, possibly the best bikes in the race full stop.

As ever I will go for a 2 bike strategy, changing either after Peak 1, Ingleborough or at Ribblehead after Peak 2, Whernside, depending on how I feel. Both bikes are set up for specific purposes - bike 1 for the more runnable, and less rocky terrain of Ingleborough and bike 2 specifically for Penyghent with it's long grinding but more rideable climb and slightly frightening rollercoaster and rocky descent.

Bike 1:

So bike 1 is a standard On One Dirty Disco with the new Disc and Canti Pro Carbon wheels. It has a mix of SRAM Rival and Force parts with bar top levers, 32mm FMB tubs with Racing Ralph treads and a bottom gear of 36x28. Carbon wheels?! For the Peaks? Well, yes. They are super light which will be appreciated on the mega steep Simon Fell, strong enough for what is one of the less rocky and boggier descents and just roll nicely everywhere else. I may continue on to Whernside with this bike, as again it is one of the steeper walking climbs. Coming down Whernside is ofter people's nemesis - I don't find it too bad and have other non-rocky options for route choice anyway.....

 Bike 2:

Bike 2 is a Planet X proto Titanium disc frame and beautifully comfortable. This bike sports much lower gearing, 34x34 (using a WiFli mech that will go on after racing this weekend), bar tops levers again as well as traditional alloy tub wheels with fatter 34mm Gommitalia tubs for the rougher climb and descent where punctures when tired are a real risk. SRAM Red parts complete the package for what is for me the best suited cross bike I've ever ridden round the Peaks.

There we go - equipment excuses effectively ruled out, it's down to me....

Planet X Cyclocross Disc and Canti Pro Carbon 50/50 tubular wheels

Bit of a rare animal these......

Going disc AND tubular last year forced me and Dave Haygarth to get our own deep section carbon wheels sorted. There just weren't any decent options out there without spending silly money. Cue ensuing ebay shenanagins and some chunky though strong 50mm rims with Novatec hubs arrived for building at the local bike shop. Nice, perfectly adequate but a bit heavy and workmanlike even with 20 hole front and 24 rear, both laced 2X.

Enter Planet X with their usual eye for value and performance and we have the Disc and Canti Pro Carbons - lighter, faster and most probably stronger too. Both front and rear have 24h rims (also 2X), the same rim as on their newest version of the legendary 50mm Pro Carbon wheelsets, 6 bolt hubs and black double butted Pillar spokes. All for £450 £499 They also have the same proprietary braking surface as the road wheels meaning you can swap between bikes if you're not completely converted to disc.

How do they feel compared to my ebay versions? Not like their  original Clydesdale name - they are much lighter and snappier, retaining all the stiffness of my DIY wheels. I don't know what the exact weight is but it must be around about 1500grams, maybe less - their road cousins come in at about 1400grams. They feel, and are, like light race wheels despite their moniker - quick to pick up, responsive when getting out of the saddle, solid.

Gluing up was a dream - the braking surface, a matt finish, extends to the rim bed and gives a perfect surface to lay the glue onto. The profile is fairly shallow too making it easier to seat the tub and glue to the all important edges where adhesion is needed to make them stick right.

They'll be getting a full test shortly so I will report back.

Winter commute - off road

Sometimes the daily routine of work and homelife can bear down a little too strongly, just refusing to let a chink of light in, especially during those long winter months. A sense of deflation after one of the most anticipated races on the calendar adds to the funk. The appearance of those yellow orbs in my iPhone forecast this week, combined with sub zero temperatures and warnings of ice on the roads gave me an idea - time to reprise the summer off-road commute. In icy February. On a cross bike.

I'm fortunate to have ended up living on the edge of some stunning Northern moorland, wild enough in places but not overly remote and definitely in-between home and my office in Rossendale. It's not hard to construct an off-road route to work then, in fact it's a wonder I don't ride that way more often rather than just when the 3 Peaks concentrates my mind on things bumpy and steep (note to self...).

