flash points. say it fast.

everyday since last sunday, when by the the luck of the draw and much to the dismay i'm sure of every other veteran racer there, i won a snazzy new set of wheels; everywhere i go in town, at least five people would ask me; "have you tried your new wheels yet?" and when i replied that i hadn't, i got the sense that i had broken some sort of bike code. some code that said you have got to try out new gear immediately. it wasn't that i didn't want to, i was jonesing to give them a spin; we just had to buy tubes, tires and a cassette and hadn't yet gotten the chance. we finally got the chance to go out and buy all the wheel acoutrements last thursday, in time for a test spin that we planned for friday morning; but by the time we realized that bike shop man had sold us the wrong size tubes, it was already 8:30 pm - i couldn't accept that i might have to go another day before testing out the new wheels. in my desperation, i call a friend who owns a (different) local bike shop in the hopes that they are all still there, sitting around drinking beer rehashing that nights' ride and indeed they are; but if they have left by the time i get there, i am told tubes will be in the shop's mailbox. and as i rush out of the house to get new tubes, i wonder who the hell i am. i wouldn't rush out of the house to buy new shoes on sale at tjmaxx, much less break land speed records through the park in time to get tubes from the bike shop. i was overjoyed to pull up to the darkened & closed shop to find tubes in the mailbox. then it was back home to watch my husband break a sweat in getting my wheels properly geared up and i was finally ready to test them out the next morning.

now, i don't know a whole heck of a lot about bike gear, components and the like. i mean, just yesterday i got a big lesson on the difference between tubies and clinchers. but i do know what looks good. when we hung my bike up on our storage pole in the living room (yes, we proudly hang our bikes up in the living room) and i looked at it in all its' flash-point wheely glory - i thought, that looks shit hot.

as we rolled out for our ride on friday morning, i don't know if it was having been told umpteen times all week how fast the wheels would be, or if they really were - but i definitely felt lighter and faster. basically, i felt more badass. maybe it was placebo effect, maybe it was real - but me and my fragile bike ego will take whatever boost we can get and i'm just gonna go with it. the best part of the ride was the fact that i pulled my husband for almost the whole 27 miles instead of the other way around. okay, so he was a little tired from the testosterone-fest that was his previous nights' club ride. but still. he was sucking my wheel and i took a particular pleasure in looking back and yelling "close that gap!"

so, my very newbie racer and unprofessional, untechnical opinion and review of the flash-point 60 is that they rock. they are fast. they look shit hot on my bike and they make me feel like a total badass. i've got my next races all lined up. me & my wheels can't wait. it's all good.

now, if they are fast and make me feel badass is not a sufficient product review for you, (and i totally get that is not really enough information), i've taken the liberty of stealing the blurb below from their site, to lend more legitimacy to my fast badass wheely thoughts.