I thought I would take this blog post in a slightly different direction and do  run through in the day of racing Speed Week from my experience.

 

Wednesday 1^st of May: Speed Week Criterium # 4 Walterboro

 

8.30am: Wake up and trundle off to the hotel breakfast room. The food selection is average at best and with the best option being the waffles. They are actually pretty good with some honey and a glass of orange juice to wash them down. I half sip a mediocre brewed coffee for my caffeine fix but I’ll have to wait later in the day for something a bit more decent.

 

10.30am: After chilling out back in the room for a bit, catching up on emails and curbing our social media fixes, we suit up and head out on the bike for an easy hour spin. This helps loosen up the legs from the previous night’s race in preparation for tonight’s race.

 

Noon: We shower and leave the hotel and begin the search for a decent coffee and something to eat for lunch. A Starbucks double espresso goes down well with a Cashew Nut Chicken Curry from an awesome little Thai restaurant we find in Savannah. We mingle around town a bit and grab any supplies we may need before we are back in the car and on our way to Walterboro, an hour and a half away.

 

4.00pm: We arrive in Walterboro and find a spot to set up our camp for the evening. We manage to find a good area in a parking lot next to the course, and pop up our Giant gazebo with the camping chairs. With our base established we head off to sign in for the race. We now have a good 3hours to kill before the race and it’s time for my pre-race meal of rice which I have made at home. With two hours to go before crunch time I start sipping on my Gu Electrolyte drink, while pinning on numbers and pumping tyres amongst other things. We kill most of the time by playing on social media and joking around. In short, being as lazy as we possibly can be before the race.

 

6.15pm: After I’ve changed into my skin suit and made my bottles I jump onto my bike and spin around town for 10-15minutes really easy. I then hop onto my trainer and start my warm up proper. With 10 minutes to the start of the race we make our way to the start to get into the huddle of riders waiting to grab a spot behind the start line as close to the front as possible. As soon as the ladies finish their race we are onto the grid behind the guys who have call ups

 

7.15pm: The whistle goes and we’re off! Tonight we race 37 laps of a 1.1mile circuit. By the time we finish the last lap we will have done 57km in 1.15(average speed 45.6km.h) I attack the race a few times but can’t seem to get in a move that sticks. Brian does well in going in the early move and spending over 10 laps off the front of the race. The back end of the course gets dark with limited street lights and it gets sketchy in the later stages of the race. I’m sitting too far back, although I do try to push forward and come home in 26^th place. It’s an improvement but not where I want to be yet. DZ gets 32^nd and Brian 40^th.

 

8.45pm: Slug down a Gu Recovery Brew along with a cold Coke. We pack the bikes onto the car and get changed. The race organisers have dinner for us tonight so we enjoy that before getting in the car at about 10pm and start the trip back to Greenville.

 

12.30am: Arrive home exhausted, get my bags and bike out the car and get into a hot shower. Unpack a couple of things and then finally get into bed at 1.30am.

 

Fortunately we have the next day off racing (Thursday) before we kick off the last 3 day leg of Speed Week commencing on Friday night where we race through until Sunday night.

 

I got a C for English at school. I didn’t enjoy writing, but yet, over the last two years I have developed a love for writing these blog posts. I hope with this one, that I have the words to describe the feelings associated with racing Athens Twilight Criterium.

Athens Twilight, I was told by many is the craziest, most unforgettable criterium in the States. There would be 30 000 drunk college students(there really was!) screaming at you, with them lining the home straight 5 deep, it was like riding through a passage of noise. It was exciting, exhilarating and electrifying all at once. Adrenalin pumping through your veins kind of stuff! To try put it into terms for those back home, I guess it must be similar to the emotions experienced by a rugby player playing a Super Rugby final.

I was also told it would be super hard, and it was. I knew positioning would be critical, especially following the mistakes I’ve made in prior races. Being in the front mix changed the game in a psychological way hugely for me. Instead of hanging on trying to survive, I was now racing. I followed moves off the front of the race and instigated more myself. This was the game plan, attack and get off the front. Finishing the race was not even a goal on the start grid.

However as the laps ticked away I was thinking to myself, wow I’m still mixing it up here. Let’s attack again, let’s keep on fighting.

The race was however not without drama. I destroyed a front wheel 20 minutes in with another rider rapidly changing lines, putting his rear derailleur into my front wheel. In addition to this I was caught behind a crash just over an hour in. SRAM neutral support managed to get me back into the race on both occasions and I am thankful for that.

