When blogg legend and CX King Öijer drops by this little page to make a comment, I know that I have said something controversial. No, I didn't diss Falun. I dissed tubulars. I had already come to the right conclusion after sleeping on it last night. One could say that I dreamt of my first ride on CX tubulars and about how smooth and fast it felt. Giving up that would be silly.

So I took Tufo's advice and ordered a set of Vittoria Cross Evo XM. At 390g and 320tpi, those babies should fly through the mud. And to cut costs and speed up delivery, I ordered from England.

I will also use the Belgian gluing method with glue and the Jantex Competition 76 tape which they also sold at that shop. Now all I need is a bucket of Vittoria Mastik. Does any local shop have it like NOW?

But I still wonder about this pressure issue. Öijer suggests 2 bar. Jonas L suggests 1.4-1.7 bar which sounds very extreme. I am 72 kg so I think I should stay about 2 bar. What do you use? Skriv gärna...unless this is top secret info or something.

I decided it was time to get the truth about my tape questions...does Tufo make the yellow cyclocross tape anymore and whether the orange Extreme is fine. I trusted CC Lasses opinion but I have heard different things from others and online. So I contacted Tufo and asked. Their response was surprising. They said no tape will ever work for CX and that I should use glue from Vittoria instead. Bit of a strange tip eller hur? Then I could just as well by tires from Vittoria instead.

After the weekend's disaster in terms of grip and performance, I am having my doubts of whether tubular tires are right for me. For the first thing, no one seems to sell them so I have to search online and deal with long delivery times, not to mention the 700kr price tag per tire.

Tubular are supposed to mean less flats yet there have been a few already at Hondacrossen and in Tidan. In MTB we use clincher and learn how to avoid punka risks. Why can't I do the same on my CX?

Then tubular are supposed to be lighter. This point I can agree on. But after a look at the Vittoria website, they have some pretty light clinchers. Besides, when you are as slow as I am, will 200g make that much difference?

And of course the main argument is the tire pressure. In Tidan I ran at 2.7 bar which I think is the lowest I can go with the tape and tires I have. Honestly, I think this is insanely low when I use the same pressure on my massive MTB tires. But I felt no improvements at all in terms of grip in the grass. And this whole thing with pressure is really a compromise anyway since sometimes you want higher pressure on those gravel sections.

Most of my doubts are around the gluing itself. If you are lucky, it will last 2 races. The yellow tape lasted much longer but not when I wash the bike in the shower. And the cost of a bucket of glue is not tempting either. So I don't know.

I guess you probably already guessed what was in my cyclecomponents box. My Ridley X-ride cross frame!

But DAMN look how fine it is! Just wait until I cover it in mud! The geometry is much different than my Merida and with a front end this low I should be a corner master. Now if you excuse me I would like to be alone with all this shiny aluminum and carbon...

I will give you one guess what is inside this rather large box...


But before I open it and make oooohing noises, I am off to Cortège to watch Chalmers engineers make fun of Västtrafik and other things.

And then we have the parts for my new cross. I am far from finished yet but this is a start.

The crankset is an FSA Gossamer which I had bought last December. It is the usual compact 50-34 because they did not have the cross-specific 46-36 but honestly last season was just fine going through the 34 and a range of 4 gears on the back. I think this is high enough for a cross to start with but maybe I will change it later on.

The gears are Shimano Ultegra 6700 which is the updated 2010 edition. I have the shifters, back derailer and chain so far. I need to see the frame before I get the front derailer. And the cassette is a 105 since it is just going to get full of sand and crap anyway.

The handlebars and seat are Ritchey's WCS series with their nice world champion colours and good reputation. White because the frame is black and red. So...next is the frame. It should be here any day now...

Today is my birthday and that means I turn 34. Only 6 more years now until I am officially a gubbe. This also seems to mean that I am now in the 35-39 class since I will be 35 next year. That will help for Norway but changes nothing here.

Anyway, obviously I needed to buy myself a little present and Cyclecomponents has some great deals at the moment.
I wonder what this could be?

It seems to be an FSA Gossamer compact crankset! What a lovely present! =) This is the first part of my new cross and at half price, it was a bargain.