Inspired then to have a mini-adventure on a Tuesday morning, I head out into the hills above Burnley. It's cold, well below zero but offroad this presents much less of a problem than on the road. The weekend's snowfall, has already gone through several cycles of melt and refreeze, but is granular and frozen enough to give surprisingly high levels of grip, even where it has been slushed up and then turned to ice.

A runner trots past and simply exclaims 'Mad!' as I teeter down a rutted icy track. Then no-one, just space, a sun rising fully over the hill and the deep sense of wellbeing that only physical exertion in convivial surroundings can bring.

It's tenuous at times, riding at or near the limits of grip on the icy surface. I'm off walking sometimes too, as frozen streams cross over or follow the track for a while, progress is slow in places. I'm mindful of not taking too long to get in, this is a weekday commute after all but seeing as I'm out here now, I might as well enjoy it......

I drop off the moor using farm tracks now for speed, descending into a blindingly cold pocket of air at Lumb. The cold air always collects there, the inversion bringing it's own micro-climate to the little hamlet. My rear disc brake freezes and I get 'brainfreeze head' as I speed down the road and into the Valley proper.

Rolling into work there's that familiar endorphin haze we all know, and love but also a deeper sense of satisfaction, a feeling that the day just got put on hold for a moment before the regular demands are addressed as normal. If you commute to work, even if you don't have hills, do something different and vary your commute - back roads, parks, canals, just use what you have. Your day just might start with something special.

Soul riding

All pics thanks to Dave Haygarth (he's got a better iPhone than me)

It wasn't an auspicious start. Rolling in to the car park at the local Sports Centre for a lunchtime cross session with Dave, the faint drizzle that I left work in had strengthened beyond a Peter Kay-like "It's spittin'!" to a proper wet, dousing rain. The ground around the banks, wooded fringes and pitches we train on was saturated from previous rain and I though I might be getting a sore throat.

My motivation, mojo, whatever you want call it was sorely lacking. Dave, as ever thinking outside the box suggested we go up to the local park where a couple of years ago, he had organised a legendarily muddy cross race. I opted for a roll round and think about it approach, while Dave set about beasting himself on the imaginary course from that race. Dave's a bit old school like that - if it isn't hurting, it isn't working is his mentality and it certainly works for him with his ability to bounce back from tough sessions and pile more work on top.

It was as I rolled around in his wake that it began to happen. The ingredients were simple, akin to the principle of making most soul food - take a small piece of Victorian parkland, add a cleverly designed cross course making use of the natural features and contours, blend with some muddy, sloppy woodland and grassland and finish with a cracking bike perfectly suited to the terrain and conditions.

Not up for a big effort and mindful of staying healthy for the forthcoming weekend's National Trophy race, I rode around enjoying the feel of the slip and slide of the tires, the challenge of going quicker through slick corners, the jinking in and out of trees and just the simple sensation of riding outside in the rain, with no pressure and the sole aim of enjoying myself.

The park and wet conditions presented a great opportunity to work on some of the technical aspects of cross - choice of line, hand position on bars, weight distribution in muddy corners, accelerating out of them and so on. All those little nuances that get lost when your breathing becomes ragged and you teeter on the edge of losing control of the bike and your lungs whilst pushing hard. Dave popped up along the course or in view in and out of the trees from time to time, pushing hard and doing his thing. My sense of serenity contrasted with the big, powerful efforts he was making to push the bike along at maximum speed.

And toward the end it dawned on me - I hadn't had as much fun on a bike in ages. Sure I'd enjoyed races, enjoyed really hard training sessions too but this was different. It was getting back to the roots of why I and probably many others ride - freedom. That serenity was the product of a little snatched moment in a day pressured with family routine, work and all the other essential things in my life. A moment in which I reminded myself that for me at least, there is nothing more satisfying than throwing a bike around in the mud and simply playing.