Setting up Team Camp alongside the Athens course.

The Athen’s Crowds!!

Image Credit: Competitive Cyclist

Pre race day Computrainer Heats.

Approaching the last ten laps (of about a km each) I jostled for position, and pushed myself forward whenever the opportunity allowed. I was in the top 10-15 wheels with 2 laps to go until a rider stacked it in turn one, in front of me. Shit! I wasn’t hurt and managed to keep it fairly upright. It didn’t look like many guys had made it through, so I quickly got my bike out the mess, jumped back on cross style and pinned it for the next one and a half laps thinking I may still be in the money.

Turns out I wasn’t and I finished in 45^th place. Although the race didn’t finish how I wanted it to, there were a lot of positives to draw from it and I was stoked on that. Junior Mint (aka Jake Hill) was mixing it up front with me as well and bagged a very solid 12^th on the evening. DZ (aka Dan Zmolik) was the ticket conductor and kicked the boys off the bus as the laps went by. Brian unfortunately had mechanical issues and was in the showers early.

Let’s rewind a bit at this point. As I’ve mentioned before, we are racing Speed Week over the next 9 days where we will do 7 criteriums. Athens Twilight was the first and come yesterday we were off to Historic Roswell Criterium.

I was disappointed to learn that this wasn’t the same Roswell as the TV series from a few years back. Who remembers that? I loved it!

En route to the Historic Roswell Criterium.

Trainer spin in the hotel room, avoiding the rain!

The improvised hotel room kitchen. Ice bucket ‘fridge’ and coffee machine ‘kettle’ (hot water to make my Future Life!)

Anyway, back to the racing. The weather forecast pretty much guaranteed we would be racing in monsoon like rain and we did. There was talk of the race being cancelled but ultimately it was shortened to 60 minutes. I was surprisingly excited about racing in the wet conditions. Partially due to the Stan’s tubeless road wheels we are running, which means that we can run the pressure down to 60 PSI and not risk punctures. You can imagine how sweet this is in the corners in the pouring rain.

With last night fresh in my mind I was eager to repeat the performance and “go one better” in a sense. A small field was on the grid and early on I found myself following a few moves. United Health Care aka the Blue Train, were taking no prisoners on the day and pretty much put their full squad on the front riding hard tempo the whole race, allowing no one to go clear.

A few guys did manage to snatch some primes, including Brian who snuck away for a lap.

I changed my race tactic with this in mind and tried to position myself to mix it up in the finale. This time, with two laps to (again) it wasn’t so much a problem out of my control that was the cost factor, but rather my own. My legs went kaboom and from sitting 10^th wheel I faded horribly to somewhere around 30^th.

More importantly all the boys came out of the race safely, where there were actually surprisingly few crashes.

Today, we have the day off. I’m back at home in Greenville chilling out a bit, drinking coffee and getting in a short spin. The next leg of Speed Week sees us venturing back off to the State of Georgia. Tomorrow we will take on the Coastal Empire Classic in Tybee Island and on Wednesday the Downtown Walterboro Criterium in Walterboro.

Be sure to check in on Thursday where I will bring you part two in my Speed Week experiences.

Until then, arrive derci!

Found this ‘interesting’ guy in Athens walking his bunny around like it was a dog!

 

After a weekend of racing which I would rather forget about, I realised sometimes you need to take a step back and put things into perspective. Whilst cycling is a huge part of my life, it isn’t everything and I am privileged to be living a dream. I know many would kill to be where I am right now so it’s not the end of the world.

The unfortunate drawback is that I am struggling to see where it all went wrong. This is where the help of my coach Simon and my support team come in. They are able to look at things from the outside and to add a different perspective onto what I have already looked at and possibly missed. I feel as though my training has gone well, my nutrition is good (Ash makes me some bad ass salads!) along with the other important aspects required for success but something just isn’t allowing all the dots to join. We will have to figure it out. There are so many different aspects which need to be worked on in order to come out ahead.

The Presbyterian Classic is one of the biggest crits in the USA. We would race a ‘back to back P loop’ to try and put some of the big prize purse in our back pockets. The evening didn’t pan out for the Stan’s boys as we may have hoped and I walked away with another DNF behind my name. There were some positives to draw from the evening and I have learnt more about the beast that is American crit racing.

Stan’s Team on the day. From left to right: Show Pony, Dilly, Bill and Junior Mint.

