Storm Chasin, and Bike Racin.....

Yep- wild weekend. We set off from Chattanoooga at about noon on friday. Typical race weekend, my wife with no sleep, van full of bike stuff and kids and a caravan (spread out as it was) between Aj, our group and Strad.

We get out of the nooga" a bit later then palnned but it's ok as we will still get to Franklin early and get to pre ride the SOTO course with our juniors to get in some much needed recon.

so we're on the road and getting close to Murfreesboro, it's starting to rain but that's fine, we aren't made of sugar and will just be hard men and take the ride as it comes.

Then, I get a call from AJ- he's about 10 minutes up the road- he says, "man, we jsut saw a tornado!!!" so, at this point, I'm like "o.k. that sucks"

so we keep driving and get on 840 towards Franlin. That's when it became apparent taht things were going poorly. With STrad driving behind us we get a glimpse off to teh left of a system forming, and when we get even with it- FULL BLOWN TWISTER!!! Wide and coming towards us. There's people on the side of the road stopped, my wife asks "why ar ehtose people stopped" my response- they are stupid and want to die!

so we're hittin it up the road as fast as I think we can stay on the road and get away from the monster.

so that's the start to the weekend, it had to get better from there. AJ tells me, "seeing the tornado made this trip worth it" man, the thought pattens of a 17 year old- would be nice to have that much of a lack of concern again, I envy that attitude.

so we actually get ont eh bikes at the SOTO course int eh afternoon an dit's warm but horribly windy, we get the ride in, with the wind moving us erratically left and right but it was a good ride.

We also made it to Birmingham saturday to get in the 1/2/3 race against some pretty solid regional competition and a handful fo young pros. Cinthia got 2nd int eh womens race and the guys good expereinece- Blair, Strad and AUbrey rode hard and well, I suffered a bit but rode aggressively and feel good about the effort. ofcourse it ended in a mad dash to the line of 40 guys and without AJet or TY, it's simply a futile attempt for us to combat that.

all in all, a great weekend. But one that I won't forget soon....

carp

Nice Job Guys

Last weekend the HIncapie DEVO squad took many results- from our domination in Rome, GA withthe 1/2 riders to our girls with cinthia finishing 2nd in an open womens race and Angela winning top cat 4 womens honours to Blar and Strad cleaning up the cat 3 race in SC-----



I take some side joy in this in that they are both KingdomSports.net coached athletes.

great job to all

carp

Happy St Patricks Day!!!

Yep- I'll have a few this evening. Enjoy responsibly and have a good time.......

and for musical selections throughout the day; U2, Oasis, The Pogues....to name just a few.

RIder Down

I should have posted this last week but did not. Chattanooga and the world lost a truely good person last week when he was hit by a box van while commuting to work on thursday morning. David was a Husband, Father, Frame Builder, Cyclist, Adventure racer among other things. He was a freind to all on the bike in many ways and his life was shortened by what appears to be at the minimum inattention at the worst criminal. There is one individual who knows the truth but that doesn't bring this beautiful person back. I wasn't in his inner circle but he was always exceptionally approachable even though that wasn't the case.

We could have all learned more from him and I feel for his family. The outpooring of support in Chattanooga and the feelings of loss are incredible. It makes you think and fear that as a rider you will be uligized in a public forum, I hope this never happens in our city again but I am a relist and know that it very well may.

Lets all be careful out there......

the Season is upon us

so, the season is here. Started racing (or atleast I'll call it racing) in Greenville this past weekend. Saturday didn't go bad but mostly I sat in and just worked on moving around in a field again, Sunday was horrible with strong winds and me missing a gap that formed early- no worries though, I'm a bit further along this year then last so I'm ok with it. it's tough when you take the first few angry pedal strokes each year, but it gets better.

on another note, our team bikes are here- the Scott Addict complete with SRAM Red- they are SWEET!!!!! corner very smoothly, seem to descend nicely (only taken it down 2 so far, both with hard cross winds so I can't make a full assessment- but good initial vibes on it). plus, it weighs 15 pounds!! actually 15.18 pounds of pure fluid artwork is what I call it right now.

so, all is good, looking forward to the season and hopefully to regaining my previous climbing abilities

carp

The Greater Good.........

Sometimes we don't think about why things happen the way they do. Why ceratin teams come out on top, why soemtimes people fail. But then sometimes, we see the result of that outcome. And in this case, it is definitely for the Greater Good......

When Santonio Holmes made that incredible catch in the Super Bowl a few weeks ago it just looked like another great athletic feat. Now, it is so much more then that.

http://www.cmarket.com/auction/AuctionHome.action?vhost=reebok&cm_re=1-_-Gloves_Constellation_Icon-_-Gloves_Auction

Gets you thinking on how you can give back........

carp

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