How do you know when it's cold?

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause........

so, here's a bit of a story. Last Christmas (not on the exact day, but sometime around the holidays), I was enjoying a Rogue Santa's Private Reserve Ale, a wonderful brew that comes out just once a year. It was at that time when Seth (my then 6 year old) loked at the bottle, saw the picture of Jolly Ole' St. Nick on the label and promptly says "Santa drinks Beer?" My wife was not amused........

Fast Forward to Today. I took the boys out for a bite this evening, santa hats and all. So we had a good dinner, the kids actually behaved and things were good. So I'm waiting on the bill and the waitress tells me "a guy at the bar payed for your meals" What? I'm like, we can't accept it, she's like- "it's done"

so, Now I'm on the recieving end of a pay-it-forward trail and I'll be looking out to help the next soul that appears in need........

and Seth, yes, apparently, Santa Does Drink Beer............

Winter Gear Review-

alright- just finished a short 90 minute ride outside- it was 19 degrees when I left and 27 when I got back- wore my Hincapie Aerotex winter hat for the first time today and loved it-

my first impression was maybe it needed to be lined a little more as it was cool starting out- but 5 minutes in I was comfy, and my head actually sweated in the thing after about an hour- normally this may spell disaster- BUT- it's windstopping properties are exceptional and I NEVER got cold in it- this is now on the top of my list for the frigid rides.

you won't find it on thier site yet- but check you local Hincapie Retailer (Suck Creek if your in the "nooga)

carp

How do you know your blood sugar has dropped?

You swear you saw this in the woods while on a small 1 lane road.....

It was just a white tree that had fallen partially over......time to get back to the Van and eat something.

Heff?

so my boy Sam gets a bit bored and decides he's going to take pictures of himself.

here's the one from the PacesetterCycling team site-It's appeared on multiple blogs in recent weeks but I thoguth I would share it as well.

If the bike racing thing doesn't work out, maybe a future as a Gigilo???

Now that was an expensive flat.........

Yep- Flatted with 1 1/2 to go in the masters crit saturday in Greenville- was in a 2 man break- cost me between $150 and $200---but, Big props to my Michelin Pro Race 3's- rode the rear totally flat for the finish to hold on for 6th, was drilling it and sliding through corners but it stayed on the rim!


Then I raced it two more times that weekend getting 2nd on Sunday. Best clinchers on the market- BY FAR!!!!

WTF.....

so Im out with Lewis on our dark:30 ride this morning and from what I could tell out of my peripheral visino at the quick rate of intersect on a foggy road- this came our of nowhere and nailed me in the head....



Yeah, I gat nailed bya a bat- at about 5:59 this early a.m.- Nice, kind of spooked me for a bit too.....


carp (burning the early lumens again)

Metal Dogs – Years 1910 and 1970

yep- just found out I was born in the Year of the Dog- interresting, and I guess better then the years of the Rat or Monkey. And interrestingly enough, the synopsys of personality fits me pretty well- not perfect, but pretty well---

http://www.chinesezodiac.com/dog.php

That's a shot of my dog- Shes a bit small here but is up to 65+ pounds right now......

2 Hours From Anywhere

yep- bring it back! Rode up there yesterday- very cool- I never got to actually race this as fall is typically a busy work time but had I known the course was as cool as it is...





so- here's my thought- BRING IT BACK......

NATE.....

yes, that is Nate Brown invading the Hincapie-Barkley Bus-------he needs to spend alot more time in it next year. Forget that Hot Tubes stuff Nate- know where your roots are and come back to teh southeast.......

River Gorge-

so it was a good weekend of racing in Chattanooga this weekend- not necessarily for the Hincapie-Barkley boys.....atleast until sunday.

We had a good plan going into saturdays 100K 6000+ feet climb fest, but just didn't have the legs left to pull it off- so all 5 of us DNF'd and then skipped the TT.

But on sunday it was a bit different- just 4 of us lined up (me, AJet, Ben and Talbott)- we had no real plan- it's been a long eyar so far and if the guys don't know how to race their bikes by now then I have not done my job- so pre race was "everyone has a long leash, do what you want, and help me finish ahead of that weak little lamb peters if you can.

