Wow, it’s been a while since I did a blog post. Just no time I guess. Where to begin…I guess with my trip to Greenville, SC. A friend and I headed out last Sunday morning about 8:30 am to attend the US Pro National Championship Road Race. We made excellent time and got there in 3 hours just as Bing mapping and our GPS predicted. Go figure. We had about an hour and a half before the race started, so we decided to grab something to eat (this turned into our theme for the day). We stopped at the natural health food stop of cyclist everywhere, Hardees. Yeah, right, can you feel your arteries clogging up? We royally pigged out then headed to the race. The crowds were already starting to line the barriers around the start/finish line. We made our way to the Hincapie VIP tent and got our bracelets to allow us unlimited access to the area. We quickly, upon surveying the set up, realized we’d mad a huge mistake by stopping to eat. There was a buffet set up with Stick Fingers BBQ. There were ribs, baked chicken, potato salad, baked beans, peach cobbler, cookies, wine, beer, water, and sodas, all free and all you cared to have. The buffet would not be lost on us. I mean who were we to insult our host by not making use of their efforts to supply us with primo eats?
Next we made our way to the vendor section of the festivities and located the Hincapie booth. There I presented out ticket and got our white Hincapie bracelets that were to serve as our passes into the party later that evening.
I’d printed photos that I had taken at previous races to try and get autographed. On our way back to the VIP tent, I saw Dave Zabriskie after he’d signed in for the race. I quickly fumbled through my photos and found one of him and me. He graciously autographed it. I got George Hincapie to sign my photo with him in the VIP tent. He came over and spent a few minutes after signing in. It was pretty cool to be there and get to hang with George for a while. We got more photos with him there. Fast Freddie Rodriguez was also in the VIP tent with George. Once they left, we had to partake in the food. SOOOO good. We left and perused the crowd for a while. I snagged the podium girls as they came off the stage and got photos with them. I kind of have a history of doing this at these races. It’s a sickness that I have not found a cure for. I guess seeking a cure might aid in its discovery? Who has the time? I wasn’t able to get to some riders to get my photos signed, but there will be another time. We watched the circuits of the race before the riders rolled out of town. Dave Z took a flyer right from the start and stayed away solo for almost 50 miles. He’d won the National Time Trial Championship the previous day (4th time). We watched the race on the big screen in the VIP tent. We grazed the buffet during the 4 ½ hour race. We ate WAY too much. The riders made the loop through town 3 or 4 times throughout the race. The crowd went ballistic every time George came through. Greenville is his home town and he was the favorite to win the race. He was very quiet in the race until the last 4 laps of the final circuits. He started moving up and on the last lap he came around the last corner, playing cat and mouse with a couple of the riders. Then he jumped and it was all over. He took the race as predicted.
Great finish! We played the part of cycling groupies to a pro level and tried to find the area where the teams were gathering after the race. We failed miserably. They were like ghosts after the race. They vanished into thin air giving us no opportunity for photos or autographs. No worries, only a short wait until the Hincapie party.
We arrived at the party a few minutes after 7:00 pm. MORE BBQ! We had already stuffed ourselves at the VIP tent, but we could not resist. We ate outside as the live band started playing. As the night went on, the venue became far too small for the number of people turning out. George and his wife Melanie arrived around 9:00 pm just in time for the start of the fashion show that showcased the new Hincapie line. Jason McCartney, a rider for SaxoBank was actually one of the “models” in the show. The other models were George’s friends and family. Afterwards, there was an auction of a painting of George that brought in major coin for a local charity. We meet George’s dad and his brother. Again, we snagged George for more photo ops. The highlight of our evening was getting photos with Melanie as we were leaving the party. She was the most gracious of the day about posing for photos. We made our way to the car and found Fast Freddie hanging out in the parking lot. I asked why he wasn’t in the party. He said he wasn’t invited and laughed. We think he was probably going out with George and Melanie after the party.
It was a great day and night. The drive home was a recap of the day’s events. I was starting to dose about 2 hours into the ride home. We got in around 1:30 am. Luckily, I’d had the foresight to take the day off, so I was able to sleep in Monday.
I got in a couple of easy spin days on the bike in the following days. It was mostly a recovery week. I did a 60 mile ride Saturday and today I am kicking back, catching up with the blog as the rain falls outside.
I have weight training and a short ride tomorrow, though it looks like I may be facing more showers tomorrow.
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