Double P course.

Lining up on the grid.

We were privileged enough to be put up in the Hilton Hotel for the event compliments of the race organisers. After an early morning spin I took on the buffet breakfast with full force. Hilton Hotel Buffet Breakfast – 0 Chris 1. With our bellys full, we bid farewell to Dilly and Junior Mint, as Brian and I headed out to the Noda Grand Prix. Another crit held in the Noda suburb of Charlotte, which I may add seems to be like a really cool city. We had arrived early for Marilyn’s race, and Ash and I spent our afternoon getting to know the “Smelly Cat Café” well, a funky coffee shop on the course which was set in and about the alternative neighbourhood.

Come 5.40pm we were behind the start line and eager to make amends for the previous day’s race. The pace was fast, faster than what one would expect at a ‘local’ race and closer to that of a national level crit. Anyway, I positioned myself well in the first half of the race, until I started sliding backwards through the somewhat whittled down group and then eventually out the back. Another DNF.

Checking in at the Hilton.

Getting ready to roll at Noda GP.

Noda GP.

To say that I was gutted would be an understatement. The worst was, that as I mentioned before, I couldn’t really see where I had gone wrong. There wasn’t anything standing out with a big red flashing light.

Today (Monday), I’ve had some more time to think about the weekend. There are areas where I can improve on. After questions of “what am I doing here” last night I’ve realised that I need to take a step back and look at things in the bigger picture. Whilst I love bike racing it isn’t everything and I am fortunate to be enjoying the experience that I am. For that, I will continue to try and make the most of it. I’ll keep on fighting and doing what I need to do and the results will come, I am sure.

Enjoying a pre race espresso at the Smelly Cat Cafe.

Predator Carbon lead the chase.

Railing the corners.

All images credit: Ash Smit

With a weekend off racing last weekend it gave me some time to settle into my new home town, Greenville. The last two weeks have really been my first here, as previously I was off to team camp and then Florida in a matter of a few short days. Thus far I have been loving it; I have met some really cool people and am enjoying the endless country roads for training.

 

I was glad for the weekend off racing as it allowed me to get into a good training routine, instead of playing the balancing act of getting workouts in, whilst trying to recover from the last race and be fresh enough for the next. This seemed more important now, especially after some exposure to high level American crit racing I knew I had to tweak the training a bit.

 

The weekend off also allowed me to go watch my first Ice Hockey game. I was off to the Bilo Centre last Friday night to go watch the local team, the Greenville Road Warriors, take on the South Carolina Stingrays(what a bad ass team name?!). We had a cool mix of a guys and girls going to watch the game including: 3 Americans, an Aussie, a Bahamian and a South African (yours truly). All in all it ended up being a fun evening watching an iconic American sport, getting to know some new friends.

High speed game!

And the Sting Rays score!

The kids game in the intermission, it was more exciting in that they netted way more puks than the real game.

From right to left: Bahamian, American, Aussie, American, American.

Last week’s highlight was no doubt having my girlfriend, Ash, arrive from South Africa. It has been a long 6 weeks without her and I am stoked she is in Greenville with me now. It is going to be great to share this awesome adventure we have ahead of us over the next few months. You will now no doubt also see some more racing shots on the blog as she gets behind the lens at the races!

 

Fast forward a few days and the weekend which has just passed saw us venture up to Rockhill to partake in the Rockhill criterium on Saturday and road race on Sunday. We used the races as hard training sessions ahead of the upcoming NCC crits.

 

The crit course was somewhat different to a typical downtown crit course with a more peaceful setting amongst the Cherry Blossoms in spring and a lake. A drag up the back straight also changed the dynamic a bit in comparison to the typically pan flat crits I have done this far.

On the attack!

Shopping on the moped with Ash.

Rock Hill Criterium in the park.

Brody at the bike races.

The first half of the race was particularly active, and Brian and I found ourselves following numerous moves. The field didn’t seem to be in the mood to let anything stick so I decided to sit in and save the legs for the bunch kick. In a moment of relapse a group of 5 snuck away close to the finish, despite Brian getting on the front to try and real them in with 3 laps to go the group just managed to stay away.

 

Now, sprinting for 6^th place, I found myself too deep coming out the last corner with 400m to go. I tried to kick early and salvage whatever result I could but got boxed in and had to be content with 13^th on the day.