We missed the brea, but were active in the race trying to get other things started. Ben puked himself mid race but ws still able to lead out AJet for teh field sprint- they said he got 2nd int eh sprint but I thin he won it- her'es a pick...

And I did finish ahead of peters for the 'Nooga bragging rights........

Update- Nats......

so here is the lowdown- 9 kids; junior guys, U23 and a really fast girl- 4 podiums, 9 top 10 finishes....... not a bad week at all........we are on the map now, and things are looking great.

PODIUMS!!!!!!!

so it was a good day for the Hincapie-Barkley Devo kids.

Ben got us rolling with a 5th in the 15/16 crit

Cinthia held on and finished a fine 4th in a field spirnt where she was completely boxed in with 200 to go

Ty crossed a huge gap to tag onto the back of the break right at the finish to get 4th as well. It was a truely impressive effort. AJ then won the field sprint for 9th-

all great results yesterday and more to come

podiums and scorpion zip ties.......

so, my tt went as expected, slow, hurt, no legs, but it was good to see the course at speed so I could better relate it to the kids. My boty Olheiser did end up second with a good ride, I asked him what it feels like to be the bridesmaid again........

It seems my advice didn't pay off for anyone except....CINTHIA!!!!! the girl rode her heart out and it was a national unveiling for her with a fine 3rd place.........

now, onto the deadly zip tie........I was helping swap out casettes for Cinthia, I found a zip tie and was going to put it on my cassette. It was then when I made the mistake......a moment I wish I had back. A small end of a cut tie was in the zip end of another. One that was too small for me to grab by my fingers, so I pinched it with my teeth and pulled......OUCH! it was then that the "tail" of this tie cocked back and snapped me in the right eye just like the tail of a scorpion. Damn, that hurt. And now, I have a HUGE hematom enveloping about 60% of my sclera and creeping into more area hour by hour. It hurts when I blink, but if I don't blink it dries out and scratches horribly. I tried to get by a opthamologist but everyone was closed, will get up in the a.m. and if it's no better I'll try again.

so, word to the wise, beware of the scoripn zip ties.......

carp

update......day 5

DAy 5- so we goet htere right at noon, not bad when You can plan a 2,200 mile trip and arrive at exactly the time you said- pat myself on the back......we got everyone registered, went to the course and started our thought patterns on how we coupld approach it.

pretty uneventful day, just glad to get to LA'

Day 4.......

another day, another time zone......sitting here in Lake Havasu, Az. Interresting place, a bit of a ghost town right now, peters told me something about a parasite in the water so maybe that's the deal.

today was actually a good drive. Drove over the continental divide and atleast 7,500 feet in elevation- the highest I had ever been so that was cool.

the ride was great as well- we only got out for an hour but it was good. I could have ridden that road for 4-5 today I think. We were in Grant's, New Mexico, 6450 feet of elevation, real scenic, tons of high peaks all around.

tomorrow we get to LA.......

day 3.........

arkansas, oklahoma, texas, new mexico.........750 miles.........11 hours in a bus...........

here is my take on oklahoma, texas and most of new mexico- lots of windfarms, gentlemens clubs right next to bingo parlors and speed limits that SHOULD be 100mph.......


carp

I'm goin back to cali.........

atleast that's what LL said......

day 1 and day 2 of the trip to Nats......

it started out poor and looked very bleak for a while as the bus once again had some issues in route from the homebase in Greenville to the secondary base in the 'nooga. It seems that we had lost our transmission and had some bad U-joints. I was numb for a while yesterday but Bill Joslin came through and got us hoked up with a shop in nooga that fixed us up.

so, today we leave the homestead at around 10:15 and roll into Fort Smith, Ar at around 8:30- not bad time for the bus. Along the way we stopped to get downtown johnny brown's bike in memphis and me some extra strong java.......I'm starting to think this is going to be a long trip, but it will all be good, I am expecting good things from our kids..........

TN STATE TT

So, our TN state tt was last weekend- OUCH!!!!!

I can pretty much sum up my performance by saying the 8 pounds I gained over vacation really, really affected me on that hilly course.

