FLASH-POINT BLOGGER: MICHAEL PAJARO

For many months I've been training with a group of people to do an Ironman triathlon. On a typical Saturday, we'll have 6-10 people out to do a ride. Unfortunately for me, 8 of my teammates are in Brazil this weekend doing their Ironman; my race isn't for another month. I was left behind to ride by myself.

Rather than driving all the way out to Malibu to do our regular route, I went back to one of our standards, the San Gabriel River Trail. Normally this is a nice smooth ride, but we had stormy weather this weekend. There were signs of mini-landslides everywhere: large fields of small stones covering the course, flooded tunnels, and even a pair of downed power lines cutting right across the path. Maybe they were telephone lines, but either way I didn't want to mess with them.

Although there's no substitute for the social aspect of a group ride, it was kind of nice doing the ride on my own time. No waiting for people to show up. Restroom break: 2 minutes. And I was able to snap a few photos on the course with my camera phone which I would not have done if I was worried about losing the group.

By the way, out of my 8 teammates in Brazil, the fastest bike time was Ben on a pair of Zipp wheels; number 2 was Steve (14 years older) on his Flash-Points, aka "the cheater wheels".

In my core group of cycling buddies, we have some pretty nice (and admittedly pricey) Zipp wheels but my Flashpoints have always received a lot of attention. People ask me lots of questions about them and I enjoy talking about them.

Back in February, Carlos picked up a pair of Flashpoint FP-60s before we did our Palm Springs Century. Then Steve picked up a set in preparation for Ironman Brazil. And just last week, Gabe got his FP-60s, also for Brazil. Greg, who does not have Flashpoints (yet?) refers to them as our "cheating wheels" because whenever somebody gets a pair, he has trouble keeping up with them.

I confess, I have mixed feelings about this. I'm certainly glad that my friends are enjoying their new wheels. But I am a petty person, and as more people get the Flashpoints I'm no longer the cool kid. THEY'RE the ones being asked questions. And as more people upgrade, I'm losing the advantage that I had. What happens if everybody on my Tri Team gets Flashpoints? If everyone has the advantage, then nobody has the advantage. It will be anarchy! It's the saga of the Star-Bellied Sneetches. (And if you're too young to know that reference, I don't want to know about it.)

I'm mostly joking of course. The more the merrier. But I need to get myself a pair of the new FP-80s so I can be King of the Road again. Or at least Duke of the Avenue.

Every now and then I think it’s OK to pat yourself on the back...

We have a small group that meets Tuesdays at 6:30 for a morning ride. By design, this is an advanced workout. It’s led by “Jon”, a two-time Ironman finisher who has recently given up multi-sport to focus on his real passion, cycling. These rides are basically his personal workouts which he’s invited people to join in. Sometimes it’s hills, sometimes it’s intervals, but it’s always a hard (but good) ride. I’m a strong believer in training with people more advanced than you are when possible, so the Tuesday morning rides have been very helpful to me.

This week we did intervals. First a hill warm-up, then ten minutes of hard riding, followed by 5 minutes of easy pedaling along a several-mile bike path. Three sets. The first interval was pretty typical for me; after 10 minutes, Jon was maybe a couple hundred yards ahead. I continued to pedal a little bit faster during the rest to catch up with him, then we hit the end of the path and turned around to do the next set. Interval number two, same thing.

But something happened during the third interval which surprised Jon in two ways. First, he pretty much reached the end of the bike path during the 10-minute speed segment. That was a new speed record for him along that path. What surprised him even more however was that I finished right behind him. I’m not sure how that happened. I was feeling pretty strong that morning and I guess my training is paying off. Certainly, in an all-out race Jon would still leave me in the dust. But I admit it felt pretty good to be able to go wheel-to-wheel with him during training for once.

Next week I’ll find out if my high-speed skills were just a fluke. Or maybe, just maybe, I’m becoming a little bit hardcore.