JB's Adventure Blog: December 2005

Howdy yall.

I thought it would be a good idea to plan a preemptive holiday training mission to offset the pound of baked goods and hours of sitting, which are inevitable aspects of the holidays.

Before Christmas, I hosted a mini training camp with Nick Waite, who was on his to Richmond, and my new teammate from California, Jeff Shalk, a.k.a. (Captain Cadence)

We set out to look for a few good adventures and, of course, some good training. The weather was fair as we embarked on our first ride and Jeff was throwing down some serious r.p.m.’s and some serious diesel power. I couldn’t help but think that he is going to be a factor in the normally stable, regional race podiums next year.

Each of the few times I have met up with Jeff to ride, something wild has happened. The Elizabeth Furnace snow ride was way tricky, with some good wrecks. It is the kind of trail that is so rocky that it would have left most trials riders whining. I crashed and almost broke my hand after accidentally putting my foot in my front wheel. Ouch!

The next ride was much better. We did a monster epic. We rode 17 miles out to the mountains and then up the ice encrusted Reddish Knob. We rode at 4000+ feet for 8-miles up to and past Flag Pole. Our route was impassable due to drifting snow so we ran with our bikes for 15 minutes, rode what we could and took a trail that got us back down to the land unlocked from winter’s grip. A wicked 2000-foot plummet on snow packed single track was a solid reward. We got to the bottom and started down the ice-packed fire road that looked like dirty blown glass. It was either mud or way sketch.

I was in front and then started to wonder what happened to my riding buddies. I turned around and found out Jeff’s Easton bar broke at the stem. He didn’t get hurt so that was good. I found some re-barb to put in the bar for a fix but it was too big. Then a pick up truck came down the road I was just hoping to bum some duct tape. But as the driver got closer “I know that guy” that’s Paul Hanson. Great luck. He gave Jeff a lift and Nick and I hit the road for home.

PS; Question of the day: Harrisonburg, is it better than Boulder? Any comments???

Best debate winns a free Trek Volkswagen Autographed Jersey.

Jeremiah.

posted by Jeremiah Bishop # 6:48 AM 10 comments

WHITE WAVE

Ho ho ho.

Nick and I did some skiing this weekend at the hallowed nordic ski wonderland that is White Grass. I can't quite say enough about the place or at least do it justice with my feeble writing ability. So..

Here is what the Nick Wait AKA. (the Spider) has to say about it... So, about 1.5hrs in yesterday just after summit round top JB reminds me that we can't be late for his power-appointment back in VA.... Knowing very well that I prefer to not be in the car while JB be attemps to save time on the steep switch backs of Shenandoah mtn pass I say, "Lets roll then". We then bombed powderline to upper 3 mile and down double double. Uh Oh! "just keepm' strait and use your power plow!". We made it to mid-station with only 3 minutes to spare and two options to get the rest of the way down to the lodge and a "warm" trek team car. I took the reigns and made the executive decision to take the vertical way down. Sorry JB... He held his own + a few very innovative acrobatic spins and leaps that made one think..."Absolute genius or completely out of control?". Only way for ya'll to know is making the (trek?) to White Grass to join us. Or just take my word for it and stay warm where your holidays have taken you."

Well that was the nice way to put it. I would have thought that snow was one of the four food groups after that b-line decent strait down the mountain. I tucked, rolled, skidded, agreed, face planted, and shoulder blocked the ground all in the space of a 1/4 mile crusty drifting mountain slope.

The Pm workout was awesome. I introduced Nick to my body Guru Dr. Bill Johnson and the state of the art training center at Advantage Physical Therapy. I showed him my resistance workout, dynamic flexibility, and the barrage of core exercises meant to bring my body back into balance.

Afterward Nick Erin and I went and got a movie for the vegetation that would follow a hard but fun days work.

Happy holidays, I hope you and your family is warm healthy and happy.

Jeremiah

posted by Jeremiah Bishop # 7:39 AM 0 comments

Training ala mode

Training is in full swing here in the house of Bishop.
I had fun chillin this weekend with Erin and doing some shopping around for the Christmas gifts to round out the sac of goodies. Thomas and Julie hosted a really fun Solstice party. With good food drink and friends you can't go wrong.

Mon was a 2hr PT, strength set and commute.
Tues: a killer 2hr xc ski at white grass
Wends: a challenging 4 1/2 hr epic dual sport ride to massanutten ski slopes
Thurs: trainer jamm 1:10 2,10mins at AT
Fri: Ice escape ride in Richmond with Paul Buchette for 4:20
Sat: Force Hills 3 1/2 hrs in the cold
Sun: R&R rollers. and Shopping of course.

