Posts Tagged ‘George Hincapie’

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Getting into the head of George Hincapie

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

The documentary that many of us have been waiting for is now available.  The new Web site for the DVD “A Ride With George” is now live.  You can see a trailer for the movie and order your own copy right on the site.  See it at aridewithgeorge.com. You can read my review here.

I have not seen it yet, but some people who have – and who know George – say it is spot on.  It is going to be interesting to see how the filmmakers get the professional rider to talk!  This is the result.

Here is the official release sent out by Hincapie Sportswear last evening.

Greenville, SC —Hincapie™ Sportswear, Inc. (Hincapie), manufacturer and marketer of distinctive clothing for the performance cyclist, will release “35 Years, 677,000 Kilometers, 81 Minutes: A Ride with George Hincapie,” a documentary film on the life of one of America’s greatest cyclists.  The official movie trailer for this feature-length documentary can be viewed at www.aridewithgeorge.com.

“We are super excited about this new film,” said George Hincapie, Tour de France Stage Winner and co-owner of Hincapie Sportswear.  “I think it will give people a really unique look at what my life is like racing and training all over the world.  Chusy’s really talented and this is not like any documentary you’ve seen before.”

Directed by Anthony “Chusy” Haney-Jardine, whose last film “Anywhere, USA” won a Special Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, “35 Years, 677,000 Kilometers, 81 Minutes: A Ride With George Hincapie” features a unique look into the private life of professional cyclist George Hincapie.  The film captures the emotion behind the athlete and explores what motivates one of the world’s greatest cyclists.  Lance Armstrong, Christian Vande Velde, David Zabriskie, Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwin and many other top level professionals and cycling personalities share candid stories and insights about Hincapie and his incredible journey to the highest level of the sport.

“In this era of me-me-me, George’s message of teamwork and selflessness is truly inspirational,” says Chusy. “I hope other people will find inspiration from his example.”

“35 Years, 677,000 Kilometers, 81 Minutes: A Ride with George Hincapie” is available now on DVD.  Hincapie will distribute the DVD through Hincapie Bicycle Dealers and sell it directly on the website, www.Hincapie.com.  Additional public screenings of the movie may be scheduled in major cities across the country this summer.

For more than 50 years, the Hincapies have dedicated themselves to excellence in the sport of cycling.  Through Hincapie Sportswear, they are combining the lessons they have learned on the road with excellence in customer service, quality craftsmanship and stylish designs, to create the most comfortable, functional and stylish cycling apparel in the world.

I’ll let you know what I think when I see it.  Update: See my review of the movie here.

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Posted in News | 3 Comments »

Pulling my own weight

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

Tuesday I rushed out during lunch to get in a quick ride.  The evenings around here have been full of thunderstorms and baseball games.  I have to squeeze in the miles when I have the time.

This ride took me quickly out of town down Old Buncombe to the base of Paris Mountain.  I made it there in about 30 minutes and then rushed over the mountain trying to keep the ride as close to an hour as possible.  I made it up the Furman side in about 12 minutes and 45 seconds and then arrived at the intersection of Piney Mountain and Pleasantburg just as the computer registered one hour.

Later that evening – after a terrific thunderstorm followed by beautiful blue skies and a baseball game – I took a look at the data from my ride.  I was curious about that 12:45 up the Furman side of Altamont Road.  It seemed as though I was working much harder than the time indicated.

Granted it was pretty hot – in the 90s at that time – and was VERY muggy.  It has been incredibly humid around here for the last week or so.  It is also true that I had ridden for a week in the flat, flat terrain of my birthplace.

My Quarq CinQo indicated that my wattage for the climb was a 326 watts average.  This spring that would have definitely been good for a sub 12:30 time and even close to sub 12:15.  Something else had changed.

Then I climbed on the scales.  I hadn’t weighed myself since before I went on vacation.  Hmmmmm, that could be part of my problem.  I had put on four extra pounds over the last week or so.  Turns out I was pulling a little extra weight through that hot, muggy air on my way up the mountain.

