drinking the kool-aid

i applied for and received my cycling license last week.
i'm officially offical.

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.

love / hate

despite the love affair i have been having with my bike lately, nothing makes me want to run more than spending the morning watching the boston marathon. i thought i'd be a wreck this day - wallowing in my own self pity at the fact that i am not there. but i am fine. boston will always be there and i will be there one day too.

but now, the coverage is almost over and i need to stop watching tv and texting my friends in boston and start my day. i have a lot of stuff that needs to get done before tonights' bike ride.

i loved the new balance ads that ran during the coverage. now, i haven't exactly broken up with running (me and running are just on a break while i have a torrid affair with biking - running is very understanding and will be waiting for me when i come back) - this one hit he nail on the head. there's another one- about how running knows you are thinking of leaving it. they are genius ads. love them.

refresh, refresh, refresh

so begins my day of live runner tracking!
run coach, run!
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*postscript: coach rocked it! woo hoo!

long run

the post title does not refer to the fact that i did a long run today.
but i did do the long run circuit race: a 1.7 mile 30 minute bike race.

last night, after i posted my race report from yesterday and agonizingly hobbled up the stairs, i couldn't believe i was going to race again the next day. and this morning, when i woke up; shit that i didn't even know i had - hurt. but then we got to the race course and i pre-rode it for a few laps with my husband. i got some good tips on how to take the turn so i didn't wind up swimming in the lake, and as i got up out of the saddle to climb the only significant hill, i was surprised that it didn't hurt nearly as much as i expected. of course, i found the hurt on lap two at race pace.

race report in a nutshell: crazy, slightly scary fast start. lots of twisty turny fast shit. i hang on for two laps before getting shelled off the back. but i do not give up or slow down and after three laps of solo hyperventilating and hauling ass, i catch the group. let me repeat: i catch the group. i wanted to throw up, i wanted to quit on the second lap when i started to really feel that hurt, but i kept going and finished my third race in 14 days with a group. granted, i was the last in the group, (the one girl behind me pulled out). but it didn't matter. it was fun as all hell.

in fact, these past two weeks have just been fun as all hell - a series of events that have fallen into place, like this is the way things were meant to happen. i'm just going to go with the flow and keep on having fun. it is all a breath of fresh air right now. running was always a solitary endeavor for me, which was purely my choice - i like running alone. but this whole team thing and the comraderie of the bike riding and racing is a whole new dimension that i am hooked on right now. that, and the door prizes are a total bonus! after saturdays' race, i won a totally girly, surfy looking cannondale bike pump don't know what makes it special for the chicks, other than the pretty colors - but i love it. and after yesterdays' race, i won these in a raffle. as the runner girl turned biker chick, and being the total newbie racer - i think everyone hated me a little bit for scoring such a sweet deal on the racing wheels. i'll just have to prove to everyone that i totally deserve them!