Todmorden Cross

Some fixtures on the calendar just stand out. At National level, Bradford and Sutton Park stand head and shoulders above the rest for course quality, atmosphere and simply creating a buzz. A step down from that rarified level, and moving into local League territory, the Todmorden Cross has carved it's own legendary position. After just 3 years in the running.

That said, cross is not new to Todmorden's Centre Vale Park but it had long been absent on the cross calendar till mountainbiker and editor of Single Track magazine, Chipps Chippendale set about restoring that iconic cobbled climb to it's former legendary status as part of the tough Yorkshire Points League. Add in some vertiginous terrain, big knowledgeable holiday crowds and a dose of Belgian-cross fairy dust in the form of free Duvel beer for finishers and voila - there's Tod Cross in a nutshell.

Dave cleaned the cobbled climb each lap. Strong. Pic: Christine Balshaw

Previous editions have been reasonably muddy, or iced solid depending on the winter, but torrential rain for days beforehand meant only one thing - a real mudder. A Planet X trio of last year's Vets winner Dan Cook, last year's 3rd place finisher Dave Haygarth and myself lined up for a (predictably) 120+ strong Vets field. Dan and Dave set about tearing off the line and getting themselves onto the podium again while I made a bit of a schoolboy error and picked the boggiest part of the starting line to make my spectacular starting effort, involving much wheelspinning and little forward momentum.

Dan grits his teeth on the big climb. Pic: Chistine Balshaw

Luckily Tod is a course where you can recover from a bad start to a large degree, it consisting of a couple of huge efforts, including the infamous cobbled climb, and some wide tracks for overtaking and descending whilst you recover.

When the mud is as thick as it was, the racing becomes dominated by momentum - gliding from one bog to the next, and finding subtle lines of least resistance or the perfect place to run rather than ride. I positively enjoy the on-off nature of a real mudder and opted to run many short, and even longer sections where others struggled for grip and momentum. As a result, I moved up from somewhere in the 60s to 22nd by the finish, whilst Dave stormed through to 3rd again with Dan pushing hard behind for 5th.

Probably best to keep your mouth shut when the mud is flying.... Pic: Christine Balshaw

And on a course that contains more vertical height gain per lap than some courses have per race, the disc advantage of the Dirty Discos was abundantly clear. Tod has some fast and swoopy descents and it gave me great satisfaction, and provided some amusement for me, to hear others braking long before I even considered reaching for the levers, diving through under braking to take another place. One fellow rider even shouted 'easy when you've got bloody discs' as I shot past him into a particularly slippy bend. The Discos didn't present a clogging issue at all either despite the thick mud - Dave riding his starting bike all race without changing, and me only changing once to keep my pit crew amused.....

The glow of the complimentary Duvel has long since faded, and my kit has just about come clean. But there's a little Tod Cross sized hole in my life now, waiting till Jan 2013 to be filled.

Check out this great little video from Benji Haworth too. Lovely


Todcross from Benjamin Haworth on Vimeo.

On one of those Dirty Discos for Planet X

Pic: Ed Rollason Photography/British Cycling

I rode my first race for Planet X yesterday.

I knew saying that would sound weird - the Planet X team has featured some quality riders over the years. Think original road hardmen Lovatt and Tanner in the early days, right through to the current crop of talented young riders and triathletes. Definitely way, way out of my league.

However, the recent growth of Planet X sister company On One's stable of bikes with the new Dirty Disco cross bikes, as well as mountain bike brand Titus means the addition of a more eclectic bunch of largely Northern based crossers and mountain bikers to the fold.

I'd 'appropriated' the Dirty Disco from the then incapacitated team rider Dave Haygarth back in October and have waxed lyrical about it ever since. It's been really exciting to be in at the beginning of the disc brake revolution (yes, that's what it is) within cyclocross and my ridings and reviewings have hopefully aided On One in establishing a firm footing within this new emerging market.

