Right About Now with Ryan Alford - George Hincapie: Beyond the Bike

Episode Date: July 2, 2019

In this episode of The Radical Company Podcast, Ryan sits down with George Hincapie. George is one of the most well known names within the cycling industry, competing as a professional from 1994-2012. Defining the term, "domestique," and making a name for himself through serving his teammates and putting their needs above his own. In this episode you will learn more about his background, servant-leader mindset, and his newfound love for hospitality & business since completing his professional cycling career in 2012. Learn more about the agency - www.Radical.company Connect with George Hincapie on Instagram: @ghincapie Connect with Ryan Alford on Instagram: @ryanalford . . . #NowThatsRadical #YeahThatGreenville If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. 

Hey guys, what's up? This is Ryan Alford, host of the Radical Company Podcast. I hope everyone is doing well, whether you're jogging, walking, wherever you might be when you listen to this podcast. We haven't been as active. We're getting back in. We've got a great schedule of things, so stay tuned. Keep following along on iTunes, Google, wherever you do your podcast listening. You can find us under radical company but man i'm super excited today to be joined by george hencappi uh a renowned uh former pro cyclist still cycles a lot don't you i'm sure it's like you never probably want to say former

as much as you are in the business former professional recreational biker now exactly uh 17 tour de france's we were debating before the podcast if that was still the record and i think we're going to go with it that it is absolutely so a beast on the bike and even a beast in business uh and want to talk more about post bike career but also just being in greenville you know i'm a greenville native and it's it's cool getting to do the podcast with other you know world known uh people that have chosen greenville as home yeah you know that's uh i think the secret's out though definitely that's one of the biggest questions i get asked all the time is like what got me to greenville and it was simply the riding here is world class i mean you go out into the mountains is

the road networks is is uh is massive uh no traffic or very little traffic although like you said we're getting more and more which is fine but the community seems to be still very bike friendly and the main reason why i came here was for, for, for good cycling. And now I love it for, you know, a ton of other reasons. Yeah. Uh, so I want to get into that for sure, especially as it relates to your businesses with the hotel and the restaurant and, and Hencappy sports and all that. So we're going to get into all that. Um, George, you know, I know you've done a million interviews. I know people can find your bios out there, but let's at least start with, uh, you know, the done a million interviews. I know people can find your bios out there. But let's at least start with the basics a little bit just to kind of warm people up so we move to that transition. Because I want to delve into more of like one of my good friends.

I don't know. He said he knows Andrew Gardner, a biker, one of my best friends. We play in a golf tournament every year, and he's in Amsterdam living right now. Really? But he's like, you guys, you've got to talk about how badass athletes that bikers really are. And I'm like, I know because I've watched what he did to train. And then just, you know, what really the mindset that has to go into just getting in that kind of shape. But let's start.

Let's do at least, you know, I know you've talked about this a lot, but, you know, let's do a brief synopsis, you know, the last, I don't know, 20 years, you know, from biking and your experiences and then kind of leading into post-bike career businesses and all those things. Sure. Yeah, well, I guess for starters, I grew up in New York,

learned how to race a bike in Central Park and in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. And a lot of people have a hard time understanding that just because New York isn't the most ideal place to ride a bike. But it actually is ideal in the sense that you're always surrounded by a ton of different influences. I was racing against a lot of South Americans, Europeans that had that cycling culture and that cycling was ingrained in their sort of lifestyle. And they didn't care that I was a young kid.

It was like they wanted to win races. So I kind of got through into that, thrown into that club and really learned a lot. Just riding those races with those guys and riding around New York City, I think heightened my sense of awareness in the group, which ended up in the future being one of my strong points in the peloton was that no matter how stressful the roads were or how small they were or what the weather was, I was always kind of on top of my game and that those things didn't really affect me like most of the peloton.

You know, sometimes I might not have been the strongest guy or or the fastest guy, but I was very I was able to be very efficient inside of the group of 200 guys riding on roads the size of bike paths. Is that a team mentality? I don't mean to cut you off right there, but I just think there's something really fascinating about kind of the servers almost like the team mentality there I mean is that just something inbred in you like yeah well I mean that came later on but I felt like you know I could win races on my own right on some of the one-day races but in the races like the Tour de France I was one of the best in the world at helping others win and although a lot of people have a hard time understanding well why would you want to do that but inside of a team

it's a massive role and it's a very important role. And I knew that I was very good at that. So I chose to focus on that for the last 10 years of my career, and it seemed to work out pretty well for me. I would say so. But, yeah, continue on. But I think that gets lost sometimes. I think it's an interesting fact.