I also was reminded of the huge difference between an amateur rider like me and a professional like George Hincapie.  If you go over to his Web site, you will find some neat videos with George answering questions submitted by fans.  One question regards his Functional Threshold wattage.  He doesn’t come out an say what it is.  However, he does comment that when climbing Caesars Head he will average around 385 watts (which is below his FT).

I figure my FT is around 280 watts.  I can’t imagine climbing Caesars Head maintaining the wattage I was holding for 13 minutes up the  2 miles of Altamont!  Even if I could suffer to the top, I would still be 60 watts below George’s “typical ride” average.  These guys are amazing!

Well, I guess it is time to go get rid of some of this weight.  My favorite way?  Ride my bike!

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Posted in Rides, Training | 2 Comments »

Cavendish is the exclamation point

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

Yesterday I stopped in to check on my friends over at Sunshine Cycle Shop. My teammate Billy White was also there. Somehow the conversation turned to racing… imagine that.

One person (who will remain nameless to save him embarrassment) said, “I’m tired of seeing Mark Cavendish win.” We all looked at him in silence. “He just sits on his teammates’ wheels and then comes around to win at the end.”

This lead to a discussion about other sprinters. We kept pestering him to tell us of another sprinter on a major team who works on the front. The conversation got me to thinking more about the team aspect of racing and sent me to YouTube to find the finish of Stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse.

My conclusion? Team Columbia-Highroad is a well conjugated sentence concluding with Mark Cavendish as the exclamation point. Cav works. He does exactly what the team hired him to do. So do all the other riders in yellow. The reason the Boy Racer wins so much is because they all do their jobs better than anyone else.

This video is a thing of beauty and it isn’t even the best example of Columbia’s lead out. Regardless, the sentence that is the Columbia composition is not prose. It is poetry.

I love watching Cavendish after a sprint finish. He knows that cycling is a team sport. As soon as he gets slowed, you see him do a U-turn. He isn’t looking for the podium girls. His eyes are only for the guys that brought him to the line. I’m reminded of the quarterback or running back in a football game to seeks out the unheralded lineman who made the play possible.

Did you see him hiding behind Hincapie in the video? Suddenly he squirts from behind that big hole in the wind and seems to reach the line before the turbulence can close down around him again. No doubt Hincapie is happy with his current 4th place in GC, but you can bet he is proud of the work done by the TEAM to win the stage.

Cavendish knows who butters his bread.

Cavendish knows who butters his bread.

That is one of the reasons that Columbia-Highroad is winning me as a fan. From the riders and the chemistry between them all the way to Stapleton and his approach to marketing and race management; I’m very impressed with the team. There really isn’t anything to dislike – unless you think people can win too much.

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Posted in Racing | 4 Comments »

Going batty and a couple more things

Monday, June 15th, 2009

I last rode my bike Friday.  Saturday I took my sons to a little amusement park, and now on Monday morning I’m still feeling it.  I guess I can’t just jump in and do things like I used to.

The ride was somewhat of a disappointment.  You may recall that Friday’s ride was supposed to be my attempt at my best 60 min peak power reading.  On Monday I had finished my warm-up ride with a reading of 276 watts.  Tuesday was a long ride that I believe took more out of me than I planned.  Wednesday was a short spin while Thursday was a little longer, but very much a recovery ride.

I thought things were going very well as I started out on that Friday.  The earlier attempt taught me a few things and I was trying to use that knowledge.  At 20 minutes I was averaging 294 watts.  By 30 minutes in I was at a 297 watts average.  Then it started going downhill.

It was about this time the heat (it was 92 degrees with high humidity) started to get to me.  That was a big difference between Friday and Monday.  Monday’s ride was wonderful.  This one was not.

I was now riding in survival mode.  The goal was to maintain as much of that average as possilbe.  I knew I wasn’t going to build on it.