As I was saying training is going into 4th gear. Miles are starting to wind up for the Jammin January training camps in Canaan Valley (the winter Extreme camp) and the Classic camp in Clemson SC.

Ah yeah. Dis boy' s got some game on for next year. Hunter has the plan tweaked to perfection. The PT strength guru Bill Johnson at Advantage Physical therapy has the strength and flexibility strategy to bring me to the A game earlier and longer this year. Exciting, I feel like a kid ready to go to summer camp with an fully automatic Ak47 and truck full of stuffed animals.

The 5 rings are in the fire soon it will be time.

I think I will do some more XC skiing this week with Nick I know bike training will be all I can do later on so for now I am going to put is some serious ski work in, you dig?

Enjoy the elements don't fight em.

Dashing thru the snow....

Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

Jeremiah

posted by Jeremiah Bishop # 7:46 PM 1 comments

Cold Mountain

I would say it was cold out (24 degrees when I left) and the prospect of riding on the road was not too exciting. I figured out that between picking a hilly route riding the brakes taking the slower shoulder hitting some trails half and pretending I was an eskimo out on a warm day helped make it do able.

In fact I had a good time defying the elements I could even though barely ride the snow encrused trails at massenutten. It was like breaking thru glass coated styrofoam but hey it was different. I would rather cut off one of my toes with a pair of dirty cable cutters than ride indoors for 4 1/2 hrs so I am psyched it was such a good ride.

It really seemed to help that I was moving fast for sections too. I hit the hills at tempo and got in close to 90 mins of heat generating work at 280-330 watts. Lets see that is the heating power of a couple birthday candles right?

Off to bed. I am zonked.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ..Jeremiah.

posted by Jeremiah Bishop # 7:29 PM 1 comments

Trek Trip

Trek Trip

Erin and I just got back from a whirlwind trip to the Madison, Wisconsin and the worldwide headquarters location of Trek Bicycle, Corporation. In fact, it has been such a busy week that I have neglected the blog, but I will make it up to the faithful readers by posting some good photos in the archive section this week.

So, after landing in Madison, in a snowstorm, I found out that I DID have good reason to be nervous about such a slippery landing. Just hours after our own plan landed in Chicago a huge plan overshot the runway and ran into the highway killing a child in a car on the road and injuring a few people onboard. Thankfully, it wasn’t worse.

Poz picked Erin and me up with Sue, and our new teammate, Lea. We checked in at the hotel and went to meet the Bontrager product man and former Trek/VW team manager, Tyler Pilger, for a beer.

Next, we went out to a downtown grill for dinner with Zap, followed by the Rock and Roll with Bob Roll Christmas party that started at the flagship Trek Concept Store and later moved to a nearby bowling alley. It was really funny watching Bobke getting mobbed by the crowd. We managed to stay under the radar and enjoyed checking out the shop. They had some super cool murals and a floor with inlaid chain rings and bike tracks. Wow, that place was dialed in.

Bowling was a blast. We met up with Zap for a Team Trek showdown and found out why Zap is the boss when he kicked our butts. I was having good game, and for a change could keep the ball out of the other lanes. I actually scored pretty high, but Zap dug deep into his bag of tricks for 3 strikes and 2 spares. We all thought Erin was going to win until her game fell apart in her last two turns. But she still gave Sue and Lea a run for their money.

The next day was way busy!
We met with the Project Managers and they told us about next year’s product and asked us about feedback on the bikes, shoes, equipment, clothes, gloves, and bikes Pheww! Two managers would leave and two more would come in. It is great to apply our real world experience to help them improve the products.

The highlight of the day was some super fly ultra top-secret stuff that I can’t talk about, but lets just say it is the bomb.

We broke for lunch, the, Chris Peck took us on a fast factory tour that ended with our meet and greet at the new Trek Gym. While I was busy signing autographs, Erin got the chance to squeeze in a nice workout. The facility was awesome and had a jumbo TV playing the Tour in front of an armada of CyclOps spinning bikes and a slew of other new contraptions for making you tired.

After that, we entered command central, the top-secret lair of Trek technology. The famed advanced concept group or ACG, a think tank of brains in charge of coming together on the ideas of the future of cycling. The ACG team’s most notable accomplishments are of course Lance’s bikes and gear for the tour.
We took a break back to the hotel where I worked out in the fitness room.
Then went to a company Christmas party and rubbed elbows with all the great people at Trek. We wrapped the night up by meeting the owner of Trek, John Burke.

It was tiring, but a very productive trip to the place where it all comes together, Trek.

Gotta Run JB

posted by Jeremiah Bishop # 6:59 PM 1 comments

The Adventures of Captain Cadence.

WHITE WAVE

Training ala mode

Cold Mountain

Trek Trip

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