Either way, I've been taking the Disco around everywhere, and it has generated a great deal of interest at races and on the social networking sites that I share with a growing chunk of the cyclocross community. Discs will eventually become accepted as the norm, as the technology develops further and more efficiently and the Disco as a disc-only, affordable all carbon frame will no doubt become as well loved and used as the Planet X Uncle Johns that I and many others have been riding for years.

And my race? That went OK too - not as far up as I would have liked to have been, but hovering around the top 20 in a combined Senior and Vets field at Leverhulme Park, Bolton on a suitably muddy and slushy course. No clogging issues at all in really quite bad conditions, though I did change bikes mainly because I needed to keep my young son on his toes in the pits. The dirty (no pun intended) bike immediately got reused when I offered it to a fellow competitor who had broken his own rear mech and had no clogging issues for the rest of the race. Best bit? Hoofing down the main wooded descent, drifting both wheels delightfully whilst feathering the discs for control.

Steep, slippy descent - one finger braking control. That's the Disco experience in a nutshell.

Slick Disco

I find the word 'hybrid' a rather inelegant term for a multitude of sins across the biological and manufacturing worlds, and shudder slightly on hearing it applied to bikes in particular. It conjures up images of ill-conceived designs (or breeds - think Labradoodle), with a mish mash of components, that shine in none of the areas in which they are designated to operate. Neither road bike, nor cross bike nor mountain bike, these unfortunates of the bike world are destined to wander the margins of bike performance, forever consigned to mediocrity....

Of course that is the perspective of a true bike snob, for hybrid bikes are in fact the ideal machine for someone who is not prepared to invest a ridiculous proportion of their income on two-wheeled equipment for their leisure.

And for me, as a confirmed crossista, and one who has not owned a mountain bike for about 20 years and a road bike for only a few out of those 20, I have always secretly liked the simplicity of a do it all bike - one that can perform well across more than one chosen discipline - road, cross and even mtb style terrain. The concept of hybrid then for me, is one of semantics and snobbery, for in fact I am indeed always looking for that ideal multi-purpose machine.

I've ridden my cross bikes on the road for ages now, not really a major imposition since i don't road race, crit race or time trial out of choice. I find a cross bike excellent for both short and long road rides, comfortable and reliable, if slightly aesthetically challenged when shod with thin clincher wheels. For sure, they lack the out and out climbing prowess of a shorter wheeled road bike, or the the high speed cornering of a crit bike. But for an average punter like me, that's fine.

It was with interest then, that I stuck some skinny road tires on the wide rim 29er clinchers that come with the On One Dirty Disco Rival build and headed for a play on the roads. Unable to do anything Disco related without stalking newly signed On One rider, Dave Haygarth, I gatecrashed his day-off morning ride round Calderdale to see how much my enthusiasm for the offroad antics of the Disco would crossover. Dave entered into the spirit of the occasion with his own slicks on one of his Discos.

Dave is more succinct than me, and usually more perceptive so here is his blog entry:

To an outsider there’s little difference between a cyclocross bike and a road bike.  Many people actually buy them as ‘all round’ bikes to deliberately ride as touring or commuting bikes.   It’s not hard to see the logic – they’re comfortable and a little more forgiving than a steeper angled road bike with more clearance. The modern ‘cross bike has moved nearer and nearer to a road bike with racier geometry and stiffer materials, so it makes sense in a way to give it a go.

The improvements in ‘semi’ mudguards also means that mudguard eyelets and stays aren’t needed.  My pair of quick ‘snap on’ race guards meant I was ‘comfortably dry’ over the less-than-dry moors and valleys.The first thing I noticed was how far ahead the front wheel felt when riding on familiar roads. It looks and seems a long way away despite the fairly steep head angle on the On OneDirty Disco I ride.  This translates in to that bit more comfort on the road.  A couple of cm on the wheelbase of the bike – particularly in winter – gives a more forgiving ride. Other than that it felt pretty much like a very responsive and easily controlled road bike.  It’s amazing what a hard pair of 23mm slicks can do to the bike that chews up the dirt at the weekends.