You know, we were talking about some of the things with personal development other things i think taking and seeing success in whatever role you're best in versus wanting to be the perceived best and something like i don't think most people that from an outsider even understand the dynamics and the team of cycling yeah and so they go you know well he doesn't get to be you know Lance Armstrong or like why would he want to do that but then but just but you take satisfaction and you know that role yeah I know that role and I embraced it I mean once you get to that level I mean everybody is incredibly talented everybody was one of the best guys in their country but you throw you know 200 of these guys from all over the world into the same peloton really doesn't matter it's like who's

the best at what they can do who can stay stay the most focused, who's mentally the strongest. Everybody's got the talent. Everybody's incredibly gifted on the bike, but it's just those little things that make the difference at the end of the day. So I'll cut you off a little bit on the story so we can start to keep down that path a little bit. Yeah, so I grew up in New York racing, went over to Europe as a 16-year-old, did pretty well, thought I was kind of a badass, then did my first Olympic Games at 18 and got completely crushed. That was like, shit, okay, maybe I'm one of the best in the U.S.,

but like I said, that doesn't really matter on the world stage. But in a way, looking back, that was good for me because it made me realize that my talent is only going to take me so far that in order to be a professional and to race races like tour de france you have to dedicate your whole life and sacrifice you know the fun things in life as a you know an 18 year old kid would want to do go out and party and go to the prom and do all this stuff is like i had to make a decision then and there that if i wanted to make it as a professional athlete like those things were going to have to come second priority

and you know after the olympics i really buckled down and you know up my training and my diet and my lifestyle which is what goes into becoming a successful athlete at that level and you know soon after that i did one year more as an amateur and then I signed my first pro contract at 19 years old and went full-time to Europe got thrown into the den of wolves so to speak and moved into a small apartment in Como Italy didn't speak the language was lost for a while but you know I learned a lot and suffered a lot and it took a long time to get to the level where I wanted to be at. But, you know, I stuck with it, and I wouldn't trade those years of suffering

and not knowing if I was going to make it and always questioning myself because that's where I felt like I gained all of my experience and I gained all of my motivation to work hard and never take my position inside of peloton inside my team for granted i knew that if i didn't put in the work and i didn't dedicate myself to the team in the sport that i wasn't gonna be successful and i never wanted to go back to where i was those early years as a pro where i was just kind of pack fill and just trying to you know make it to the finish line that's not a fun way to race a bike yeah Yeah. Talk about just how grueling it is, the training process.

I don't think people realize it. I mean, like. It's tough. I mean, it's anywhere from four to seven hours a day. And then it's not only just the riding, the timing yourself up the mountains and riding in heat like it's out there today. But you're always focused on your diet. like it's out there today and um but you're always focused on your diet you're eating just to fuel your ride or your next day's workout not really for you know satiating or enjoyment of food it's just about fueling yourself um so it's a tough lifestyle i mean it's it's a it's a very uh strict

lifestyle and i'm glad i'm not a professional cyclist anymore let's just say no no uh no beers uh with dinner no beers or very little um so now i feel like i've kind of gone flip the opposite side of that i still exercise a lot but i enjoy the finer things in life well at the pinnacle of riding you know with lance's victories and being such an integral part what was the can you describe that feeling being at the pinnacle of that sport yeah i mean it's incredible i mean there's you know some of the my my fonder memories on the bike or coming on to the champs people would think like a big race that i won or you know of course winning the national championships here in my hometown was huge just because my friends and family that

have never seen me race got to see me win one of the bigger races right right in their backyard but some of my fond memories are rolling on to the Champs-Élysées as a part of a team that is winning the Tour de France even though I didn't win it or I knew that I had a major part in that and just just getting into the Champs-Élysées with a million people on the sideline your family's there waiting for you and you've accomplished a major goal so those are the things that stand out a lot and those are the things that really solidified and uh why made me realize why i've worked so hard and why i've sacrificed so much for moments like that so a lot's changed and i know you've been part of that with cycling and you know do you feel like

is it headed in the right direction now with just some of the post, you know, let's call it post-drama. We don't need to get into the drama. Everyone knows what the drama is. But, like, is it getting to a better place? Has it gotten to it? I know that it has gotten to it. I was lucky in that sense. I don't know if luck had a lot to do with it, but I always had, it was, that was a really tough time for me to, you know, come out and admit the dirty past of cycling.

You know, at the time when I had to do that, cycling was in a much better place. And I felt like I was, you know, a big part of that change. But looking back, I mean, I had a great support network that helped me get through that. Had a lot of understanding around me. A lot of my close friends and family were really supportive. great support network that helped me get through that. Had a lot of understanding around me. A lot of my close friends and family were really supportive and advised me along the way. And, you know, it was just a very tough one or two years.

