I have a nice Cervelo road bike, but I don't want to trash it in road-salt, and we have these biike lanes that aren't cleaned out, so they gather a lot of detritus. I flatted last year, and it was not fun digging out the puncturing spicule, changing the tube, it was 54 degrees, I was in shorts and a long-sleeved jersey, but it started raining, and after finishing the tire change, I was drenched, and cold.

I notice with the CX bike, I can ride through the crap, over potholes (road maintenance has deteriorated with the recession). I had one crash, frame wasn't tested, because the handlebar, popped out wheel and brake took the brunt. I think CX is nice, a lot easier dealing with winds than my MTB. Not as fast as a skinny-tire bike, but you can take it through rougher stuff.