MID SEASON REPORT

Baseball's All-Star Festival rolled into town this weekend, and I was one of of the fortunate few to have a ticket for both the Home-Run hitting Contest and the AllStar game. Both were good "events", but for entertainment value the Home Run contest stole the show.
Watching home run after home run go 400--430--480 feet is just an amazing spectacle. Baseballs exploded off the bats, sailed over the walls of PNC park and splashed into the river. There kayakers fought, scrapped, and paddled each other into submission for a chance to grab a ten dollar piece of water-soaked hide. Fantastic.
Over the two nights I washed that baseball bonanza down with nine beers, five slices of pizza and a primantis (a semi-famous sandwich consisting of a beef patty, greasy fries, and mounds of coleslaw stuffed between inch-thick slices of Italian bread). YIKES!
Thankfully I stepped on the scale this morning and had ZERO weight gain. I'd like to thank my metabolism, but I think it has more to do with the long rides I've taken each of the past two days. As triathlon season reaches the halfway point, all of my rides are now on my tri bike and all of them are with my flashpoints.
Aside from one broken spoke, my wheels have held up admirably over a 1000 some miles of training and racing. The hubs have shown no sign of wear and still roll as smoothly as when I first tried the wheels out. The aerodynamic benefit is undeniable.
I've ridden and raced through a few heavy downpours and high winds. The wheels were unaffected by the inclement weather.
For those hesitating to ride deep-rimmed wheels, let me say that through all of my miles of training there has been maybe 10 seconds total where a strong gust of wind affected my bike's handling. And those rare events were easily controllable with a slight handlebar adjustment or body lean.
So far I have been very pleased with their performance and durability.