With 10 minutes to go I was hanging around 271 watts.  At that point I couldn’t remember what my earlier average was.  Was it 265 or 275?  Turns out I ended up right smack between those two numbers.  It was a bit disappointing to only end up with my second best 60 minute reading.  Still, that was two attempts in one week with only a 5 watt drop off.

Saturday I was thinking about all my friends riding in the Caesars Head Challenge.  I really would have liked to have ridden in the first ever (though I am sure not the last) event.  My plans for the day were to take my boys to a little amusement park in the morning and then return home to Greenville after spending a last few hours with my family.

We started off with some minature golf.  I was playing with my brother-in-law and my two nephews.  My boys and their cousin, who is their age, were playing in their own group.  Needless to say, I got beat.  I got behind by a stroke early and then started taking chances in order to try to get back.  Wrong move.

Next, I helped my boys give the batting cages a swing.  I was proud of the way Thing Two got in there and took it to those 40 mph pitches.  Up to this point he had only received pitches from his coach in coaches pitch.  He is going to be ready to move up next year.

My older nephews talked me into getting into their cage where they were swinging at 80 mph balls.  I got one of the first four.  Then I started to figure out the timing and started getting a piece of about everyone that came at me.  A couple were even very solid hits.

Then it was on to go-karts.  That was very fun!  All in all it was a very fun morning and well worth the time I spent with my guys.  However, all weekend I’ve been suffering.

The batting cage did me in.  In college I had taken up tennis.  One day I was rushing and went out to practice my serve.  I didn’t warm up and then got a little frustrated about my placement.  So, I kept serving one ball after another.  My shoulder started to bother me a bit, but I kept at it.  Bottom line is I ended up messing up my right shoulder.  Now I have to be very careful throwing a ball or doing anything that requires me to rotate my arm above my head.

It didn’t cross my mind that I needed to be careful swinging a bat!  However, yesterday I ended up on medication and spread out on the couch.  Both of my shoulders were causing me pain.  They are slightly better this morning, but I’m walking around like a stiff board in order not to move them very much.

I do want to give a shout for our man Craig Lewis.  He had a very good showing in the Dauphiné Libéré coming home 24th overall.  That was ahead of some of the stage winners.

Cyclingnews.com has changed up their site again.  It will take me a little to get used to it, but my initial response is that it is an improvement.  They still have some formating issues to clean up.

Last week, Kirk Flinte mentioned on his blog that the DVD’s of the documentary on George Hincapie would be available within five to ten days.  I get the feeling that we may find them ready for purchase this week.  Should be an interesting watch.

Can you believe that the Tour de France is less than a month away?  Wow.  There will certainly be some interesting story lines for this one.  I’m looking forward to it.

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Video – USA Cycling Professional Championships Press Conference

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

My YouTube issues have been resolved and I’m now able to bring you the video clips from yesterday’s press conference. The event was held at the offices of Hincapie Sportswear in Greenville, South Carolina on May 12, 2009.  The following clips are broken down to feature the various speakers at the meeting.

“We are very excited to bring back the US Professional Championships back to Greenville in 2009″ – Chris Aronhalt

“This is our fourth year and it is really neat to live in a community where a handshake really means a lot” – Michael Riordan

“This is really what we consider our signature event for the City of Greenville.” – James Bourney

“This is really the first time we have ever supported an event like this in the Carolinas.” – George Acker

“37 states have been represented this year [for the Stars and Stripes Challenge]… it is truly a national event.” – Kevin Dunn

“Everyone keeps saying this is the fourth year. Has it been four years since I won this race? I had better get on it!” – George Hincapie

“It is a bicycle where you use your arms… Unfortunately I started with cyclist arms, so it is a little bit of a learning curve for me.” – Ryan Barnett

“A 60 minute show broadcast the following weekend on Universal Sports.” – Chris Aronhalt

See the links below for more coverage of the event.