But looking back, I felt like it made me a much stronger person, made me meet a lot more people that I haven't met. It made me take a lot more risks that I'm taking now that I probably would have never taken so I think I think overall it was it was um an important process for my my growth do you um why do you think this is kind of like a little bit of a left turn but why hasn't cycling taken off it's bigger yeah in the U.s most certainly but what do you think it is that's made it so huge in europe and otherwise and like maybe it's just history it's kind of like you know sometimes people ask me why that certain college football team sucks well they've always sucked yeah they've never they never had they were never interested never good and then now

they want to be good and they don't have any history yeah you know they say that about clemson basketball but uh but what is it what what that's a great question and i mean cycling as an industry is growing globally yes you know tremendously um in the u.s maybe not as much but in terms of recreational cycling it's it's it's very big and it's growing it keeps growing year in and year out but the sport itself i think it has something to do with, you know, perhaps we don't have the Lance Armstrongs that are, you know, winning the Tour de France. So the attention might not be as big,

but there's some guys coming up in the pipeline that I think can bring us back there. And, you know, it's a lot of the Americans don't understand all the intricacies of the sport, the dynamics of the teams. And, you know, a lot of people don understand what what my role was as a teammate so it's yeah it's hard unless you're actually in the sport or if i can sit down one-on-one and explain it so i think it's a lot to do with an understanding of the sport and not like the major stars there's

no major u.s stars yet although i'm hoping this year the tour can maybe change that does soul cycling count all these uh all these pop-ups cycling is definitely that's massive i know and like yoga so you know a cycle bar here locally in greenville we'll get them a plug as well yeah um but i would live in new york when soul soul cycling was starting to boom, like in 2011 or 12. And now cycle bar and different things. So it's definitely like getting out there in different ways. Absolutely. Kick your ass though, man.

I don't know. I feel like I'm in good shape until I go do one of those classes. Well, that's the thing with cycling. I mean, it's very difficult you can push yourself but there isn't that pounding on the body too so you can do it forever and uh you know not worry about injuring yourself as much as of course you can injure yourself on the road if you've crashed or you know you you tweak something on your body but it's less than running out and playing football or soccer with your buddies so post cycling even guess during some cycling business we've got hincapie sports we've got the hotel the restaurant um let's let's go there a little bit you know we're obviously the

the hincapie sports tied to biking and all those things. I get that connection. But I am curious, like, maybe where some of the passions came that have led you towards this. And, you know, did the bike, did the team, everything that you learned with the team aspect of biking and everything, did that translate into business after the fact? You know, what were some of just the influences that have gotten you into the business world the last 15 so years yeah so i was very lucky lucky to have my brother as a partner who started in gabby sportswear when i was still a professional cyclist and at the time my only role was to promote the name and the brand my last contract as a professional cyclist i was able to bring on my company as the clothing supplier of the team, Team BMC,

which kind of put us on that global stage, which, you know, a lot of people can't do that with a small company like that. That would be a very difficult door to get into. But I was in that sort of position where I was able to negotiate and make a couple of requests along with my contract. So that helped us grow as a company. you know diving into the hotel we still feel that's that's closely tied into our brand what we're trying to do and what we're trying to build which is you know health and wellness and cycling culture in the upstate of South Carolina and you know I always say if you take an overhead shot of our hotel and don't tell somebody where it's at they would guess Provence or or Tuscany because

all you see is the mountains and just this beautiful terrain so I think it's really a it's an asset to our community and I'm fortunate enough to have a great partner to help me kind of foresee that vision and see it through now I'm just excited about what we built and I have no hospitality experience but I have a great team up there now that does and a great operations team. I think that was part of my strength as a cyclist was that I was able to make great relationships and have close relationships with the people that I worked with when I was cycling and the people that I work with now, which I know what I don't know, and I know that I feel like I have a good eye for people that can always help me in their expertise.