 

The following morning we were up bright and early and back in the Nissan on our way to Rockhill for the 180km road race. I was quite enthusiastic about this as road races back home are not often longer than 120km. I knew I had the base miles and longer mountain bike marathon races in the legs and was keen to see how this would translate onto the road.

 

Brian managed to get into the decisive early break which went within the first 20km of the race. Shortly thereafter the peloton split into a further two groups, I found myself in the front split of 20 riders. Two of the local teams: Global Bike and Finish Strong set about trying to bring the move back whilst I happily sat on the back with Brian down the road; this was however not to their liking!

 

A further 100km down the road the situation remained almost unchanged with the front move still maintaining a good four minute advantage. I had missed a move of 3 riders who attempted to bridge across and at the end of the day were actually successful.

 

I wasn’t particularly happy about ‘just finishing in the bunch’ so set about attacking my fellow companions on the rolling climbs of the back stretch of the course. I managed to create a split of four riders with another four joining us a few kilometres down the road.

 

I felt strong approaching the last 30 minutes of racing and drove the move as hard as I could to try and pick up remnants of the front split. We had too many ‘free riders’ so I attacked the group again with 10km to go and took one rider from the Finish Strong team along with me. We combined well together and almost caught 3 riders ahead. The positive was that we had managed to eliminate a gap of over a minute to just ten seconds at the line. The Finish Strong rider and I went from friends to foe as we approached the line as thought we were sprinting for the last dollars on the line. Although I managed to convincingly win the two up sprint it was for 13^th place and not 12^th as we thought (the last paying spot).

 

Two 13^th places in one weekend?!

 

This weekend we will tackle the Presbyterian Criterium, one of the hardest crits on the American circuit. The two hour race is sure to be a brutal one.

 

Until next week then, ciao!

Trying to shake things up.

The drag up the back stretch.

B.Hill putting the hurt down.

All racing images credit: Ashleigh Smit

 

Caught a Baseball game on the way home from a late afternoon pedal.

Bad ass ‘wooden’ wheels.

Young gentleman beware!

Walk in the park along the Swamp Rabbit Trail.

My first taste of national level criterium racing in the USA would also be my first twilight criterium. This meant we would start at 6.30pm in the fading light and race through the sunset into the darkness for 90 minutes. We would have the street lights to help show the way, on most parts of the course.

The team was kind enough to give me the rider call up. I would be lining up on the second row of a ten deep grid, quite an advantage when you’re going to be blasting through 4 corners a lap which each last just over a minute…

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take advantage of this, as I dropped my chain on the back pave section of the first lap and found myself dangling near the rear end of the 120 rider field.

I managed to make my way back to the front, eventually, only to be off the back following a big crash 30 minutes into our race. It took a big effort and a bucket full of suffering until we made our way back into the now reduced front group of 60 riders. I could write pages about these experiences but I think they would bore you. The long and the short: Crit racing is pretty crazy in the USA, I managed to miss the following crashes (another 6 or so) and make my way to the finish in the peloton.

Sponsor Ride pre Orange Blossom Special

All images credit: Erik Kellar

From Stan’s it was just Ryan and I left at the finish, David unfortunately got held up in a crash 3 laps to go, so painstakingly close. Brian, Jake and our guest rider on the day: Michael, were all unluckily casualties of the earlier crash, which caused huge splits in the group which ultimately didn’t re-join.

Personally I enjoyed the race. It was super hard but I know now what sort of training I need to do to refine myself into a better crit rider. Crits after all seem to be the staple diet of the East Coast racer.

Racing a twilight crit (the first of many!) was a phenomenal experience. The courses are usually set down town in and amongst the restaurants and bars. Racing through sunset and into the evening was fantastic and without a doubt generated additional spectators. The organisers had a DJ playing at the Start/Finish area and had given out cow bells to the many supporters. They had most certainly managed to create an awesome vibe and I was stoked to be a part of it. It certainly is a lot more fun than racing in the dark at 6am back home where the odd cow or sheep watch us as we come by. The organisers are taking racing to the people and our event promoters back home should take note.

Tomorrow it’s off to Miami where we will be hanging out for a couple of days before we make our way up to Delray Beach where we will be racing our next NCC race. I look forward to it.

To get more of a feel for the Twilight Criterium Racing click here for some images.

Race Highlights:

Doug and Marilyn helping me out with a bike setup at The Bike Route.

Bike riding is tough, cafe stop to refuel.