If I had to own only one bike (tssk… heaven forbid) then it would have to be a ‘cross bike.  And forgive my brand lurve, but it would be this ’cross bike.

I'm not going to add to that really - I too loved the chunky feel of the Disco. It's off-road performance translates nicely to the road to give a comfortable and responsive ride, as Dave says.

Which let me to ponder..... would the Disco make a good sportive bike in the summer before being returned to cross duties in the winter? For me, not overly drawn to a high end road bike, the answer is definitively yes. It has double bottle cage mounts to help seal the deal. And could it moonlight as a fast commuter too, given the ability to fit removable mud guards? I would say so.

Is the Disco a hybrid? Clearly not, but it is not the proverbial one trick pony either and manages to give a  pretty convincing performance accros a variety of terrains and disciplines. As to owning only one bike? Well, I refer you dear reader to the time honoured truth:

desired number of bikes to own = x + 1

Always.

Dirty Disco twins - video evidence

From the sublime racing of Koksijde to the faintly ridiculous at Hasy Sports Centre..........

Myself and Dave Haygarth putting the On One Dirty Discos through their paces whilst attempting some coherent form of cx training. All a bit random but great fun.



Cyclocross Training in Haslingden from Dave Haygarth on Vimeo.

Update from the Disco.

I reported recently on the arrival of a new kid on the cross block, the full carbon, disc only Dirty Disco from On One.

Available as a frame and fork package or a SRAM Rival build, I've been riding and racing the Disco for a bit now and have splashed out on that rarity, for now, carbon tubular disc wheels too. Suffice to say, my initial positive impressions have been reinforced and the party is in full swing now.........

The Disco originally came via the On One test team (aka Dave Haygarth) with a zero lay back seat post and short 100mm stem. It made the handling vivid but slightly ungainly to ride for my lanky 6' 5" frame, especially as the frame is actually a L/56cm rather than the biggest XL/58cm size. That said, with a 120mm stem, and seatpost with average layback, I have recreated the position on my previous Uncle John frames even though they are actually XL in size.

This is in large part due to the pretty tall headtube and relatively long toptube - in other words this is quite a large 56cm frame. If you see what I mean. I fits me fine, even at my height and the smaller frame than i might normally ride, merely sharpens the handling with no trade off in comfort.

Apart from emphasising the stealth, weapons grade impression of the already naked carbon frame, the unbadged rims and Novatec disc hubs that I sourced from Hong Kong and built up for less than £250 have turned it into a full on race machine. More on that in a bit.

That said, I've ridden the Disco on the road quite a bit (mostly with my son) and it makes a great mile eater - stiff, comfortable and agile in hilly terrain. Commuting duties would be dispatched with ease and aplomb on it, with the On One 29er XC QR wheels giving flexibility for road, hybrid and off road tires alike. The lower maintenance and wear of the discs versus caliper or cantilever brakes would be a real boon here during the winter months.

But you still have that option of taking it off road on rougher stuff too, mountain bike trails and the like, as it is supremely capable on really quite rocky terrain with the discs and that massive chunky fork with 1.5" bearings doing the work for you. 3 Peaks training has been put to bed till next year, but I can't wait to get it out on the trails and hills in East Lancs. Double bottle cage mounts add to it's flexibility as long ride off roader too.

But for now it's cross season, and that means 1 hour blasts around muddy parks and fields. With deep section carbon wheels and FMB Super Muds, the Disco is genuinely a real race contender. More than can be said for it's rider....

The first proper test, at the Pignut Hill, Northwich round of the NW Cross League showed up the ease with which the Disco handled deeper section, stiff carbon wheels. Sometimes when I've used carbons, the reduction in braking power on slippy rims and their stiffness can make the bike handle less confidently than when set up with more traditional alloy rims and tubs, particularly on the technical sections.

Discs take that all out of the equation - braking is the same or better than the best alloy rims, and the 2x lacing I chose for the wheels gave stiffness but compliance when it got twisty or bumpy. It was fantastic to have a point and shoot bike that you could throw into corners and descents. Confidence inspiring too for me, as blinding technical skills have never been one of my attributes.