Does any of your culinary taste influence the restaurant? Absolutely. Yeah. We sat down with our our new chef, Hayden Shank, and we discussed the menu. And we just hired him four or five months ago and he's doing an amazing job. He works very close with the farmer right down the street the broken oaks farm we have some cool plans in the future to perhaps do more farm stuff that i think i'm very excited about so we i feel like our team up there our restaurant gm our hotel gm our chef our head of head of like operations is the best we've ever had,

and I'm super comfortable up there. I love going up there now. It's exciting for me to go up there. It's exciting to see the people that we bring up there, people that just come to ride their bikes and check out Hotel Domestique that may have never come for any other reason. So it's great to have those people up there. What's been the most challenging part of the business side,

whether it's in Cappy Sports or the, you know, Domestique or the restaurant, you know, or other ventures? What's been the most challenging? So the most challenging as a cyclist, although you suffer like a dog all day long, it's a lot more predictable. Like if you work hard and you stay healthy, you don't get sick, you can kind of, you know, unless you crash, you can kind of guess where you're going to finish or not guess where you're going to finish. But you know that you'll perform well based on your numbers and how you're feeling in the business world. And I'm still learning. I'm kind of like in my, you know, my first years as a professional cyclist, that's where I'm at now. I'm learning.

I'm trying to become successful. I'm trying to, like, become get good teammates around me. Yeah, that's the way I look at it because I'm 40. I just turned 46 on Saturday and I retired from 19 year professional career and jumped in headfirst with this new new these new things that we're working on. And I'm still learning. I'm fortunate that I have great relationships with a lot of successful people. People that have been in my place where I was a cyclist in the business world. So I have those people to lean on and have counsel with. So that's kind of where I'm at.

I'm just in those early stages of my business career. How is the family business like working with your brother? It's great. Of course we have our arguments and we don't agree on everything but we ultimately always come to agreements. And it hasn't been always this uphill sort of trajectory. I mean, we've had our downs.

We've had our serious downs, but we're still here. We're still fighting, and we're very optimistic about all of our companies right now. What's the future hold? I mean, I know you're kind of living, like you said, you feel like you're kind of in this first phase of the business still. I know it's not new, but versus the 20-plus years on the bike, you know, 17 Tour de France's, you know, like, you know, we're not 17 years into Domestique, you know. So, but what is the future? Is it just an improvement of what you have or is there other goals or other visions out there?

Well, it's the priority is improvement of what we have keep trying to grow hank abby sportswear our clothing company um trying to make our hotel domestic although it's a very small property but a world-class destination and not only a cycling destination we want to do farm tours we want to do everything that the upstate has to provide which is hiking and fly fishing just being out in nature is we want to be known as one of those destinations where you can get there and not only ride your bike but get lost and and uh really have incredible um experiences yeah um so we want to keep growing now we have an events company now which we do our grand fundo here in greenville every october and that's becoming one of the best we've been voted one of the best grand fundos in the country at one point and we want to expand that we have four grand fundos now across

the country of one in fort worth one inattanooga, one coming up in two weeks in Boise, Idaho. And ultimately, I'd love to see us end up with five or ten of those across the country, which they all kind of are intertwined with our clothing company and our brand. And that's, you know, just cycling-related brand. We make clothing, we have events, we have a hotel that you know caters to cyclists and they're all kind of go back to the cycling world so you can't get rid of it right get rid of it yeah i'm fortunate to that you know well i don't have to ride six hours a day anymore i still love to ride my bike i still love to exercise i'm either playing tennis

or or biking you know five six days a week. That's an important part of my life. I hope that I can continue to do that. We talked a little bit about this in the opener, but Greenville. What ultimately brought you, got you to Greenville? Then what do you think about all the growth? It's been incredible to see. my brother moved here way before me. I'd come visit him and quickly realized that. I moved from New York to Charlotte to just get better weather. But I realized quickly that Greenville was 100 times better a cycling town than Charlotte. And so, like I said earlier, that was the main reason why it brought me here. But now just to see how much the community has thrived and, you know, how many restaurants and bars and cool hip spots we have to go now is

incredible for the small town that we are and the people that it's attracting. I just, I've been amazed by its growth and really proud of it. Yeah, the downtown area, I mean, it's, you know, we live downtown and just watching the growth. And, you know, there was like one apartment like 20 years ago. And now it seems like there's high-rise luxury condos coming up everywhere. I think they're managing it as best they can. I mean, you know, growth is always hard.

You know, people that want it to stay like it was. And then, you you know managing expectations and growth and all that but i feel like we have as good a handle as you can around it and and uh it's been fascinating to see the um trs coming around too old travelers rest i mean uh it's incredible to see what how how that trend town has transformed uh the bike path has done so much for that yeah i read an article today where they'd ultimately like to expand it out to Slater and Marietta, which I think would be amazing. Not only would that be a big boost for that community, but it's a lot closer to the hotel as well. Perfect.

So that would be, I just think getting more people out on bikes and running and out in nature is a good thing for any community. more people out on bikes and running and you know out in nature is a good thing for any community what's so biking and you know the pinnacle adrenaline rush like what where did you how do you replace that you know what is you know like what what's where did you get or do you not and i don't want to call you adrenaline junkie but i mean but a lot of these that what you did i mean with the just the grind and then the achievement. I mean, I just – you know, you talk and you read about professional athletes, you know, like kind of that come down and like that reality or, you know, what people do to like replace that. I mean, has that been a challenge? So it's funny.