“Free Air” at The Bike Route

Chilling pre race in style at the Hilton Hotel.

Thanks for hooking us up Mr Reyes.

Hand cycling race before ours.

With last week’s performance fresh on my mind I was eager to once again repeat it. The team was down in Naples Florida, to race the Orange Blossom Special. This is an event which consisted of a road race on Saturday, followed by a TT (if you had anything left in your legs) and then a down town criterium on Sunday.

 

We had 7 guys down: The Boss, Doctor J.Lo, DZ, Junior Mint, Dilly (who would be on the side line fighting off a cold), Ferris Mueller and I. As you can see we have all been assigned nicknames, mine being: show pony, as you can imagine I am over the moon with it.

 

The road race on Saturday would see us doing an 8 mile circuit 8 times (for the South Africans that is approx. 100km’s). A large break of 15 riders went off the front early on. We had J.Lo in the move but wanted to bring it back as he was out numbered.

 

The team spent a lot of energy bringing the move back with not a lot of help from the local guys. This ultimately left us a little under powered in the final. The run in to the finish was pretty technical which I didn’t mind, but the style of riding was crazy with hard surges and then guys sitting up. I found myself in about 30^th position with 2 corners to go in the last kilometre and took a risky outside line bringing myself back into the top ten riders. As there were two guys down the road we were sprinting for third. I was a bit far back to have an impact on the result and came in 8^th place in the group and 10^th overall. Junior mint rolled in 12^th.

 

After a big effort in the road race the boss led by example and was the sole representative at the TT. Considering how hard he had ridden in the road race he finished in a solid 4^th position, just split seconds off the podium. J.Lo and I watched some of the ‘driekampsters’ head off on their TT and had a good chuckle at some of their interesting dress attire.

The home of Schmidt Jewelers in Naples, a proud sponsor of the team

Many a group ride ends here, Fit and Fuel. One of the better American coffee shops I have thus far encountered.

Nice way to describe a coffee?

Sight seeing Naples on the bike.

 

I was keen to make amends on Sunday in the criterium. We would be racing a 1.3km “L” shaped circuit with 6 corners for 90 minutes. It would make matters interesting. The racing was hard and somewhat different to a South African crit.

 

Ferris Mueller represented the team in the early break, and then counter move was covered by J.Lo. This move would ultimately survive to the line where he took 6^th, it was a bit flat for the doctors liking.

 

Back in the field as the American’s like to call it, 2 riders slipped away in the closing laps. The boss and Ferris Mueller turned themselves inside out to try and bring it back for Junior Mint and me, but it wasn’t to be and we were now racing for 10^th place. Junior Mint kept me well positioned in the final lap until I messed it up in the second last corner. JM took 3^rd in the bunch gallop and me 5^th for us to finish the day in 12^th and 14^th.

 

Start Smart Cycling (a sponsor of the team) hosted a fantastic weekend of racing and it was great to be a part of it, congrats Marilyne!

 

With a solid weekend of racing under the belt I needed to step back and reflect. Whilst we may not have pulled off the results we were hoping for, there were a lot of positives to draw from the experience.

 

I will remain in Naples through this coming week, resting up and training here before we trek 300kilometres up the coast to Tampa. This will be the venue of our first National Crit Calendar (NCC) race. With more of the pro teams present it will undoubtedly be a tough day out.

 

I must extend a big thank you to Joe and Laurie for hosting us so hospitably in their home over the last few days. It has been great getting to know them and spending time with them. Additionally, I must thank Pete and Cathy, and Chris and Bernadette for having us over for fantastic meals. The team has some great supporters here in Naples and it has been great getting to know them.

Checking out the Mangrove Swamps on a training ride.

Grocery shopping on the cruiser bike(Yes I know its a chicks bike, I needed the basket ok)

Ferris Mueller taking in the sights.

Chilling out in style at the Rose’s awesome spot.

 

With my first week in Greenville under my belt I became increasingly concerned about my fading leg tan, which I had worked so hard on in sunny Cape Town. Luckily this week we are on our way to Florida to the warmth and sun. High five!

 

Our team camp came to a wrap on Sunday and I think it was successful on all fronts. The team bonded well, we got in some good training and spent some time getting to know our great sponsors and their products which we are equipped with.

 

The highlight of the week form me was undoubtedly the race on Saturday: the Hincapie Spring Series River Falls road race. With it being my first race in the States I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and how the level would compare to that of the racing in South Africa. With our full team on the training camp, we had strength in numbers and wanted to make sure we had every move covered.