As I reported on twitter the other day, the Disco has become the bike that just makes me giddy to get out and loon around on - off and on road. A great overall package and at £599 for frame and fork or £1499 for a SRAM Rival build like the one above, it's a great way to get into carbon for cross, something I must admit I hadn't really expected myself to want to do. Subsequent full builds from On One will no doubt come out next year - expect equally great value from them too.

Down and dirty with the Disco

It's been a while since left of field UK manufacturer On -One made a cross bike. The last iteration was a classy titanium affair that was snapped up by those in the know and ridden at elite level and chipper level alike, as well as making a rather nice 3 Peaks bike too:

Fast forward to 2011 and On-One are back, not only with designer Brant Richards on board again, but with a brand new cross frame, a la mode in carbon and sporting discs - unofficially named the 'Dirty Disco'.

Some people's clouds are other people's silver lining - Dave Haygarth's recently broken collarbone and unnervingly long inside leg measurement meant that that the temporarily riderless Dirty Disco has found it's way to me. And so I've been enjoying some early season races and training rides on it, the first time for me on full carbon and on cross discs too.

This is a pre-production version of the Disco so I'm not sure what eventual kit it will end up with, suffice to say On-One's keen pricing and eye for value will mean no doubt that it will be a killer package.

The frame is full carbon, I'm not in possesion of the details as such, suffice to say it is light, very stiff and comfortable to carry. A huge chunky bottom bracket helps the stiff but comfortable ride whilst the chunky forks are particularly reassuring and direct in feel. Overall, the geometry appear race performance oriented but with perfectly adequate clearances for a modern cross frame. A potential mudfest at Brockholes, Windermere will test this properly, but the Disco passed the Horwich Humdinger slopfest test easily, lasting the whole muddy race with barely any buildup of mud, and arguably less than other canti equipped bikes around it.

This Disco is running Avid BB-7s (road) for its discs and they are stunning, even without the hydraulic assistance of other systems. Braking is of course powerful, and progressive, always with more on tap if needed. What really jumps out to this first time disc user is the sheer ease of use - the lack of effort in the execution of a braking manoeuvre.  With the braking taken care of so easily from a physical point of view, you can expend more energy and attention on riding fast. It also has SRAM Rival on it - another first for me but intuitive in its use, and reassuringly chunky in operation. Other kit includes an FSA Gossamer chainset with cross friendly rings on it, and Planet X post and stem. All sound stuff.

The On-One branded hubs, Chris King style and rims (clinchers) are, to my tubular-centric tastes, surprisingly good, with Schwalbe Smart Sam tires. These have been more than adequate for cross training and feel great on the road too. For racing I have been putting on some custom made Strada Handbuilt Major Tom tubular disc wheels with handmade FMB green Michelin tubs. The absolute business when things turn muddy.

Riding the Disco has been surprising. The phrase 'sum of all it's parts' is particularly apt here - no one attribute jumps out, the whole pacakage just gels. That is not to say that the Disco doesn't climb like a rocket - it does. Nor that it doesn't track in corners like it's on rails - it does. Nor even that it is vague and skittish in technical descents - because it is anything but. It just simply comes together in one complete package that lets you get on with the riding, fast or slow, dry or muddy and does not intrude in any way at all.

Racing it, I found I barely even thought about the bike and what it was doing - it just did it, calmy and with poise. At the Humdinger Cross last weekend, it railed slick muddy corners around dead turns, inspired much confidence down the fast descents into more tight corners and climbed its way up on the slop competently. I didn't really notice it in the sense I wasn't thinking about how it should have done this or that. It just got on with it.

Overall, it isn't as flamboyant as a white suited Travolta strutting his stuff - there are other more exotic bikes out there that can do that. It is however, no wallflower to the dance - it's just competant in a non-shouty way and that's probably why I like it. I've never been one for extroverts.... ahem.