The promoter did a real good job with organization and execution of the event, but personally, I hated the course. Absolutely no area to get any sort of a steady rythm on it. But it is what it is and I won't rationalize my underperformance as I was 2nd in my age gorup and 9th overall.

Props to Tatum for the win. Good ride. I'll be better prepared next year........

AJ and TY of the Hincapie-Barkley Devo Squad (riding for the composite Team Florida) at L'Abitibi. Second and Third in the prologue street sprints to open the event.

showdown in the 'nooga

it seems that a certain Krystal rider that should remain nameless has insulted carp on the SCV forum. This has now morphed into a full blown 'Nooga feud. To go down in installments begginning with the Crit in the River Gorge omnium. Here are a few shots of the history of our mano-e-mano events........

this one is from the River Gorge Crit last year.....yeah, that's the punk himslef trying to follow my wheel......

then from 2 years ago, the SOTO TT- yeah, I was full TT mode andhe was Merckx, BUT, I put 3 minutes into him before the turn!

Stay Tuned for more...........

When in Rome (or Belgium)

So, I'm at the tour of Atlanta, and I ask John Murphy (aka the manchild - from his Krystal days) to give Chris Butler some advice on Belgium......among a couple other things I won't actually write on this blog, he says "you have to drink the beer, because it's fantastic" that messagae must have been passed along to young David as well----
have one for me bro....

carp

Hincapie-Barkley tearing up the dirty south....

Another Great Weekend for the Hincapie-Barkley Team 5 wins in 2 Days!!!!
After about a month of watching Chris work his magic the rest of the guys have come alive (with Chris hitting it strong!). It started with Nick finishing a very strong second in the Athens Twilight amateur finals race and has exploded from there.

Saturday May 3rd.
Sunny King Crit- Anniston, Al. 3 guys, 3 races, 3 wins! This is a great race with an NRC pro race later that night, the coverage is unbelievable with news papers, TV and a Diamond vision screen to see all the action. Ben got us rolling with a win in the junior event in solo fashion. I took the hint and took care of a masters race I have been trying to win for 3 years, lapping the field in a 5 man break and taking the sprint. Then AJ sealed the deal with a fantastic field sprint win in the 2/3 crit after Ben softened up the field with a 10 lap solo break.

Dilworth Criterium, Charlotte, NC While the guys were taking care of business in Alabama I got word that Chris had won solo in the 2/3 race in NC. He got in a 2 man break on the third lap and attacked his partner with 2 to go to take the solo win.

Sunday May 4th.
Nalley Historic Roswell Crit, Roswell, GaWith the results from saturday still fresh on our minds, and now a more complete team with 5 guys (Chris, David T, AJ, Tyler and Nick) in the 2/3 event our plan was to be aggressive and make every move. We represented very well being the aggressor and working announcer David Towle into a frenzy with him calling out us as the eventual winners half way through the event. We almost had a hiccup in the weekend as 4 of our 5 went down in a mass pile up half way through but it all came back together and we had 4 guys left in the race at eh end. Tyler made a move late to keep things together, David (our 120 pound climber!!!) lead out the last lap stringing out the entire field single file, Nick took over on the back side hill and deposited AJet into the last corner where he sealed the deal to come from behind a kid who got the jump and win by 2-3 lengths. It's amazing to see a true junior sprinter with the leg speed of a hummingbird take a win! all in all a very positive weekend both from the standpoint of results and the learning curve that was applied to our kids.

5 wins in 3 races across 3 states!

what's been up........

pulled in different directions that's what- that's my life- sometimes I have all the time in the world, sometimes I'm doing 3 things at the same time and thinking of 10 minre I need to be doing at that moment.

so, the past month was up and down training- 17 hour weeks and a few 8 's as well. but that'wasnt' too bad. The bad part was the stomach bug that hit the family last week- I lost 8 (yes eight) poinds in less then a day- actually one night- that's like 5% of my body weight. No wonder I was crawling on the floor for mobility for a day later. And tehn I stop and think about how poor the little man felt- being only 18 pounds himself I'm sure he lost a pound or more as much as he filled our bed with fluids...........as far me, My legs still feel like crap and I can just hope they come around saturday morning. The last time I had s bug the week before a race was soto last year- it took me 3 days of racing to feel good again, unfortunately in that time I had missed countless breaks and turned a horendous TT in the process- hopefully that won't happen again. The positive is this is a home town race adn I'm in better condition then last year even in late may so I hope to feel fine.....

until next time....

