All in the Family

If you’re one of the lucky thousands of cycling fans attending the Amgen Tour of California next week, you will see the Hincapie Sportswear truck and trailer in the vendor expo at every stage finish.  Hincapie Sportswear is the official jersey supplier to the Tour of CA and we set up a booth every day to show off our clothing.  The trick for us is getting our huge Hincapie rig out to Cali and back without taking more of our employees away from their day to day jobs.  This year, George and Rich Hincapie’s dad Ricardo and Uncle Jorge stepped up to make the cross-country drive to Tahoe.  That’s right, Papa Hincapie and his brother are the pilots this year and they’re doing a fantastic job so far.

Look for the Hincapie Trailer in the Vendor Expo at every stage finish.

The duo left Monday amid news stories of flooding along the Mississippi River and possible snow showers in the west. These reports were not enough to dampen the spirits of the Hincapies.  As it turns out, Ricardo is a very thorough and accomplished trip planner, so every detail of the trip has been documented and scheduled to ensure that they make it to Lake Tahoe on time this weekend.  Rich never knew his dad was such a detailed planner, but we were all pleased to figure that out.

We also had reservations about sticking these guys with driving a huge trailer not knowing how much experience they had with backing up such a gigantic vehicle.  All fears were silenced when we found out that Ricardo was actually known as “the backup guy” for many years at United Airlines.  Ricardo worked as a Ramp Service Supervisor at United Airlines in NYC for more than 30 years.  Apparently, when the guys had a tricky situation with a crowded hanger, they would call in “the backup guy” (Ricardo) to shoehorn the plane or cart into just the right position!  I can’t tell you how pleased we are now that we know we have “the backup guy” at the wheel to help us get into just the right position at the finish line every day.  Maybe I should go get some of those orange flashlights to help him land the trailer in the expo…ha ha.

If roll up on these guys on the road, make sure you give them a wave.

There are some additional benefits to having Ricardo and Jorge driving our Hincapie truck and trailer to Cali. Ricardo has been a huge backer of his boys and their cycling for many years and this is one more opportunity for him to provide that moral support that is oh so important to a professional cyclist.  We will enjoy our time with Ricardo and Jorge and I know that George will race better because they are with him for the week. We’re hoping for great things in the race, and we know that George will give it his all.  But in the end of the day, it’s just nice to see all the Hincapie boys together at a bike race.  Just like old times…but with a huge 50-foot Hincapie truck and trailer instead of an old ’75 Pontiac station wagon.

See you in Cali!