Posted 2008-07-22
By Mike Barber, Daily News Record
HARRISONBURG - Jeremiah Bishop had never won a professional short-track mountain bike race. Now, he's the surprise national champion.
Bishop pulled away with five laps to go and held off a surge by Barry Wicks to win the pro men's short-track title at the USA Cycling mountain bike championships on Sunday in West Dover, Vt., just 16 days after claiming the national crown in the mountain bike marathon.
"That sprinting mentality and super high speed, attack speed, was never my strength," Bishop, a Harrisonburg resident, said by phone Monday as he drove back to Virginia. "To win this race, it's really just amazing. I don't think I would have believed that I won both of them. The marathon for sure, that's my specialty. Longer races are definitely better for me."
The 32-year-old Bishop finished the course in 24 minutes, 16 seconds. Wicks placed second in 24:24.
"I conserved my energy," Bishop said. "I picked one major move. I'm not much of a sprinter."
On July 4 in Breckenridge, Colo., Bishop won the national championship in the longer marathon race, the kind of endurance affair that is his niche. The pair of wins helps raise his national prominence in the cycling world, and gives him a more visible pulpit to talk about the issue of doping in athletics.
Bishop recently got involved in the U.S. Anti Doping Agency's My Victory campaign, submitting to extra drug testing - both urine and blood samples - and serving as a spokesman for the anti-doping effort.
"He did that on his own individual initiative," said Zack Russell, manager of Bishop's Trek Volkswagen team. "Jeremiah is fervently anti-doping in mountain biking, road racing, all athletics. He's very vocal."
Among the notable athletes also participating are track stars Tyson Gay and Allyson Felix and swimming stars Michael Phelps and Dara Torres.
As part of the program, Bishop said, a film crew followed him for a day as he trained in Harrisonburg, gathering material for a public service announcement aimed at convincing children that doping is not the way to victory.
"Trying to send a positive message, I think, is really important," Bishop said. "It's really got to stop and it requires a positive role model approach that kids can believe they can actually win clean."
Voluntarily subjecting himself to the additional screenings - which also can include experimental testing methods - allows Bishop to prove he is competing without the aid of performance-enhancing drugs.
"Mountain biking has not had the crisis with doping that road cycling has, but some of the general public doesn't discern between the disciplines," Bishop said. "It does really feel good to have that in my corner. You can really look back on your accomplishments when you compete clean, and say, ‘Look what I did."'
That's exactly what Bishop was thinking when he crossed the finish line to win the short-track title Sunday.
"It came out of the blue," said Bishop's teammate and fellow Harrisonburg resident Susan Haywood, herself a three-time short-track national champion.
Haywood's competing at the nationals was cut short when she suffered a broken tibia and fibula in her left leg in Saturday's cross-country race.
"It was the end of the first lap, coming around the corner and I stuck my foot out and stepped on a rounded rock," Haywood said Monday from her home, where she is recovering from surgery that will keep her off her feet for two weeks and off a bike for at least six. "It just rolled my ankle and I knew it broke right away. It was very painful."
As for Bishop, the short track has never been his best event, but that doesn't mean he doesn't enjoy those races.
"Short track, it's kind of got some NASCAR elements to it," Bishop said. "It's a really short lap. It's high energy, action packed. There's drafting in the start-finish area, a good straightaway stretch."
How did he manage the win? Bishop said he's been working on improving his short-track starts; Sunday, he got to the front of the pack early. Once there, Bishop had the stamina to stay in the lead.
"I think his fitness has come to a remarkable peak," Russell said. "It's a combination of the hard work that he does at home and the extensive racing he's doing during the season. Despite his natural gift for the longer races, I think the hard training he's done has given him an extra edge."
USA Cycling doesn't use the national championships to select the Olympic team, so Bishop won't be heading to Beijing. Instead, the Olympians are chosen based on their performance in the early part of the World Cup series of races and the World Championships.
But after falling ill before some of the early World Cup races, Bishop readjusted his plan for the year to be ready for the national championships.
"Sometimes you have to chart your own path," Bishop said.
Labels: Race Headlines
