As the crank turns… tales of life on the rims

Forward Looking

So, yeah. There has been a lot going on in the world of PSIMET. 3 core PSIMET teams, 1 Colorado team, 2 more local sponsored teams all with over 150 athletes….who get team deals. Throw on top of that a great expansion in my organic sales base, stumbling on to some killer product, and the ever churning wickedness that is the mind of PSIMET (not only do I refer to myself in the third person I do it with an alias as well) and we’re busy. All of my multiple personalities.

Busy is good. Busy makes me amped.

About this time every year though the weather starts to get hotter and I start finding I am actually spending less and less time riding outside. It seems like a contradiction of course and yet it isn’t. I just don’t perform well in the heat. Give me long rides in the 60’s with arm warmers and I love it. But I digress.

The fury that was early season road racing seems to be sputtering for most. Those who spent all winter dripping sweat all over floors , occasionally on a too curious pet, have reaped the rewards of their hours of tedious work and ripped the legs off the their competition securing their much desired and well deserved upgrades. As such half of the fields are made up of racers who are starting to think – “oh well…maybe next year. I guess I will just maintain for this season,” and the newly upgraded who are almost thinking, “ok…now what?”

The early season temp and mojo of friendly faces and pent up anticipation has been replaced with long inquisitions at the start line: “Where’s Joe?” “He upgraded.” “What about Bob?” “I think he’s hurt or something.” “Who is this kid?” “Don’t know I think he just upgraded. Never seen him before but someone said he lapped the 5’s field twice at that one race, can pee fire and poop rainbows.””Is he on a team yet?”

For some they are just hitting their stride with their epic struggles yet to be contested as their favorite long event series such as ToAD and Superweek come into view in the smart phone calendars that seem to rule our lives now. These are the guys and gals that dream of epic struggles in the blistering heat up the side of some fabled European climb as they douse themselves with bottles handed up by their adoring fans. Meanwhile fat guys like me turn our attention to the upcoming fall series and Cyclocross.

I have been doing a lot of thinking. I have crunched a lot of numbers. I have made calls and squeezed blood from turnips. All of these efforts have been in pursuit of a new product offering. While I am still not in a position to announce it publically I can tell you that it’s Cyclocross based, will depart slightly from my traditional model – removing the one thing that my current customers hate – the wait.

What’s on tap? Custom goodness with a focus on actual Cyclocross racing. Not products meant to draw the attention of roadies as they finger through the latest glossy magazine, but real solutions for real people racing/riding real cross bikes wanting real quality at real pricing. Really.
Stay tuned. I’ll have some updates hopefully with some pictures before you know it.