Orbea Demo Van Coming December 5

Keep and eye open for this baby from 11am to 3pm Saturday December 5. Details coming real soon.

Colonel's Bicycles is on Facebook

Become a fan of Colonel's Bicycles on Facebook. Just Click the link

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Colonels-Bicycles/214823411076?ref=mf#

Orbea Bikes Demo Day Saturday Dec. 5

The guys from Orbea USA will be at Colonel's Bikes on Saturday December 5 with a van full of 2010 model bikes for you to ride, fondle or just gaze at. There will be road, mountain and multisport bikes available. Details will be posted later this week.

Texas Willie returns home and shows his true colors!

Here's a guy that gets invited to Lance's race, they give him #3 in the Pro class, he flies in and gets shacked up at a mansion on lake Travis, gets more press than anyone except Lance. He is the current North Carolina Cyclocross State Champion (pro), he has a U.S. Pro Mountain bike license and a UCI medal in Cyclocross Worlds from Belgium and he's faster than you and he's 42yrs. old and if real isn't real enough he buys his Colonel's shorts and jersey. Will Black and Colonel's Bikes: Keepers Of Real !

TARRANT COUNTY'S EXCLUSIVE SALSA CYCLES DEALER IS COLONEL'S BIKES

Fort Worth's exclusive Salsa Cycles dealer is now us and not a moment too soon since cyclocross season is here and so are the Chili Con Crosso scandium bikes! We will feature different models as they arrive. We received 3 of these last week and 2 are gone! Come in and see these in person and you'll want one for sure. Stay tuned next week when we'll feature the retro steel Casseroll.

World 70.3 Triathlon Championships!

2009 Clearwater 70.3 Race Report

This past Sunday I raced at the 70.3 World Triathlon Championships in Clearwater, Florida. It has been a long, fun season and I was looking forward to one last hard effort in 2009. Coming off a great race two weeks ago in Austin, Texas I felt pretty confident that I was ready to go.

At the end of the day, I feel as though I came up a bit short finishing overall in 37^th with a time of 3:47:55. Taking the week to evaluate things I realize that it was a solid race, with a very big field of 85 pro men.

I realized early on in the race that the swim was going to dictate my position going into the run. Leading into the race my swimming was very strong; to analyze my swim in Clearwater I would have to say it was a poor performance. I knew I had the speed however; I spent the first 800m battling with other swimmers for position. Eventually I decided just to back off and swim because I was expending too much energy. I ended up exiting 45second’s back from the leaders. Mistake number one of the day was relaxing and ending up in a second group.

I rode relatively smart trying not to get any penalties which was very tough with a big field on narrow flat roads. The chase pack that eventually formed was huge, there had to be 40 of us. I felt like for 2 hours I was often slowing down trying to not to get a penalty. I was in a chase pack but we were still riding very fast, it contained a lot of good athletes from different countries that have been top 10 here in the past or that have won 70.3 races this year. The pack had the likes of James Cotter, Richie Cunningham, James Hadley, Jeff Symonds, Renaldo Colluci and half way through the bike Oscar Galindaz and Chris Legh entered the group. Overall, the bike went well except I lost a bottle from the back of my bike and I dropped another at the last bottle drop forcing me to survive on one bottle. At the end of the bike I had started to get a headache and the temperature started to rise.

After a slow transition due to a lost bag I started to get in my rhythm. The run course was 2 loops which means I got to see spectators frequently which brought positive energy when I needed it most. I ended up running 1:17 and change for the half marathon putting me in 37^th place. With such a quick field there were easily 10 spots in front of me within 1 minute and another 10 spots right behind me. It was great to hear Alicia Kaye and all of the friends and coach’s I had watching and cheering. I gave it what I had on the day, but if I had swam 30 seconds faster the race could have been different.

A perfect summary of my 2009 season is illustrated in this Andre Agassi quote that I came across while reading his biography Open. To give a little context to this quote, Andre said this after losing the US Open when he was 15 years old. I still think he made $90 000 that year and bought himself a new Corvette. “Looking back it was good but not great. I see a gap between where I am and where I need to be, and I feel reasonably confident that I can close that gap.”

I would like to thank Dan Smith, Colonels Bikes, LifeSport, K-Swiss, AquaSphere, Path to Wellness, Frank@ PowerBar Canada, Ridglea Swimming and of course Carley and my parents for all of their support this season. I am super excited for 2010, however now its time to rest. I would like to congratulate all who raced on Saturday and to wish everyone a safe and healthy off-season.

Thanks for reading,

Brent

Hot Holiday Bottletops

For those who know there are a limited supply of alloy bottle openers in orange with the shop logo on them. They were custom made for the cyclocross racers at Z Boaz park...but if you come in and make a purchase and you ask for one there are a few left and they are free. Just ask your friendly cashier!

Bianchi D2 Super Pista

We have one Bianchi D2 Super Pista in size 53cm. This is the real deal, made in Italy. If your looking for a great track frame at a great price, here it is. This one is $700. Stop by or call us at (817) 924-1333 if you have any questions. info@colonelsbikes.com

Salsa Selma Single Speed

We have one Salsa Selma frame left in stock. This is a new 2009 model in size large. The sale price is $750 which includes shipping to the lower 48 states. This is a great scandium frame with size specific tubing and carbon seatstays. The chainstays and seatstays are flattened for a compliant ride. Includes Bushnell EBB English 68mm bottom bracket. Give us a call at (817) 924-1333 or email info@colonelsbikes.com if you have any questions.

Team Think Cash Trinity Park Cyclocross

Sunday morning 11/8/09, I found myself getting the sheepdogs and heading to Trinity Park for some NorTex cross action. My girl found us prime parking about a mile and a half away giving us ample time to warm up and let the dogs shake out any cobwebs before descending upon the cross crowd. We ran into Colonel, watered the dogs and had a quick chat with two of my favorite area riders, Austin Stewart and Chopper Kincaid. Austin S. is a U23 machine and one to watch(3rd on Sunday). Chopper Kincaid is an all around tough guy and journeyman bike racer(6th on Sunday), whom never ceases to impress me with consistancy while juggling marriage, fatherhood, and working a physically demanding job 50+ hours/week. Art Exum and his crew layed out a nice course with Bryan Fawley attacking late to take the win. The rest of the day proved just as enjoyable with cold Hoegaarden flowing until dark.

Ironman Here We Come

Here's a shot of Brian, Laura, and Dave picking up their new rigs. These guys have been friends for years (Dave and Laura are married) and enjoy a good challenge and adventure. They have their sights set on doing an Ironman distance Triathlon next year in Arizona. Stay tuned for the gritty details and let the riding, running, swimming, eating, drinking, and recovering begin.