Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Race Camp in Greenville, SC... "Kenda Team"

Race camp for the Kenda Pro Team just went down. Wow! It was based in downtown Greenville, SC and tons of work. The land of George Hincapie and his company Hincapie Sports Wear who was part of the camp. George's brother Rich runs the Hincapie Sports Wear. We even had some meetings in their office.



I already knew why a pro roadie like George Hincapie would want to live in an area, its the rides, some of the best in the US, over hanging trees, banked curves, steep uphills and downhills. The land of NASCAR, you learn how to drive on banked roads, there are few straigths! Miss a turn and you go off a mountain! Don't ride in the back of the car or you will get car sick! The drive ways are even steep enough for car tires to leave skid ma
rks on dry surfaces! Maybe that's why German BMW make their cars here? A good test track every where you go! Put rain or snow on these roads and look out!





Lot of uphill rides that head up to the mountains of N.C. If you've ever watched "The Last Mohican" it was made just north of here in the mountains of N.C. Some very long uphill rides up some very narrow roads with a lot of turns. One is Caesars Head Rd. that heads up from Travelers, S.C., to the alpine town of Brevard, NC where I grew up! We even had a mountain home up at Caesars Head area and recall my dad driving the car down our mountain road like a bob-sled run "the roads are very banked" and that day it had snowed 2 1/2 feet. I know the roads very well, steep and tons of banked curves!

Only about 100 hours of work to do in 5 days! Things start at 7am and go none stop, no lunch, like last night till 1 am, just lucky to have 5 WN dealers on hand to be of help! With all the work, people can make mistakes and they did. The main point is we work things out before we all leave. Think about the 20 pro and being willing to try something new? But it can work!

It's not easy to do a whole team and with multi USA Championship like Scottie Weiss who does the design work for Hincapie Sports Wear you need to pay attention! He knows what his body can and can't do! We had so much going on the first day that a mistake was made on the degree angle of his seat post. First ride, going hard, he knew it!

"Any time you think you have influence, try ordering around someone else's dog."

That's all it takes, enter a wrong number and the solution will be off. It goes to show you how important and concise our numbers are. After re-measurement, we had Scottie Weiss right where he had taken 20 years to learn, but even more refined! On top of that, we found a leg difference of 1cm on his left leg due to a very bad bike wreck, he fractured his hip.

Once again, it shows how important it is to find the bones (hard parts) and their shapes! This would not had been found with just video, as the muscles of the hips hinder a lot. Even if we place a (led) or dot, that dot or (led) is going to move because it is on the bibs, or skin.

All solutions done, Sunday races canceled, and the temps are really dropping. We have a 2 hour drive in what looks like a river on the road while we are pulling a trailer and by the time we get near our airport, it is snowing and I mean as hard! Cars wrecked everywhere. It only took 2 days to get home and one of my friends Remi, long time WN user, also a USA National Elite Road Champ, wife is headed to bring their new baby into the world.

Race camp never stops for us, it is what we do for a living, 24/7! We not only stack the bones correctly, teach you what you need to work on, but get results e.g. getting people into breakaways like the Tour of CA.

The new Kenda Pro Team has new members on staff and two that worked with Rock Racing last year. They tell us that most of the team had major knees issues all year with their bike set ups! Careful you don't use someone who thinks they know what you need and hang a plum line. And we know why! All the new and old ideas will be tested! Simply put, if you are not in the game, game over!

We think it is important that we don't pay our racers to use our solutions! Many of pros even pay for their solutions even when they are on another team that has a fitting solution?

We have helped take many people to world championships not once, but repeats. After they make it to the top, most get a job with a major bike company who pays them to use their bikes and then their fitting methods. They have to make a living and we understand. We know that we are a major part of them getting to the top! That is why we keep our data on them!

Just like in pro NFL player leaving one team for another for the "sell out" or the finanical or material benefit. It does make you wonder why if you win the world championships doing something, why would you change what got you there? Answer: Money or material and perhaps you know you are not going to be racing in the near future, perhaps it is your last year. Best be thick skin in this game!

As Andy Applegate and Craig Upton put it, our tt fit is so good, you are mostly only teaching the person how to hold a better aero position. We know of no other way to stack your bones with anything that is as concise as our CAD. Then we focus on your pedal stroke with the Dartfish.

Our results and trends to this year have been the best! We where the first to perform fits online and now many have followed that method. Now the major bike makers are attempting to perform fits, copy Dartfish only after their reps said we would never make it, saying we could not do what we do a few years ago! The nature of the beast!

What will they sell us next?





1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Tom,

Just wanted to thank you and your staff for taking the time to fit all of TEAM KENDA P/B SPINERGY including myself! I appreciate the care and knowledge put into your fit system and feel it will most defiantly make the difference needed this season for success! Hope to talk with you again soon.

Thanks!!
SW