Greenville (3 top 10 results)

Results from the last 3 Greenville Spring Series Races
Greenville #1 - 9th Chris Harkey (Pro 1-2)
Greenville #2 - 7th Geri Mewett (Pro 1-2)
Greenville #3 - 10th Chris Montelone (Pro 1-2)

Holt takes 5th, 7th at Wolfpack - DeLong 8th

Marianne Holt had a good race at the Wolfpack Cycling Road Race and Criterium last weekend. Marking Marianne's first race of the 2009 season, she started it off in fine fashion, placing herself in the winning break of the day. With one lone rider breaking free from the break, Marianne had a fantastic ride to take 5th place in the Road Race. Lori provided solid support keeping the field in check as Marianne's break became established, with help from the Lees McCrae Team who also had good representation in the break. She capped off the weekend with a 7th place finish in the Criterium from Sunday.

Even though the road race was on Sat the 14th, John Delong must have had that black cloud of Friday the 13th still hanging over his head. With great early season fitness, John spent the 3rd of 4 laps away from the group. With his gap growing to close to 2 minutes, his police escort pace car took a wrong turn that took him off course. After turning around and correcting his course, the gap had drindled to less than 30 seconds. John went again for the final lap with a small group of 10+ riders and had to settle for 8th after his efforts.

On a side note, Hincapie/Gary Fisher/Barkley Team rider, Reid Beloni, placed 2nd and 6th in the NCSU Collegiate RR and Criterium for Virginia Tech.

Racing has begun! Look to see all of you at the Greenville Spring Series races which start this Sat-Sun at the Donaldson Center Road Race course and will continue for the next 3 weekends. Check out the calander on our website for the venues.

Tool Box: How to Install Speedplay Zero Cleats

Spring marks the beginning of those thoughts of racing again. What better time to think about switching out your worn out cleats for a better ride. The Hincapie/Gary Fisher/Barkley Team choose the Speedplay Zero pedal and cleat system as our secret weapon, therefore the pictures below apply to Speedplay cleats. If you have Speedplays then you can follow along with the fun...What? You don't currently use Speedplays? What, are you crazy? Now is a great time to try them out! http://www.speedplay.com/
Step 1: Remove old cleats - If you are using old shoes, you must remove those worn out cleats. Different pedal manufactures have various suggestions as to when you need to replace your cleats. Speedplay suggest every 5000 miles or so. Remember that a worn out cleat will effect your amount of float, pedal contact and the amount of pressure it takes to engage or disengage so you don't come out of your pedal in that mad dash city limit sprint with your training buddies. If you are using new shoes, you get to skip this step. Do notice, however, the fore/aft and lateral markings on the soles of your shoes, they will be important later. Step 2: Install the baseplate - The Speedplay baseplate allows you to mount to any road shoe with the traditional 3 bolt pattern. Your pedals will come with two baseplates, which are not right/left specific (so if you get them mixed up I won't tell). Your pedals also come with a set of added plastic shims that you may need to have a tight fit to your shoe's sole profile. I like to place the baseplate on the shoe first without bolting down to see if shims are needed or not. In our example, we are mounting the cleats on the 2009 Bontrager RXL Shoes. (Yes the shoes really are that awesome looking...look for an introduction in the near future). We have found that the stock baseplate fits perfectly with the shoe's profile, so we will not be needing the extra shims. You can also go to http://www.speedplay.com/ to look up your shoe's compatability and shim suggestions. You have 2 bolts to choose from here (see pic below). The center bolt on the is for the top cleat plate (save it for later). The far left bolt and far right can both be used to mount the baseplate. The left (black) one is your standard bolt and should work on most shoes, and where you are not using any extra shims. The far right (silver) bolt is a few mm longer and is best used when you need to add the Speedplay shims to customize your fit to your sole, or if the shorter bolts don't seem to thread fully into your shoe. Tighten them down until they are snug...no need to be Hercules here. The bolts are all lock-tighted so they will hold.

Step 3: Install the top cleat plate - Ok, now you need to get your right and lefts correct here...luckily the cleats are clearly marked. You mess this one up, and you are on your own. Notice that the top of the cleat plate have 2 holes drilled closer together than the 2 at the bottom, to help you allign the top/bottom of the cleat. Allign all the screws with the brass wear plate on top and anchor with the 8 smaller black screw that we saved from earlier. You also now have the option to freely change the left/right position of your cleats prior to tightening down. Notice the 8-10mm of adjustibility in the two pics below. (You may want to suggest someone with experience fitting cyclist help determine your perfect cleat position, or you can use the trial and error method. Either way, you can always loosen the bolts and adjust again if they feel a little off.) I suggest tightening them down til they are snug and then backing off a half turn. If the bolts are too tight they will not allow the cleat spring ample freedom to move, and your pedals may feel too tight when clipped in. Step 4: Adjust the amount of float - Float is the amount of freedom your pedal system gives for lateral motion of your heel/toe while pedaling. While widely know for their large amout of knee saving float, the Speedplay Zero's give the you the ability to customize the amount and direction of your float all the way down to ...well Zero. Using a small screwdriver you can tighten the screws in to limit the amount of float, or back them out to increase the amount of float. You can also adjust them to independently to customize your heel in/heel out travel. Personally, I back out my "heel out" screw entirely and keep the "heel in" close to it's original position. Other team riders back both screws out to create a large amount of float. Conversely, tightening both screws inward will bind the cleat ring and create zero degrees of float, if that is what you desire.Now go enjoy the freedom of your new found float!
Adam Little - Hincapie/Gary Fisher/Barkley Team

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.

