I had the pleasure of attending a symphony recently.   What I appreciate about a local live performance is you see the warm up, the preparation, development and finish.  It’s a cacophony of notes and measures, tuning and banter.   It struck me how similar this is to what we do before a bike race.  You can see each musician finding their independent marks, like we might check a line through a corner or count our pedal strokes to the finish.  A mixture of messy, unbridled power and years of precise training.   The bike.  Our instrument.

The Sunday training ride to the flashers has begun to take on a life of its own.  That’s a good thing.  These early season tests allow a racer to sort himself or herself out in a way that wouldn’t be easy on your own.  Sure it’s important to dial-in your training on the lonely stretches of asphalt in your mind and elsewhere, but bike racing takes place in the spaces between, with the involvement of others in our own social network, adjusting to the ebb and flow of the group dynamic.

Bright, sunny skies and moderate temperatures brought out a nice showing for the Sunday Flashers out and back, 45+ miles training ride.  Several members from Joe’s Bicycles (Indianapolis)  came down.  Also, local squads DRT, Mob Squad, Speedway and Scholars Inn Bakehouse were represented.