Although I don't sped much time on YouTube, I thought this was pretty funny:
Nice.
This week has been mostly highlighted by some quality family time, Josh (Erin's brother ) Erin, Conrad and I went to the Dry River for some relief from the sultry dog days of summer. Conrad loves the water!
PT is coming along, training is up to 5 hrs and I am on track for a return at the Shenandoah 100. I did the Alpine Loop with Keck Baker yesterday. For sure that is one tough road ride! We were totally soaked in a mid-ride downpour. It sure beats the 90s and 90% humidity. It has rained on me the last three times I did that loop...?
Fishing is the next activity on tap. Tinker proves that you can still race fast, have a baby and catch some serious trout too!
Time to plan for InterBike.
There are a lot of cool things just around the corner so I had better enjoy the week at home before it picks up again!
The past week was a planned rest week, and I did ride less than normal, but time off the bike presents an oppourtunity to schedule some things that I'd put on the backburner for such an occasion.
Erin helped me by taking care of a lot of paper work. In preparation for various events, the Cape Epic, the Olympics, UCI, USADA, USAC and others all want the who, what, when, where, why and how.
I caught up with my equipment and supplies. It's amazing how much CytoMax I've gone through, plus I replaced two tires - one for my road bike and one for my mountain bike, and two worn out chains. After a big 3-week training block, this is all good because it means I'm working hard.
Midweek, I made a trip over to Bedford, VA for a scheduled lactate test and meeting with my coach Hunter Allen. Scotty Curlee dropped in and we talked about his filming plans for the coming year. See Red Cloud Productions for more about MaxVO2.
I woke up early on Thursday to drive over to Charlottesville to fit my new Shimano M300 shoes using the state-of-the-art motion analysis laboratory at the University of Virginia Speed Clinic. There, Jay helped me pedal straighter than I've ever pedaled before - no kidding. Jay has and extensive exercise physiology and physical therapy background, and helped to mobilize my thorasic verebrae and ribs that are stuck together from years of exercise and a few good crashes. The good news is that my body seems to be in very good shape, and my pedaling form is the best it's ever been.
It was another early morning on Friday, because Erin and I were headed to meet a film crew at Mr. J's Bagels. With a cameraman, a photographer, producer, lawyer and sound man, it seemed like quite an entourage as we headed to the trails at Massanutten to film some action shots, and later transformed SBC into a studio for an interview. This all sounds exciting, but it can be exhausting, too. The day went great and we captured some very cool content. I'll tell you more about this later. For now, it's top secret.
Saturday I finally got in a decent ride. I shook the cobwebs from my legs and road over two mountains to Erin's parents' house in the country. It was a nice adventure with blue skies and temps in the 5o's. It was also nice because no matter what it is that you do all week, getting on the bike gets you away from your busy thoughts.
My Mom used to say, "Do as I say, not as I do." I guess the reason she said that is because all things in come in good time. First you have to learn how things work before you can experiment. I've learned a lot in 16 years of bike racing, but it seems it's just in the last few that I've been able to put it to use!
Today I gave a lecture for one of Mike Saunders' (A.K.A. Dr Saunders) classes at James Madison University. He's a professor of kinesiology and an accomplished athlete. I think it went pretty well, no one threw any trash at me and I think I kept everyone's attention. I was pretty fun actually. I thought to myself, 'if you can make a few points stick, and make people laugh then you've used your time well.' I really dig the science aspect of the sport of cycling, and I'm always reading up on the latest training articles and studying my training files.
The basics of the lecture were about my applied use of periodization in managing my fitness for a packed racing schedule. I showed my power meter graphs from Cycling Peaks, a few of my latest workout files and gave some examples of how workouts I do this time of year differ from race time. I also talked about the timing and type of training used to produce my best results.
Good luck to the students!
May all of use what we learn, once we figure it out.
Jeremiah Bishop Trek/Volkswagen Racing Team Athlete Student
The ride yesterday was big classic winter road ride over into Page Valley. Our group included Nick Waite, Andy Mac, and Bryan Fawley.
Our planned route was already a tough 5 hours, but Andy insisted on going up over the wicked steep west slope of Massanutten too. About 3 hours in we made an uncommon pit stop at a coffee shop in the bustling bucolic town of Luray. Most known for the tourist cave nearby; Luray is part cowboy town, part old Virginia. Big mountains loom on the horizon and give the place a strange western feel.
Bryan "the bicycle warrior" Fawley is in town from Texas and has been keeping the rides lively. Some is smack talk, but he can deliver on the sprint smack with ease. If you want to know more about Bryan just imagine TEXAS attitude on a bike, he's mostly joking but he is a bad ass so I had to keep him in check the last few days by dropping the hammer on his head. :) see www.BryanFawley.com
Here are some funny photos of cold tired road warriors get their calories and coffee on! Well, I'll add them when they finish uploading. (In other news, you can click on the Gallery link to see some photos. Erin will post some more galleries in the next few days.)
Fueled up and ready to rock we put on the furry for the remaining 2 hours Nick was putting in some TOC up New Market Gap and Andy Mac was revealing the face of pain but hanging tough. Bryan was hoping for some flatter terrain but enjoying the challenge and I was having a blast because I felt like my bike had a motor in it! Zoom.....
Last night we watched Taladega Nights, which has inspired us to Shake... and Bake.
Happy Birthday to Nick and Andy Mac who are turning 24 and 12 years young this week.
The ride I 'm referring to was actually in the back of a pickup truck.
Today's weather was the best of a nice week. Temperatures were close to 60 and there was a brisk wind out of the southwest that could blow your cheeks open, but otherwise a sunny and gorgeous day in the Shenandoah.
You see, I was crancking out some nice tempo south of Natural Chimneys. I was shoveling wind and looking forward to a change of direction for a nice tailwind ride to back to Harrisonburg.
I guess the glass in the road had other plans. I fixed my flat, but in the meantime wasted half of my Co2. No big deal, I thought to myself, it is a big air and can fill 2 tires. Well, just as I got back on the bike I heard a great BOOSH!! All of the air exhaled like the snort of an angry bull. My butt lowered as the bike sank down and rested on the rim… Not good.
I assessed my options. I somehow didn't seem too bothered because it was still a good day for a ride... even if it was on the rim. So, I ripped the valve stem out (that's the part that can wreck any good rim ride) and made a B-line for Bridgewater. The good thing was it was mostly down wind so I was rolling along at good clip. Then the cross wind became a problem. Combined with the camber of the road it made for some nervous moments when the rear of my bike would slide out to the side! In and instant I would go from just riding to fighting to stay upright! On one section that was dead strait (with no cars in sight) I actually rode the left side of the road as the camber pushed the rear of the bike toward the wind. It was nice for a little break but don't do that! Not good for a rim ride. I got back to the right side.
Finally I made it back as far as Bridgewater and scoped out my options. I saw a gas station with few folks filling up. A man who looked like he worked for a living was filling up his pick up? "Hi, are you heading for Harrisonburg?" Yes, he said, throw it in the back. Wow it was that easy. We drove with the window down and talked farm supply and bike racing like old friends.
Indeed a nice day for a ride, even if it was in a pick up.
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.