I don't miss that hardcore training and my lifestyle being centered around being as fast as possible on the bike um but i i didn't really have that let down where i was i just needed that competition sure i missed my teammates that yeah ambience that sort of stuff but now it's like i call myself a weekend warrior it's like i don't train full-time anymore but i can never let my buddies be better than me on the bike couldn't handle that so that So I get those little, you know. Little wins. Little spikes of adrenaline by just riding with my buddies. And I just have a great brotherhood of friends that, you know.

Actually, my friend mentioned that the other day, was that not everybody has that. You know, be able to, I was speaking to one of my old teammates today where, you know, I travel a lot. I go to a lot of cool places. But for me, it's hard to put that up to a weekend at home where I go riding in the morning with my buddies two or three hours. And then we sit by the pool and drink and just have that camaraderie where that's about as fun as anything I do anywhere I go. So I really enjoy that. Drink of choice?

I love wine. Yeah. Wine yeah wine guy yeah red or white uh depends on the day usually red yeah but you know summer i lean a little bit towards the rose and the white as well you guys getting into any like doing your own thing with the wine we have our own wine yeah i thought y'all had something yeah we do uh um just a barrel a year which is about 50 cases so we sell it at the hotel. And to myself and my brother, we get a bunch of it as well. It's made by Pride Vineyards in Napa. And that's kind of a funny story.

I went to Pride. I've always been a fan of Pride Vineyards. I went there for a tasting with a friend of mine. And the head winemaker showed up with a Hincapie sweater on. I was like, this is going to be great. Oh, my God. So I asked them if they'd consider doing a blend for our hotel and um they the the owner steve pride approved it and we're coming up on our we just ordered our seventh year uh vintage and we're going to double up we're

going to get two barrels of it and it's awesome well you know we do a little feature called secret wine tasting i might i'll bring it I'll bring it in. Absolutely. I love to. I'm a huge red guy. Good. So love that. That's sweet. I did not know that back.

I knew you guys. I think I knew you had maybe a label or something, but I did not know it was made by Pride. Yeah, it was made by Pride. You had me at Pride. Yeah. A beauty. Yeah. Big, big Napa cab. Yeah.

Sally's a great winemaker. And, you know, like I said, we're on our seventh year of making it, so it's super exciting. That's great. That's really cool. Well, George, man, it's been a pleasure having you on and looking forward to kind of getting to know you better through some of these other outlets and tasting some wine. I'm not going to get on the bike with you, but you can come do boot camp with me.

I'll do it. I'll suffer through it, but, yeah, it would be ugly. No, man. But where can everyone – we've had – you know, we'll have in some of the videos. But let's plug the hotel, how everyone can find all of the businesses, your personal stuff. I know we've got Ghen Cappy for Instagram. So they can find stuff directly through there. But let's tell everybody where they can find everything.

Yeah. So, I mean, Hotel Domestique, a lot of people, it's funny, they think of it as kind of like an anniversary place or, you know, birthdays are very, but we like to think of it as like an everyday place. I mean, we got a great burger up there and we have, of course, the fancier food items but i think it's a very approachable restaurant that can be should be visited any time of the week not just on weekends lunch and dinner lunch is only open on the weekends okay but dinner is open tuesday through saturday and that's got its own instagram page too hotel domestique and restaurant 17. And then we have our big event coming up in October out there that, you know,

I'll actually challenge you right now to participate in the 15 or the 50-mile bike ride. I guarantee that you would love it. All right, for sure. And you might become a cyclist afterwards. That's one of my favorite things is seeing a lot of my friends that have never even considered riding a bike. I'm like, hey, man, just come do my event. And they do it, and they fall in love with the sport, and they become regular cyclists. So October 19th.

But the night before that, we do a big Celebrity Chef dinner as well. We were bringing Celebrity Chef from across the country. It's a very cool food and wine experience. So we like to look at it as the whole weekend experience, and anybody can participate, and it's easy to get tickets and all that so and hincappi sports hincappi is that hincappi.com actually if you go to hincappi.com you'll see everything that we do the sports the clothing the events our our training camps out at the hotel so we you can go there and find pretty much everything we do well you guys stay up to date on everything uh with george um we really appreciate him coming on and uh we look

forward to the next episode i hope everyone has a great day night morning depending on when you listen but this is ryan offered host of the radical company podcast thank you