Lewis featured on VeloNews

Congrats go out to one of our very own former Hincapie Cycling teammembers, Craig Lewis. Craig was recently featured on VeloNews.com for his great first year with Team Columbia and his bright future in the sport. Click here for the read the full article. Lewis (24) started off his now famous cycling career with our Hincapie team way back in 2002 where he raced as a Jr. with us (then we were the Fairway-Cyfac team, and Hincapie Sportswear was just starting to boom in the Southeast). Craig raced the 2002 and 2003 season with the team and them moved to TIAA-CREF in 2004, Slipstream in 2007, and landed his current spot with Team Columbia in 2008. Congrats to Craig for making it to the big stage...best of luck with all your future races.

Training Camp: part 1

We had a good team training ride today. In total we had 12 of the team members out together which was great. We had a nice long ride and it was good to catch up with everyone and see that they were all looking forward to a great year. I was the lucky dog who got the honor of being the first to test out the new Gary Fisher ARC Pro team bike, and was very impressed. I spent 4 hours on the new bike today on the ride, and it was a nice ride straight out of the box. Other than looking freakin hot, the frame was very responsive (as always, we played around with a few city limit sprints) and also climbed well. It was very easy for me to dial in my position on the bike, since it's geometries were virtually identical to the Lemond's we rode last year. The new Bontrager Race Lite bars were perfect and had a good feel on the ride. We are still waiting for a few extra parts to get all the bikes built up, but I know the other guys will be equally impressed once they get their first ride. We were able to hand out a few pairs of the new Bontrager RXL Shoes and the fits were perfect. Hopefully we can get our cleats dialed in and get our first ride in them tomorrow. Stay tuned for some pics of the new rides...Later, Adam

Gary Fisher: 2009 Team Bike and Co-Sponsor

NEW for 2009: The 2008 Hincapie/Coca-Cola/Barkley Team will become the Hincapie/Gary Fisher Team presented by BARKLEY! We are pleased to introduce Gary Fisher Bikes as our new Co-Sponsor for 2009 and beyond. The team will race the newly introduced Gary Fisher ARC Pro, equipt with top of the line Bontrager and SRAM components. The ARC Pro features a stiff aluminum frame with carbon fiber seatstays and chainstays, along with a Bontrager carbon fork. Look for the team edition Gary Fisher ARC Pro at the head of the races in 09'. Thanks to Travis, Chris, Jeff and Travis G. for making the dream a reality.

SRAM Pledges 2009 Support

SRAM Continues 2009 Team Support

For our second year in a row, the Hincapie/Gary Fisher Team presented by Barkley is pleased to have SRAM return as our official groupo sponsor for our Gary Fisher ARC Pro framesets. Our team had great success with the SRAM Force groupos last year and look forward to a great 2009 season with their continued support. This year the team bikes will be equipt with a combination of SRAM Force and SRAM Red shifters, cranks, brakesets, bottom brackets and derailures. Thanks to Alex, Ed, Paul and Jim for all their help. The team is also proud to be contributing through SRAM to the World Bicycle Relief program, along with other SRAM sponsored teams, in order to provide stable and sustainable bicycles to areas around the world for transportation and labor uses. http://www.worldbicyclerelief.org/Visit our friends from SRAM at http://www.sram.com/ and follow other fellow SRAM Athletes at http://www.theroaddiaries.com/

Just Training

This weekend we were glad to get in a little "mini-camp" with the guys. Saturday we did the Polar Bear together for some miles, and Sunday took a jount out to Morrow Mountain. John was able to come down from VA, and Reid, who has been spending the last week training with the Virginia Tech Team in Florida also popped in. Sometimes it is just good to get together and experience the ride... going to be a good year.

Reid cropped this picture to hide his uncontrolled mullet
John and Adam pondering the meaning of life (and the future joy of our Gary Fisher bikes) at the overlook down to the Pee Dee River

Belize Day 7: One the Road Again

Sunday: Monte, Lori, David and I got up early on hit the road on the bikes for a 55 mile ride back up to Orange Walk. Monte said "he was really tired, but wanted to get in one last good ride". I matched him 2 up for a 3x 15minute pulls, and he was must have been feeling a little "better" than he thought. Seemed like the Northern Highway never ended. Made it into town around 9:30am and found a nice local fruit concoction to cool us down. After a quick parking lot change we started packing up the bikes for the flight. Got to see our friends and sponsors from the Sugar City team one last time which was nice. Went outside of the box and tried some local rice/beans and grilled fish for lunch. Harkey stuck with his same boring grilled chicken, Coke and baked tater.
Jumped in the van and did the long 6 hour mach 3 run to Cancun. Andrew scored us some great fresh pineapple from the locals on the side of the road. (You may have noticed that the theme of food seems to run through these posts...funny how comforting good local food can make a long, hot, sometimes stressful trip seem a little more easy. 'Bout all you can think about when you days shape up like "eat, ride your bike, travel, eat, travel, eat, travel some more, sleep") Scored a nice room at the Avalon Grand on the strip in Cancun for a few hours, then off to the airport tomorrow back to good ol God's Counrty NC. Thanks for joining us for the ride! Adam

Belize Day 6: Let's be Tourists!

