FLASH-POINT BLOG ARCHIVE: Mar 2006

The winter is still here, -5°C, snowy and icy roads, will hopefully begin racing in late april.

1 hour 20 minutes on the bike today. It was wet, it was windy and the roads were dirty. It was great! But why? Well, because it was the first evening daylight ride of the year. The clocks went forward over the weekend and that has given me a 2 hour window after work to get out and ride. Gym season is officially over and that's fine by me.The local club is organising a series of evening time-trials starting in April. They will be a great opportunity to test the wheels in a more demanding environment than the rides I have been doing so far this year.I have been keeping an eye out for coverage of Flash-Points in the press over here in the UK but I haven't seen more than a few words on the cycling web sites. I think they would go down really well over here. UK clubs tend to do a fair bit of time trialling and I reckon the FP-60s would really suit the non-pro riders who take their racing seriously.

This week i was riding outside the first time since my accident in january. Well, i've missed this feeling so much. But it wasn't very nice to ride. I was feeling like a coach-potatoe.... A good shape is very, very far away....
But i'm happy that i can ride outside now. The last 4 days, the weather was lovely. More than 10°c. So can also a slow ride (how each one is now...) be a very good ride.

It's finally spring.
  Bluebirds and robins should be chirping from their roosts upon budding trees. Flowers should be sprouting up from the ground and I should be outside riding in nothing but cycling shorts and a jersey. 
But here in Pittsburgh the sounds of robins and bluebirds are absent, the tree branches look like dry twigs for kindling, and any flower that had the misfortune to sprout is now deader than latin.
Old man winter has refused to relinquish his grasp upon this fair city. And I, as tri-season begins to start up, am feeling particularly antsy. I need to be outside on the road.
 This last week I poured out nearly 210 miles worth of sweat over my pedals. Unfortunately well over half of that was done indoors. Riding on a stationary bike is just plain torture for the soul. Yesterday I had to quit halfway through my workout because I was so disgusted with the thought of spending another 45 minutes spinning the bike to nowhere. But the cold has been unbearable. I have to put the hood up on my wintercoat coat to walk the 30 feet from my car to the office(keep in mind the lack of hair).
I may be weak-minded, but how I dream that my ancestors had settled in say South Florida instead of Western Pennsylvania.
I have about one hundred fifty miles on my flash-points right now and they seem to be holding up fine. No nicks or noticible scratches. I am currently running them with GP4000's around 100psi and have been flat free. (Knock on wood-or perhaps carbon fiber) One positive is that I am going to use this week of cold weather as an excuse to take my tri bike in for a tune-up. During that time I hope to get their input of the flash-points from a design perspective.
The ten day forecast: COLD COLD COLD!
So for the forseeable future I'm stuck running (leg has healed) and cycling indoors, while waiting for the weather to match up to the calendar. Race season is coming.. I hope I'm ready.  

I am not old. I don't feel it and- short of a rapidly vanishing hairline- I don't look like it. That said, I'm not the invincible carefree guy that I was just seven years ago. Physically I can no longer pull off a ten beer night and then run 12 miles the next morning at sub 6:30 pace. Heck, nowadays I can't even think of putting back ten beers without getting a headache. Yes, things have changed.
Endless time for training has given way to going grocery shopping with my wife, cleaning out the garage, and changing diapers. But what is truly scary is that I find these mundane tasks to be rewarding in their own right. Even changing diapers. Still, I never thought of myself as getting ...ahem..old. Then this week passed by.
I was pounding out the miles on the treadmill when I felt a twang in my right calf. It felt like a nail was driven right through the muscle. I avoided a tumble but had to hop off the treadmill in shame. I never had a calf strain before. Looked it up on the internet-found out that it was an injury that most often afflicts those who have reached the so called "middle-age" portion of their life. "Middle-age", what a horrible term. Especially when you are 28!!!
Then my three month old daughter got sick. It was just a cold. But watching her cough felt worse than any physical injury. To make her smile and giggle I smothered my cutie with kisses all over her face. It worked, but a couple of days later I got whatever nasty bug she had. Lately I've been going through kleenex with reckless abandon. It was worth it. So what does this have to do with cycling?
Something, I promise. I went back to my five mile loop and cranked out 35 miles on each of the past three days. In between the hacking coughs and thick phlem I rode with a vigor in spirit that my body could not match. I churned my speedplays until my quads roared with a fire that matched the burning in my throat. All told I was slow. Even with the flash-points I was a solid 1-1.5mph below my average pace.  But it felt good. Damn good. There is something poetic about battling the road. For every hilll isn't just an obstacle for you and the bike, it's a challenge unto yourself. I think on the bike, but my mind does not wander. My thoughts run something like...gearshift...avoid that branch...take that corner tight...go! go! go! Illness may hold back my often marginal speed but not my effort.
But after I finished cycling these last few days I had time to reflect. Sure I'm angry that I won't be able to run for another week, but I now have an excuse to go buck wild on my bicycle. One that I couldn't afford if I wasn't middle-aged. And when I go home it won't be to a dirty apartment with Mystery Science Theater 3000 posters on the wall, but to a clean house with a loving family. Sure the responsibilities have increased but so has the fullfilment. And while I might be more injury prone nowadays. I can still give it my all on a race course, and leave the average 21 year old far behind and gasping for air. In fact the more I think about it the only thing I miss about my early twenties is my hair. ;) 

Well, racing season has officially begun.  It should have begun a few weeks ago, but Schabobele (my favorite race :( ) was postponed because of a huge freak snowstorm in KY and 10 degree weather.  Go figure it was rescheduled to the next weekend when I already had plans to be out of town.  Luckily my teammate represented well and brought home the toaster for Roadhouse.
So...things got started for me and most everyone else this past weekend with the Kentuckiana and Ohio Valley Racing Spring Series Races - l'Esprit RR on Saturday, and Reily RR on Sunday.  The Texas Roadhouse Ladies opened up the season with a bang going 1 & 2 in both races .  The two days were a flip-flop of each other, with me attacking early on Saturday and Tracy joining me on the next hill for an off-the-front win for TRH, then Sunday Tracy attacked early and I bridged up and it was another TRH off-the-front win.  The men's team took 1& 2 on Sunday as well, and also won the field sprint both days.  It was soooooo much fun to be racing again.
The weather was a bit chillier than expected, but on our way back to Indy it started snowing, so I suppose heading out-of-town to race was the better idea.  Unfortunately both courses were relatively hilly (for IN/KY) so I went with the lighter Zipps and didn't get a chance to race the Flashpoints, but we've got some flat races coming up, so I might get to give 'em a run!
Early this week I'm swamped with school obligations, but the weather looks like it will be shaping up for the end of the week - with even some 60 degree days - so I can't wait!!!!
And I'll see y'all (oh man I've been in KY too long) at New Washington next weekend!