Hincapie signs on for U.S. Championships here
GreenvilleOnline.com

Greenville’s U.S. Pro championship weekend schedule announced
Velonews.com

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The other side of the mountain was all that I could see

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Had George Hincapie not gone down in the race yesterday, it would have been a perfect day!  The bad news is that he got caught in the crash coming into the final sprint of the Tour of Flanders.  The good news is that he is all in one piece and will be able to put this behind him for Paris-Roubaix.

After lunch, I could not resist getting back on the bike and heading out for a ride.  The original plan was just to go out for an hour ride keeping under a certain wattage.  I even got the Garmin out and set the alert to let me know if I started going over.  My Quarq CinQo was sending the data and the Garmin was my nanny.

I then headed out on the Hour of Power route.  Seeing how that I would end up being out too long if I did the whole route, I took a short cut and headed down West Darby Road.  Unfortunately for my hour goal, I decided to see where West Darby led me instead of taking the traditional turn away from the road.  Turns out Darby ends in State Park Road.

I turned right on State Park and could see Paris Mountain on my left.  I kept moving along and realized that if I stayed on State Park Road, I would end up out in Travelers Rest.  Now I was already an hour out and needed to start heading toward home.

I turned onto a road that I had never been on and wasn’t even sure where it would take me.  All I knew is that it was taking me toward the mountain.  Ah! then I came upon Little Texas Road.  Now I realized I would be able to work my way to Poinsett Park which would put me on Frontage Road and I could then head down Old Buncombe to Downtown and home.

Around the mountain.

Around the mountain

All the while, I was trying to keep my wattage under 218 watts.  That was hard!  There was one spot on Little Texas where the grade was steep enough that with a head wind coming at me, I simply could not avoid setting off the alarm or I would have fallen over!

That one hour turned into 2 hours and 30 minutes.  I enjoyed every minute of it.  I’ll do this one again… but probably not with that alert set!

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George is back in black

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

I saw this video earlier on the Columbia-Highroad team Web site.  George pointed to it from Twitter again today and reminded me of it.  Of course, Low Cadence is cheering for Big George as he heads onto the cobbles.

There are some other cool videos at the team’s Web site.  I love the one of Cavendish riding around with mud guards on his Scott.  The team did a really good job with these profile pieces.  It would be even better if they could keep producing stuff as the season progresses.

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A Twitter Day

Friday, February 27th, 2009

It is amazing the things you can learn following your Twitter.com feeds.  There was a thread of events flowing through the Greenville Twitter world yesterday that told a story within the cycling community.  It was kind of cool to see the pieces come together.

It started this morning when I came upon a feed by Tim Jackson of Masi bicycle fame.  This Tweet read, “Hello Greenville. Just passed exit for Paris Mtn… Looks quiet now.”  That got my interest.  Then he followed it up with a Twitpic…

Tim Jackson takes a photo of downtown Greenville

Tim Jackson takes a photo of downtown Greenville

His caption for the photo was “Morning in Greenville.”  Yep, I recognized that view.  So, I sent a reply giving him a welcome to Greenville and wishing him some great riding while he’s here.  I asked him what exactly brought him to our town?

Before I could get a reply, I saw a feed by Kirk Flinte over at Hincapie Sportswear.  He was pointing to his blog post of the day, “Kenda Pro Cycling Team.“  Well, I didn’t put two and two together because I thought Masi sponsored Team Inferno.  What I didn’t know was that Team Inferno is now Kenda Pro Cycling Team.

So, what was the team doing in Greenville?  They were here for their team training camp and to say hello to their clothing sponsor.  A little later this was confirmed when Tim Jackson responded to my question basically telling me what I learned from Kirk’s blog.

However, it didn’t end there because the team came together for some pictures before heading out on a ride.  Kirk was involved in that photo shoot as well.  Which was followed soon after by a shoot with George and Melanie Hincapie as they modeled some of the new denim items by Hincapie Sportswear.

