Mike Stone Gets Cat 1 Upgrade

April 5, 2010 16:46 by Steve Baker

Congratulations to Michael "Just Call Me Mike" Stone on his USA Cycling Category 1 upgrade!  Mike has known he has the goods for a while now, but he was waiting for a Pro,1,2 win before submiting his formal paperwork.  He scored his first Pro,1,2 win at the Greenville Spring Series and it's now official.  He's a big time Cat 1 with big time plans to race some NRC events this season.  We are very proud of Mike and we know he's going to shine this year.

Mike's even got a Cat 1 smile.

Waffle House Super Powers?

March 11, 2010 17:03 by Steve Baker

Hincapie Development Rider Michael Stone brought us our first victory of the season this past weekend.  I thought it would be fun to get Michael's account of his first Pro,1,2 victory.  Here's what he had to say about Sunday. (Disclaimer: Michael's words, but Baker's images...ha ha.)

Coming into the day, I wasnt feeling too good.  I felt a liitle run down and tired for some reason. Before the race, Neil suggested Waffle house. "Jet fuel" I thought!

Michael had Waffle House Super Powers on Sunday...ha ha!

As I arrived at the race course, the weather got cloudy, cold..and windy.  Knowing this would change the race, I knew I had to stay near the front. At 1:00 everyone lined up (the most nervous part of the race for me).  The rules were announced and we were off.

Nothing really happeded for the first couple laps. Christian Parrett got away early and no one chased.His lead grew to over 3 mins, then the pace picked up with attacks and teams working at the front. Throughout the day moves went and a Hincapie Devo rider covered every one.  The team worked flawlesly. Amazingly, Christian's lead was gone in almost one lap!  Then the usaual counter attacks started going on the crosswind section, this is when Rich looked at me and said, "the feild is gonna split, we need to move up quick."  Rich was right, we ended up having to bridge a gap across the split field.

On the front side everything was back together and all the action stopped, until two laps to go. Coming up to the finish line, a move went, and no one chased.  Thinking this was the one, I bridged. Behind me Thad Dulin was quickly on his way too.  The break was 4 strong and quickly gaining time.  Everyone was working great. Rotation was perfect and coming up to one to go, the peleton was out of sight. I was confident the break would win.

We worked together to hold our gap until about 1.5 k to go. Let the games begin!  The four of us just looked at each other and waited for the first move. Geri Mewett of Hincapie/Gary Fisher made the first move, kinda leading us out.  I was sitting second wheel and waited to hear the sound of sprinting wheels behind me. Lanham opened up the sprint with about 300m to go. I jumped hard and gave it everything I had. He was starting to come back and I knew with about 50m to go that I had it. I came by and threw my hands up! the feeling of victory is unlike any other.  The team worked well together, and I am really looking forward to what the rest of the year holds.
 
Michael Stone

Stone Scores First Pro,1,2 Victory!

March 10, 2010 14:04 by Steve Baker

It was a fantastic weekend for the Hincapie Development Team.  The weekend was capped off by an impressive win at the SCTAC (Donaldson) Road Race by our very own, Michael Stone in the last race of the Greenville Spring Training Series.  This was Michael’s first Pro,1,2 win and we’re just as excited as he is about the victory.  The entire team contributed to the effort by staying active at the front and covering moves all day.  The guys are riding well together and having a good time as well.

The result on Sunday followed a very difficult day of racing on Saturday at the River Falls RR.  River Falls features a short 1K climb to the finish on a 5.5 mile course in the foothills of SC.  The race is known to attract some stiff competition that combines with the challenging terrain to make it one of the most difficult races of the whole series.

The Hincapie Devo Team was animated from the start, with numerous attacks early on.  Michael Stone and Matt Lipscomb quickly found themselves in a promising break that put over 2 minutes on the field.  They rode strong for several laps until Team Type 1 started working hard to pull back the escapees.  A small group bridged the gap and joined Stone and Lipscomb at the front.  Our dynamic duo held their own and rode like veterans in the front group until the end.  After the bridge, one rider from the original break got away again and won solo.  Michael and Matt finished in the front group after a very hard early season race day.

The Hincapie Devo cat 3 squad raced well Saturday and Sunday as well.  We were happy to have Parker Kyzer back on a bike after his crash last week.  The team rode aggressively on the hilly River Falls course, but was not successful motivating a group.  One lone rider did escape and finish off the front for the win.  The rest of the field remained together until the last hill.  Justin Lowe and Parker both finished close to the front, with Justin making the top ten.

Sunday’s SCTAC (Donaldson) RR was fun for the team as well.  We were active at the front with numerous attacks and counter attacks from the start.  The guys rode well up front, covering the early moves and making sure we were present in most of the groups.  Hincapie Devo mentor, Neil Browne found himself in the most aggressive move of the day late in the race, garnering a strong third place finish.  Parker covered the next group that attempted to bridge to the leaders, and the rest of us covered the field.  Justin and Randy scored 10th and 12th place respectively to go along with Parker’s eighth place finish in the chase group.  Overall, it was a great weekend for the entire team.  Well done, men.

Images by Eddie Helton