George Hincapie, a world famous former professional cyclist, will attend the 2013 Big Dam Bridge 100 in central Arkansas, a publicist for the event says.
Jana Cohen said last week that race organizers are working out details of Hincapie’s appearance at the state’s largest bicycle tour, scheduled for Sept. 28. In 2012, 2,750 cyclists participated, riding 100, 62, 50 or 25 or 15 miles.
Hincapie, of Greenville, S.C., retired from racing in 2012. Best known as a supportive teammate to Lance Armstrong, Hincapie was a witness against Armstrong in the anti-doping trial that led to Armstrong’s being stripped of seven Tour de France titles in 2012.
FREE TRAINING
The Big Dam Bridge 100 offers a free series of no-drop training rides, conducted by Leborne Coaching. Intendedfor road cyclists who can maintain a 15 mph pace, the rides include sag support.
Scotti Wilborne-Lechuga of Leborne, a pro racer who recently made her debut in France with the U.S. Women’s National Team, will meet trainees at 7:30 a.m. Saturday in the Burns Park Soccer Complex in North Little Rock.
Wilborne-Lechuga had mixed results at the two stage races she competed in while in France. She finished in the middle of a 150-woman field at the Tour of Bretagne. After finishing more than 10 minutes behind the leaders on the first stage, and not expending too much energy in the stage two time trial, Wilborne-Lechuga finished 33rd on the third stage and 17th on the final stage.
“It’s like racing on a road the size of the Arkansas River Trail,” she said. “Except you’ve got 150 aggressive female cyclists, oncoming traffic and motorcycles everywhere.”
Having acclimated to the aggressive nature of the pack and the tight roadways, she was expecting good things at the four-stage Tour Feminin en Limousin, but she didn’t make it past the first stage.
“We were going into a downhill corner really fast. There was a sharp right turn and two girls crashed in front of me.” She ended up with a deep muscle bruise in her calf and spent the rest of the race cheering for her teammates from the team car.
She’s back to training, however, and looking forward to rounding out her season with a few criteriums in the United States
The Big Dam Bridge training rides are a chance for riders to ride in a group and become familiar with the course, she said.
“The goal is to lead a group ride that has some structure and keeps everyone safe,” she said, adding that Saturday’s ride will cover the Big Dam Bridge’s 50-mile route.
More information is at thebigdambridge100.com.
ActiveStyle, Pages 25 on 07/29/2013