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February 2012cavalier newsCycling Speeds Through the UpstateCycling becomes the new fad for exercising among many people in Greenville3Allie HarrillBusiness EditorA new rage is taking over the Greenville area:cycling. The sport used to be only for Lance Armstrongwannabees,but cycling is now becoming a popular hobbyfor people of all types and ages.For avid cyclists, the word, “Greenville” goes handin hand with professional cyclist, George Hincapie. Hincapieis the close friend and former team mate of LanceArmstrong, 7-time winner of Le Toure de France, a worldreknowned cycling race comparable to the world cup forsoccer fans. Hincapie is a Greenville resident, and he canoften be seen cycling around the Upstate.Greenville is growing at a rapid pace as a cyclinghub because of the cyclist-friendly roads, landscapes, andtrails. Stretching from downtown Greenville to TravelersRest, the Swamp Rabbit Trail is the most recently constructedand most popular trail.Greenville is also the host of many cycling racessuch as “Greenville Hospital System USA Cycling ProChampionships,” “Leaf Tour Ride,” hosted by the GreenvilleSpinners Club, “Paris Mountain Downhill,” and “Cross inthe Park.”Aside from having great places to ride, Greenvillealso has many clubs and stores that cater to cyclists. Thebest known store for bikers, Carolina Triathlon, is locatedin downtown Greenville and carries a cyclist’s every need.Downtown Greenville also has a women specific store, PedalChic.For the most part, there are three types of cyclists:road cyclists, trail and mountain bikers, and leisurely bikers.The people that choose to hit the roads are typically goingto ride for miles at a time. The mountain bikers take a morerisky approach by riding through hills and over rocks andgravel, as well as reaching high speeds. The leisurely riderssimply bike for enjoyment. They might just go on a familyride around the neighborhood or maybe a ride to work.The health benefits that come from cycling arenever ending. For road cyclists, the sport is an aerobic wayof exercise. Cycling is also a great way to build endurance.Building up muscle mass is another of the many benefits.Unlike running, biking does not require much pressure onthe knees. For this reason, the sport is popular among peoplewho experience knee problems.There are a few precautions that riders need to takebefore hitting the terrain. Helmets are always a necessity toavoid head injuries. For bikers that ride on roads, obviouslythere is a need to be aware of cars. Many times, cars getfrustrated with bikers and disregard them, often resulting inaccidents. It is also important to ride at bright times duringthe day so that the rider is clearly visible and to wear clothingthat makes the rider easily seen.Overall, cycling is sweeping the Upstate. Officialsask that motorists be courteous to the riders and share theroad. Before you know it, you might just be one of thosecyclists in brightly-colored clothing sharing the street.Costa Concordia RunsAgroundThe Sinking Ship Surrounded by ControversyZach CooterStaff ReporterThe cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, has beencalled a modern day Titanic after it ran aground on a TuscanIsland off the coast of Italy. The cruise ship ran into rocksalong the coast of the island on Friday, January 13, withroughly 4,200 people on board. Most of the people on theship made it off safely but there were 32 who were not thatfortunate and lost their lives in the wreckage.The rising controversy over the Costa Concordiais the fact that, as the ship was going down off the coastof Italy, the captain, Capt. Francesco Schettino, abandonedship while all of the passengers were still on board. Schettinois being accused of manslaughter, shipwreck, and abandoningthe ship while passengers were still on board. Withall of these accusations Schettino has merely been placed onhouse arrest for the time being until everything can be sortedout.At first the captain admitted to abandoning theship while passengers were on board. As the coast guardrepresentatives continued to question him more, Schettinochanged his story; he said that instead of purposefully abandoninghis ship he was thrown overboard after the ship hita rock. The two conflicting stories are being investigatedthrough questioning of the crew and the passengers to get tothe real answer for what happened.Among the many people missing in the wreckagethere are two Americans still encased in the watery tomb.The retired couple were enjoying their so called “trip of alifetime” after working around their community for yearsand bringing up four children.The monster of a ship, built in 2006, was sailingout of Rome to several places along the Italian westerncoast. After this disaster many are questioning the stabilityof the cruise ship industry and whether it is safe or not tohave such massive ships navigating the waters with so manypeople on board.Whether or not this was the captain’s fault or justan accident, it is obvious that more safety regulations andrules will go into navigation cruise ships and that the waterwayswill become much safer so that in the future disasterslike this will not happen.Photos courtesy of MCT CAmpus