FLASH-POINT BLOG ARCHIVE: Nov 2008

In 1978 a race was conceived to combine 3 annual main events on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The event consisted of the 2.4 mile Oahu rough water swim, the 112 mile perimeter bicycle ride, and the running of the Honolulu marathon. The events ran together and whoever could finish would be called an Ironman. Of course at this time everyone thought it to be crazy and that no one would be able to do this! Well 15 individuals undertook the challenge to prove them wrong 12 of them finishing. I was one of the original 1978 finishers taking third place that year. During that event I had only about 6 weeks from its concept to train. Everything was going well with the swimming and running but a week before the event I still did not have a bike and asked fellow Marines if I could borrow one. I was able to get a fairly new Sears Free Spirit 10speed bicycle for the event. Of course I rode about 30 miles the week before thinking I rode a bicycle as a kid that I could complete the 112 miles no problem. Further the bicycle had no bottle cages or bento bags for nutrition. Standard pedals also with no cages. I handled that with cutting off a pair of jeans the night before as my cycling shorts so I could have pockets to put money in for food and drink.
As you can imagine already what the bike part of the race was like. Aid stations consisted of gas stations, grocery stores, and even a McDonalds for food. Needless to say I finished the bike and couldnot wait to get off of it. The run was tough as there was no knowledge of brick training. I finished in third place crossing the finish line to a whole two people who were recording times. No big hoopla!!!

Fast forward 30 years later to 2008 Kona Ironman. Had not done an Ironman or even a half Ironman since the original in 1978. Still having that craziness I decided to do the 30th Anniversary of Ironman with the blessing of the Gills family, who owned WTC and Ben Fertic, president, who granted me entry to the event. After a 6 month period of training in which I lost 47 pounds and experimenting with different bicycles and wheels I settled on purchasing a new bike and wheels for the event. Brent Emery, of Emery's Cycle and fitness was instrumental in my decisions. Brent is an accomplished cyclist and silver medalist from the 1984 Olympics. I settled on the purchase of a Cervelo P3 tri bike and after testing a number of wheels was hooked on the performance of FlashPoint wheels. After testing the various models I was sold on the FlashPoint 80. I picked these as I am just over 200 lbs and the feeling that the crosswinds would not affect my ability to handle the bike in strong winds. Race day Oct. 11, 2008 and had only rode on the wheels 4 times prior to race day. After the swim I took off on the bike and for the first 30 miles and could not believe the speeds I was tarveling at compared to Easton and Bontrager wheels I had on other bikes. At about the 30 mile mark the winds became strong and gusty with strong crosswinds also. The crosswinds moved me a little bit but when there were no crosswinds it felt like I was just slicing through the headwinds. I completed the bike and went off to run and finished the Kona Ironman just over 30minutes more than what I had done in 1978.

I further had the opportunity to compete in the 70.3 Championships on Nov. 8, 2008 in Clearwater beach Florida. In this race with the FlashPoint 80 on the bike I went from my 17.5mph in Kona to over 21mph in Clearwater. The wheels roll so smoothly that I would just roll by people sometimes without pedaling as other competitors with different styles wheels would be pedaling away.

I have had great experiences with the FlashPoint 80's and look forward to improving my bike.

Thanks for your great wheels.Look for me on them in the future.

Take Care
Dave Orlowski
1978 Ironman 3rdPlace
2008 Kona Ironman

My first Triathlon was the Santa Barbara Triathlon. I wanted to do it because my friend, Brennan, decided to do it and I wanted to give it a try. Naturally there was an intense rivalry between us. Who could train the most? Who would be the most prepared? And of course, who would be the champion?! We already new I would have a faster swim, and he would have a faster bike leg. We are evenly matched on the run, so it was gonna be close. I got a good lead on the swim, and managed to hang on to it during the bike, even though Brennan had the fastest bike leg in our age group. Must have been those killer Flash Point 60's that helped me hang on to the small gap I had. I had a great run and was first in my age group! I've done two more multi sport events since then, and most were pretty successful. More about that later!