Saturday: Not sure if we had another night's room, we packed up all our gear, left it in the hotel lobby and headed off to meet Tony for a 12 hour tour of Belize (Caracol Mayan temples, Rio Frio river and caverns, Twin Tunnel Caves and 1000ft falls). Long day, but a once in a lifetime experience to see the awesome sights of highland Belize. I got to share a pizza with Charles and life was good.

Belize Day 5: Recovery Day

Friday: We are all busted, but had a great night at the Radisson Fort George thanks to the help of our friend and supporter, Jim Scott! We slept a little late today and had breakfast at the bakery (cinnabuns, johnny cakes and scones). After going to sweeten my java, the lid pops off and I dump about 2 cups of pure, fresh Belizian Cane Sugar in my coffee...needless to say I was having a little sugar high for the rest of the morning. We ride out to meet our friends Charles and Tony from Leslie Imports and then out of town for a 30 mile recovery ride on the Western Highway to Hattiville.
After lunch we met up with Roger, Shalini and Christian at the bowling alley and test our skills on the worst bowling lanes in history.
Dinner with Charles at the Stone Grill (Monte opted for the Jerk Beef strips for a little spice) and then visited the Smiling Meats shop with Matthew.

Belize Day 4: Sucki-Suck WINS the KREM Classic Race!

Thursday: Race Day -
Women's Race:
Lori was our lone female team member representing the Hincapie/Gary Fisher/Barkley Team in the abbreviated 60 mile womens version of the race. After a Builder Bar breakfast, her race left at 9:00 combined with the Jr's field. She spent most of her race chasing attacks and breaks with the Jrs in order to form seperation with her other female racers, which included Shalini Z. (winner of the 2008 race). Lori, not known for her sprinting knew that she had to lead out the sprint into town as fast as she could. She took a great line through the round-about and held off her other girls to the line for the WIN! After a little post race interview with KREM Radio and Belize Channel 5 TV, Lori was presented with her monster trophy, prize money, Championship ring, and Sheep (yeap, she won a sheep as a prime on the road!) Big props to good ol' "sucki-suck" for her biggest win to date!!!

Men's Race:
Monte, David and I roll out to breakfast at Melin's house in Orange Walk, eggs over easy, fried ham and tortillas at 5:30am. We leave for the race at 7:00 after I had already made 3 pit stops at the bathroom...a little Montazuma zoom zoom action. Lori's (aka sucki suck) race leaves from Orange Walk so she got a little more sleep time. We stop on the road about 6 miles from the startline at the Mexico boarder and get our bikes ready and suited up. I duck out into the sugar cane fields with a newspaper for round #4. After riding to the start we sign in and go through the pre-race check up and find some shade. Race starts...crazy! Full on cat 5 action. Moto official dumps his bike just in front of the pack, we are bunny hopping speedbumps, dodging chickens and stray dogs, caravan traffic, sugar cane...you name it. Entering Corazal the road looks like a mine field of potholes. Chris and I both loose all of our water bottles, and our sprinter, Mateo flats his front wheel. I dropped back with 2 teammates to get him, but he is nowhere in site and chase back on through the maddening caravan (Repeat step 1 three more times!) After my third time dropping back for my sprinter, I closed the gap back to the field and a crash of 10-15 guys blocks the road. I run off the left side of the road to avoid running into the moto official, and get bogged down in a ditch in the cane fields (this is where my race went south). I spent the next 5 miles or so trying to chase back on to no avail through Orange Walk. Monte is in a 5 man break at this point and the race is going fast into town for the $1000 prime. Monte takes a narrow 2nd for the prime and his break gets caught. David goes back to the caravan for water, eats bumper and crashes into a service vehicle while pacing up. I settle in for a lonley 55 mile ride to Belize City with no water. Marlon (Team Santinos) attacks just past Crooked Tree towards Belize City which puts us on the defensive. Monte and Nery set up a strong chase at 28-30mph for the next 5+ miles but can't close to the leader up the road. They pull the 2nd group of about 20 riders to the line and get passed in the sprint for 11th and 12th place, with Jose Choto taking trophies for 1st master and Chris 3rd place master.