Making News

This is Erin, breaking free from Meanwhile and invading the main page (again).

Lately, I've enjoyed stumbling upon Trek/Volkswagen news almost everywhere I look.

Jeremiah and I hosted the guys from Bike Magazine a few weeks ago, and shortly thereafter were treated to a recap of the shenanigans Kip Mikler enjoyed while he was in Harrisonburg.

While we enjoyed the rugged east coast of the USA, Trek's Michael Browne was in Mexico on an adventure of his own with the new Remedy.

To top it off, Sue was making news as she conquered La Ruta de los Conquistadors!

Today, Jeremiah is out on an epic training ride with teammate Jeff Shalk. It's not often when they leave me with a map of their anticipated route. But on day's like this, when they do, there is an unspoken understanding that I'll be at the ready to launch a search an hour after sunset if there's been no sign of them. Some of my friends might think that's crazy, but it's just a regular day for me.

Erin

Labels: A Day in the Life, E Bishop, Industry News and Events

posted by Jeremiah Bishop  # 1:14 PM 0 comments

Pigs Eat Powerbars, Too!

I may not being doing the cross thing this weekend (I am dealing with a cold), but I am having fun. So a highlight of the off season training this week was riding with seven pigs, yes pigs.

I was rolling down a nice country road and a pack of pigs walks out in front of me. I stooped... Uh here piggy piggy I called. I didn't expect them to listen but a few rustles of a power bar wrapper changed their minds quick!

Soon I was surrounded. Uh oh... I heard that pigs bite, so I was a little wary of the larger one. But they were just sniffing and tasting my bikes parts. So I gave them some power bar bits.

So the verdict is pigs approve!

Congratulations to Sue for killing it down at La Ruta. It seems like Thomas Deitch is learning the strength of the Tico's. Those guys are legit!

Go ride.

JB

posted by Jeremiah Bishop  # 8:15 PM 2 comments

Going Big with Bike Magazine

Erin and I just wrapped up a spectacular week of back county riding with Chris Millem and Kip Mikler of Bike Magazine.

Chris is a freelance photographer from New England and Kip is six months into his new job at bike. He formerly worked for VeloNews. I am sure he's feeling refreshed not having to constantly write about doping road racers, and is back to the adventure side of cycling.

Day #1 was the Shenandoah Mountain Trail with it's off camber all-day super-fine single track. After it was proclaimed an IMBA epic, I thought it was sure to become over ridden. But, this is not the case. In fact, we were out there for hours and only saw our long shadows in the late afternoon light.

Day #2 was one of my favorite trails deep in West Virginia - the North Fork Mountain Trail. The weather was warm and the view awesome. The west side of the mountain is lined for a few miles with cliffs looking down to the north branch of the Potomac river. Our group was bigger for this one. It made for some nice hangin out on one of the cliff overlooks. Erin, Kip, Chris, Sue, Thomas, Tim, 'The Wo' and Jeff Shalk rounded out our crew.



That night we split ways, Erin headed back with the H-burg crew, and Kip, Chris, Sue and myself headed for the small town of Davis, West Virginia where we rode the perennial classic Plantation Trail.

After a Fat Hellbender Burrito sleep came easy thanks to some cold mountain air and Laird Knight letting us crash at his place in the town of Thomas. Laird spends most of his time in Morgantown with his wife these days so we just made ourselves at home. Thomas is the sister town to Davis, Thomas more the coal town and Davis more the logging town. Since there is less of both going on these days it is a blessing to the regenerating rare ecosystems of the area. Not so good for the towns though. Tourism is starting a renaissance for the two towns and work is underway for a riverside park in Davis.

Day #3, the next morning Laird met us. We talked West Virginia mountain bike history, and Laird can talk! We got a hearty lumberjack breakfast and headed to Black Water Bikes to meet Sue. After waiting for a while we headed off in a rain shower up the foggy mountain and into the dark forest. The Forbidden Forest was the name of one of Sue's insider trails. It reminds me of the Ardens of Belgium, except cooler! The spruce trees were tall and the understory lush with ferns and moss. Then we hit the Son of Plantation Trail and then the granddaddy, Plantation. It was wet foggy real technical but somehow grippy at the same time. The roots and rocks were a stark contrast to the bone dry Virginia trails. That place is special for sure. Tunnels of Rhododendron, cranberry bogs and tea colored steams snake thru the maze-like forest. We had a blast seeing what we could ride. Sue even challenged me to ride a deep stream crossing at the end of the ride. "I'll buy you lunch if you can ride this one!" Sweet! I had no clue how I was going to ride the knee deep crossing filled with concrete-like rocks at all angles but I went for it - and the Pizza at Siriani's was the sweet reward! Nailed it!

Go Big.

Jeremiah

Labels: Epic Adventures

posted by Jeremiah Bishop  # 5:42 PM 2 comments

Archives

October 2004   November 2004   December 2004   January 2005   February 2005   March 2005   April 2005   May 2005   June 2005   July 2005   August 2005   September 2005   October 2005   November 2005   December 2005   January 2006   February 2006   March 2006   April 2006   May 2006   June 2006   July 2006   August 2006   September 2006   October 2006   November 2006   December 2006   January 2007   February 2007   March 2007   April 2007   May 2007   June 2007   July 2007   August 2007   September 2007   October 2007   November 2007   December 2007   January 2008