Of course, everyone following George’s feeds for the day knew he was not feeling so well.  Yet, out there he went to get the job done.  I know Kirk hasn’t been feeling so hot either… maybe he is the one who got George sick!

But the Twitter story comes full circle when I see a Tweet by Oliver Blanchard (who does photo work for Hincapie) to Kirk talking about George being sick and the photo shoot.  Then I see the following by Oliver (a prodigious Twitterer, by the way), “Cyclists: I got SMOKED by these guys today while riding up Paris Mountain. Blew by me like I was standing still. http://bit.ly/ssjkZ“  Yep, it was the Kenda boys.

Last I checked, it could be that the Kenda theme continued.  Boyd Johnson put the following in his feed, “9:27 up Paris mountain today. But I was hanging onto a wheel for half of it. 375 watts.” Now, I’m wondering… just whose wheel was he hanging on to?

Could be some more news coming up later today at LowCadence.com.  I have my post op visit today!

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Posted in Life | 4 Comments »

Baker’s back – Video of George at AToC

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

Steve Baker of Hincapie Sportswear stepped away from his blog a bit while out presenting the company’s line at the Amgen Tour of California.  I was hoping for some regular updates, but it sounds like he is pretty busy.  He did get one up earlier today.  You can check it out at Hincapie.com.

Here is some video he took of George Hincapie before the racing started.

Hopefully Steve will get to slow down a bit and send us some more.  I did notice that Kirk Flinte also put up some pictures.  Always good to get a local view of the race.  Thanks for thinking of us, guys.

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The Low Cadence Lair

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

While watching Johan Bruyneel’s Twitter feed from the Astana car during the fourth stage of the Tour Down Under, I saw the following tweet… “George Hincapie just came back to the car to tell me I had to stop twittering and concentrate on the race. What’s YOUR opinion on that?”  My response?  “GO BIG GEORGE!”

However, far away from Australia is the “Low Cadence Lair.”  This is my partially finished basement where I manage LowCadence.com, take my work home from the university, and do my Worthwhile responsibilities.  Oh yeah, it is also the place where I do my trainer work.

Come on in!

Come on in!

The table is for meetings with my business partners, my kids, and for collecting all kinds of stuff.  The red bike is my first road bike — an 06 Specialized Allex Elite with Mavic wheels and Shimano 101 components.  I call it my rain bike, but since I’ve put the power meter on my Tarmac the Allez has not seen much action.  The jerseys are special ones from events.

The command center

The command center

I do most of my work on my MacBook Pro.  I also have a PowerBook that I use as my base computer and pvr.  Thankfully, I have plenty of computing power over at The Worthwhile Company should I need to get real heavy duty!  DSL and VPN help me turn the home office into a connecting point for the various areas of responsibility in my life.

The work bench

The work bench

What to do with all those old numbers?  I thought about saving them and having one of those wind breakers made out of them.  Probably never will, but is kind of cool to have them under glass on the work bench area.  This is where I have done some hardware (computer) work in the past.  Don’t deal much in that now days.  Now it is just a place to spread things out.

The business area

The business area

There is my Tarmac on the trainer.  I have the TV there on the rack in front of the bike.  There is also a shelf that I can put water bottles on and set the remote, etc.  The book shelves to the left are built in and have a bunch of books on there that I need to weed through.  There are some old programming books that would be better off in a museum!

Wind and water

Wind and water

Looking back from the bike you can see the conference table again along with a water cooler (makes hot water for tea as well!) and a fan.  During the warmer days of winter, I have that fan going!  Oh, the car?  That is a little pedal car I won at a gala that was autographed by Kyle Petty.  I keep hanging onto it.

So, there you go.  When you read about my spinning, you’ll know this is where I’ve been.  It is a cool little hang out.

Oh, Bruyneel’s final word? “Ok folks! Please no comments any more about George. No matter what he says, I’m gonna do it anyway. George is a good guy!”

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Posted in Life, Site News | 1 Comment »

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