 

The first lap of the race was quite aggressive with a lot of guys attacking and trying to get away. The team was ready for this and took it in our stride.

Hincapie Spring Series River Falls Road Race

All Images Credit: Hincapie Spring Series

I saw an opportunity open on the second lap and attacked off the front taking Blair Turner from the Hincapie Devo team with me. We soon had: Lazzarato and Winston join us and my fellow team mate Mike ‘the motor bike’ Margerite. The group combined well together and we managed to push out the gap out to a maximum of 3.20 minutes over the next few laps, with the assistance of the team covering all the moves from behind in the bunch.

 

Mike was a fantastic team mate and really drove the break especially towards the end of the race, which allowed me to sit on and keep the legs fresher for the finale. We had two further riders joining us in the last laps, which meant the Hincapie Devo boys also now had two in the group of seven.

 

The lap we were racing on had a 1km climb coming into the finish with a 200m flat going into a downhill to the finish. The Bike Reg rider, Noonan attacked first and I got onto his wheel quickly and followed some of his accelerations up the start of the climb. Nearing the top Lazzarato started his sprint first with Turner coming around on the left hand side as we started the downhill run in. I managed to sneak in-between the two guys and kicked. It felt as though I wasn’t catching Turner quickly enough but with a big bike throw I managed to just get him on the line.

 

Pretty Tight Finish!

All Images Credit: Hincapie Spring Series

I was over the moon with the win although it may have not been the biggest race it was good in a sense to repay my team for showing their faith in me. The team rode well together and I wouldn’t have been able to seal the deal without their help on the day, thank you guys.

 

As I mentioned we are off to Florida this week where we will be racing over the next three weekends. This weekend we will be racing the Orange Blossom Special consisting of a road race on Saturday morning flowed by a short TT and then a criterium on Sunday. The following two weekends we will be doing NCC (National Criterium Calendar) races in Tampa and Delray Beach. I am looking forward to seeing how I measure up against the more competitive fields in these high level races.

 

I have thus far been enjoying my time in the States thoroughly and am looking forward to the months ahead.

Team DinnerStan’s No Tubes p/b Proferrin 2013

Image Credit: Maria QuirogaA bit of snow left on the top of the beast: Skyuka Mountain

I guess the view was worth it right?

Getting ready to race.

After travelling in a steel bird for over 30 hours I found myself on the other side of the Atlantic in the USA. Why you may ask? I’m here to join the Stan’s No Tubes P/B Proferrin Cycling Team based out of Greenville, South Carolina, one of the three major cycling hubs in the States.

For those Ride readers who don’t know I’ve been racing mountain bikes through South Africa for the last few years. Last year I rode for the Asrin Cycling Team and did numerous marathons and stage races across the country. After some consultation with my good friend Hasi I decided to give the road scene a bash and was fortunate enough to be picked up by the Stan’s team. (Check out the team site). I was particularly excited about coming to the USA due to the large number of criteriums races which they have here.

Over the past few days I’ve become more familiar with my surroundings in Greenville, mostly thanks to my team manager and fellow rider Brian Hill who’s been carting me around town. Greenville seems to be a pretty cool place and I think I will enjoy spending the year here.

Pete building up our steeds.

Jake Wells(pro cross racer) showing off  the multiple uses of a wrench’s/mechanic’s apron.

First team training ride on the Swamp Rabbit Trail.

 

Our team training camp has just kicked off and it has been great meeting the rest of my teammates and having another Christmas in a sense with all the new equipment. The team will be riding Stan’s Tubeless road wheels which is a concept still relatively unheard of in SA. We all learnt how to seal our own tyres last night and it’s quite similar to sealing a mountain bike wheel. The guys don’t ride with spare tubes and just top up the sealant twice a season. Pretty sweet!

The first full team ride was a three-hour session with a couple of ‘through and off’ efforts to get the legs going. I rode on the tubeless wheels for the first time and was blown away by how you can really hook it through the corners! A big six hour ride with a flurry into hills was on the cards for the second day, followed by a day with the sponsors. This coming weekend we’ll be doing a local race here in Greenville.

To say that I’m excited about this year would be an understatement!

Heading out for a ride with the team sponsors. Yes that is a certain Mr George Hincapie(Hincapie Clothing) in the black kit, very cool guy.

Stan’s No Tubes van.

Team bikes.