US Pro weekend in Greenville

This blog is usually focused on bicycle advocacy issues, but I’ll venture a little off topic and mention racing today. If you are in Greenville, you already know that it is time for the US Pro races again (you can find the schedule of events here). As I have in previous years, I’ll be watching the time trial and the road race with a particular focus on the bikes. Look for coverage this weekend at my Bicycle Design blog if you are interested in that sort of thing. Also, be sure to follow Carolina Cycling News throughout the weekend if you want to read about both races from a local perspective.

If you are interested in riding to the races, the Greenville Spinners will be leading a community bike ride to the Time Trial on Saturday, departing from the Zoo in Cleveland Park at 10am.  The Spinners are providing free bike valet for the TT at ICAR, so your bike will be secure once you get there.  

For the Road Race on Monday, Bikeville will be providing free bike valet from 10am-5pm in front of City Hall on Main St.  Speaking of Bikeville, they are hosting the monthly Critical Cruise ride around downtown tonight at 5:30.  Meet next to Barley's for an hour long cruise around downtown “respectfully celebrating bicyclists right to the road.”

Update 6/2: It was another great US Pro weekend in Greenville. Check out a few of my pictures from the races here if you are interested. 

TdG photos

This is not really advocacy related, but I wanted to go ahead and pass along a couple links to the shots I took at the Tour de Georgia last week. I had fun photographing the race and I think some of the pictures turned out nice, like this one of local Greenville pro George Hincapie (who had a great race).

If you are interested, you can see a collection of my shots from the stage 4 team time trial at Road Atlanta right here. My pictures of stage 6, which finished on Brasstown Bald can be found in this set. It was a great race this year; makes me look forward to the US Pro races here in the fall.

Come to Tour Tuesday

It’s already Tour time again and Greenville’s own George Hincapie will be competing in the race for the 12th time. Come out next Tuesday night, July 10th, to watch the day’s stage commercial free at Caesar’s restaurant in McAlister Square. The showing starts at 8:00 and all are welcome to attend. Click on the flyer above for more details.

The Greenville news has already started its coverage of the Tour. Check out the special Tour de France section of the website to see all of the articles together. Also, you can follow Rich Hincapie’s blog as he chronicles his brother’s race this year. He talks to George often during the Tour, so his blog offers an interesting perspective into the race.

“Fast” Freddy in Greenville

This isn’t exactly advocacy news, but I can't resist passing it along. It sounds like “Fast” Freddy Rodriguez of the Predictor-Lotto team is going to be the next professional cyclist to take up residence (part of the time anyway) in Greenville County. Freddy just bought a home site at Pla d'Adet, George Hincapie’s real estate development near the Saluda reservoir. According to an email announcement from Pla d'Adet, “Freddy will also be a consultant to the Hincapie Performance Group at Pla d'Adet and we will be introducing a Fast Freddie Coffee Shop, his very successful west coast coffee franchise to the Pla d'Adet Training Center.”

I think this is great news for Greenville and I can’t wait to hear about more pro riders buying property in the development. Now I just hope to see the county’s greenway plan link the Pla d’Adet development to the proposed downtown greenway network.