Belize Day 3: Can we race? (Updated)

Did a nice 2-3 hour ride today to Crooked Tree, but our whole gang is pretty stressed out. It was really nice to meet up on the road with the Sugar City Boys team and train together. The roads here are really rough and it was good to have friends, teamates and a support truck to share the ride with. We are running into some opposition down here to letting us americans race. There were some heated discussions at the team meeting last night that lasted late into the evening. We have been going round and round with the Belizian Cycling Association constantly. Their intentions are good, but we are having to scramble to get documentations squared away that we had already sent prior to us buying tickets to race. Foriegners racing in the USA don't have anywere close to the hard time as they evidently do down here with registration. We just want to race! Right now there is about a 70% chance we can race tomorrow, but that other 30% is driving us crazy. Big thanks to our NC/SC Cycling Association President, Vicki Lyons for all of her help in getting us the repeatitive documentation they are needing down here. All in all a real stressful night last night and today. We need to get out and go for a walk to clear our minds. Great Country, great climate, great people, but a totally different approach to allowing foriegn riders to race.

5:30pm: Things look much more promising for us to race tomorrow and we are prepared. Our local friends, Melin with the Sugar City team and Andrew with Acros-Guiness, have taken great care of us while we have been down here and helping us get things squared away with the race. We re-sent all of our documents and are ready for a good race. Our spirits have picked up greatly. I am looking forward to dinner tonight at La Hacinda and a nice team meeting tonight. Everyone is fit and ready, but heat is definately going to be a factor, but we have a good plan and great teammates and support. Breakfast early tomorrow and we head off to Corizal to start the race at 9:00, which runs from the Belize-Mexico boarder to Belize City, 100 miles south.

Someone local at home keep Melissa in the loop, my email is down and I can't get through. Adam

Belize Day 2: "Chicken Slayer"

Woke up today at 5:00am to ride at 6:00...Monte looked outside and proclaimed that is was "pitch ass dark outside" and about 80 degrees. The equatorial Sun soon came up with force and we set out with bellies full of tropical bananas and mini clif bars. We rode 60 miles on the roughest roads I have ever seen to the Mexican boarder and back to Orange Walk with our Sugar City teammates Nery, Bertrain and their director Damion. Basically the roads are a mixture of 1-2" sided gravel with huge gaps between. The smooth sections lack the characteristic mindfield of 2 foot HOLES that the really rough sections have. Monte was having a little trouble with his hands going numb, and I know we will be really sore tonight. We stopped just shy of the Mexican boarder (long story again) and decided to turn around. A quick stop at the local store for some bagged water (chilled 1 quart plastic bags of water, rather than bottles) and Gatorade.
Passed another guy on the bike with a gun (double barrel this time) on our way back to Orange Walk. About 20 miles outside of town went through a pretty rual area (mile of sugar cane mixed with shanty shacks along the roadside with various livestock roaming free in the "yard"). A huge golden chicken was running across the road, and diverted its path straigh towards us. Harkey narrowly dodged the fleeing fowl, but Adam t-boned and ran right over the entire chicken with his bike, both wheels. Feathers flying, know known as the "chicken slayer of belize".
Late 10:00 Breakfast of tortillas, beans, eggs and fried jack pies was a welcomed blessing. We all agreed that we would crawl across a desert of broken glass for the homemade thick totillias from here. We cracked and caught up on some sleep and will head back out tonight for dinner.

Belize: Day 1 Run over the Boarder

We flew out of Charlotte today on the way to Cancun. After the 3 hour flight, we waiting in about an equally long line at customs and immigration. Andrew picked us up and we started our run into Belize. During our 6 hour drive...yeah, I could not help but notice that there are tons of machine guns in Mexico. Military checkpoints every few miles will well armed chaps, heck we even passed a civilian riding a bike with his gun straped to his back. Crossed the boarder out of Mexico (real scary, ask me about the details) and into the "Free Zone" a short area between the 2 countries. Our van was searched as we left the free zone and again as we entered Belize but Andrew definately helped clear us through. Arived in Orange Walk, Belize at around 6:00pm and met up with Melin, owner of the local Sugar City Boys Team. Due to some registration problems, we will not be able to race as our own team. Monte and Adam are racing with the Sugar City crew (Orange Walk is famous for sugar cane), and Harkey and David are racing with the Guiness Team in Thursday's race.
Melin has been a great help and has taken great care of us. We had a nice meal of chicken fajitas and bottled Coke tonight and met on of his riders from Guatemala, Nery Valasquz who just won the climbers jersey in the Tour of Guatemala, who will be racing with Monte and Adam. We checked into the Hotel de La Fuentes here in Orange Walk. Will try to get pics us as available.

KMC Test Chain - 1000 Miles

With just over 1000 miles on or KMC test chain (see original article below), we have noticed some wear to the paint. The outer links on the outer drive side show about 20% wear, mostly on the center portions due to the cassette teeth while down shifting. The inner side of the chain (the side against the frame) shows much more wear with about 50% of the paint gone. As you can see, most of the wear is found on the outer X-Bridge links as well as the hollow pins. This wear is attributed to repeated upshifting up the cassette. Other than the paint wear, the functioning of the chain is still perfect. Shifting is smooth and the wear life of the chain seem unaffected. Look for future updates.