FLASH-POINT BLOGGER: ERNIE CALDERIN

Impressed once again. I know it took me a while to give you the update on my last ride on the Flash-Points. It has actually been over a month since my ride. The older I get the faster time goes by. Not that I am old. My insurance will go down for the last time in about a month.

Now to the ride. Me and a few friends decided to go to southern Indiana to do some "hill riding". If you have ever been in Indiana you know we are really lacking in the hill department. But none the less we began or voyage. We planned on doing 50. We drove down and parked at Brown County State park. We geared up and off we went. Nowing that this was going to be a grueling ride I knew that I was going to have to pace my self.

We approach the first hill and Scott decides to sprint up the. So much for pacing myself. So Bill and I go after him. Struggling to breath I finally grab his wheel. We get over the first hill. Down the hill we go. I begin to pull on Scott and Bill with out even pedaling. We hit a long flat shortly after. I take my turn at the front. Try to settle the pace down just a little so I can catch my breath. Everyone seemed to settle down after the first hill. So much for warming up. All in all it was a great, painful ride.

I love these wheels, they are so incredibly smooth. Not only are they smooth they are also incredibly responsive. They accelerate very well and climb like a mountain goat. When you stomp on the pedals it feels like all of my power is going directly to the pavement. I am definetly going to purchase a set to train on. Simply an amazing wheel set for the price!

I rode FlashPoints for the first time, and wow! One of my friends recently asked me to borrow my 404's. I was a little hesitant at first but he promised me he would pay for them if anything happened. I found some Demo FlashPoint 60's lying around so I thought I would give them a try. I really did not know what to expect.

I couldn't believe how smooth the hubs felt. They felt very similar to my 404's. I picked up some of my friends $1500 carbon rims and their hubs didn't feel any where near as nice. The FlashPoints are a great value at $1100 bucks. They use the same patented rim shape as my 404's. They are so plush, almost all road vibration was non existant. I put some of the Zipp Tangente Tires on them and they flied!! Everyone on the group ride was envious. I have my 404's back now, but I don't think I am going to give the FlashPoints back quite yet. I have a longer ride planned for this weekend. I will let you know how it goes.

-E