Todays ride-

Rain, wind, sunshine, clouds, today had everything except cold and snow-

at times it was difficult to keep the bike on the road.......

TY

Yes, Ty is THE man on one wheel. I wish I could pull wheelies off like this.

Coming soon to a race near you......

The Road Less Traveled Series (the full pull)

So I convinced AJ to join me for the full loop of the ride I started in december. The one up Pigeon mountain on the Crockford preserve climb. It was just as cool as I thought it would be but not quite as long (72 miles total). The top of the mountian wasn't too bad- 8 miles of dirt and gravel, a bit rolling but not bad. One downhill actually had Moguls on it- it was a potential clavicle day but we survived (with ony 2 flats).

I am thinking on beggining a "hell of the south" ride series. It may require a medical waiver to participate though........

Rock City, Lodging, Starbucks?????

Yeah, so up on Lookout Mountain there are all these direction signs to the attractions. I'm up there the other day doing climb repeats and see this sign. Now, I knew that the starbucks was there, infact, it got me though the last repeat many-o-times. But the sign struck me funny (If you have ever been there it would to you as well)......sing it with me "which one of these is not like the other, which one of these just doesn't belong...."

Team Bikes

All I can say about these things is they are the best bike I have ever ridden. I've been on 8 different bikes in the last 8 years and was NEVER as comfortable when I first sat on one then this past weekend. My initial impression was that it is very stable, stiff, but still a comfy ride.

All those things were reinforced 10 fold this week. If you are in the market for a high end bike, the Giant TCR Advanced should be your first look.....

Hincapie Barkley Devo team

WOW! we did a camp this past weekend and besides the fact that we have a great group of kids and support staff, everyone can actually ride......and we now have a kid that looks like he can shoot for the stars....let's just call him the secret weapon right now, the unveiling will be real soon.

Thanks to Rich Hincapie and our other sponsors (Barkley, Giant, Shimano, Northwave, Time, Giro, Oakley, Industry 9 [aka. pimp wheels], Michelin, 10Best, Industrial Capability Systems, Greer co, Bear Stearns, Patients first, Pla d'Adet, and our individual benefactors who have pledged money to the program.).

This is going to be a great year.

-carp

Welcome to the 21st Century...

I've joined the ranks of the mobile bloggers- got a laptop tody-

hopefully, I'll be able to update more.......or atleast it will give me more of an excuse to hang out in coffee shops, so if you see me sitting in a corner twitching, I'm just od' on caffeine.....

You know it's going to be a bad day.......

....or maybe it's just west by god virginia.......

Ringgold Victorious AGAIN!!!

since my last post I've been covered up a bit- we held a Kingdom Sports Junior training camp the weekend prior to new years, a Hincapie/Barkley Devo team camp the next weekend, then It's been work, work, work-but this past weekend it was one of the most positive experiences I've had in regards to my actual profession as Athleteic Trainer at Ringgold High. We took an underrated group of the toughest most determined kids I've ever seen and ran thorugh the GA class AAAA State Wrestling Duals tournament and won it! I think we were a bit under the Radar ans nobody in teh state even expected us to qualify for teh tourney, then nobody thought we'd make it out of our brackett then nobody gave us a cnace against a tough EastSide team- but our kids knew what was up. It was an exciting tourney and although I got virtually no riding in the past week- it was well workth it- I gained a new perspective for the power of will in watching these kids win- during the final, we had 3 of our kids getting drilled only to turn around and win by pin- unbeleivable. We were up by 8 with one match to go so Coach Daniel decided to give up the forfiet and win by a score of 38-36 and not risk any tempers getting in the way on both sides of the mat.

now, maybe I can get back on an actual training schedule.......