Micheaux State Forest, PA ...a contrast to Madrid!

Trek-VW East Coast Regional team spent the Madrid weekend (May 3-4) on a completely different type of course... Manager Steven Hoover took care of our boys Chris Eatough and Jeff Schalk as they dominated a course that is famous for rocks, roots, and legendary technical challenges !!  His report is from last week:

Trek VW scores again!

  The Michaux Endurance series kicked off May 4th with the Maximus. With over 110 riders signed up for the fifty miler and dryer than expected weather we knew it was going to be a fast race.  Michaux is and has always been a single lap format, one big lap.  Some say this is Mountain Bike racing in the raw.  The course is legendary for its mud, rocks, water crossings, logs and a fair amount of climbing and did I mention rocks.  Tight twisty single-track with fast rock strewn descents that people love to hate.

   Unlike the previous week there was not much drama, Chris set a fast pace right from the gun, Jeff chased but never closed the gap.  Behind them having a flat or not having a flat dictated the order. Several fast riders were knocked off the podium by the rocks.  In the Women's race Cheryl put her home court advantage to work and never looked back, winning with a twenty-five minute advantage. Tim Mes sersmith, last years winner led for over half the race before Roger eased past him, eventually gapping Tim by five minutes.

Results for the day: Flying thru the 50 miles in just under 4 hours was Chris Eatough followed by Jeff Schalk in 2nd and Jon Gdowik in 4th, giving Trek VW three of the top five spots in the Senior Men’s category.  Cheryl Sornson came 1st in women's, In the Masters category it was Roger Masse 1st and Tim Messersmith 2nd.

 

  Our bikes performed flawlessly.  Trek, Volkswagen, Shimano, RockShox, Bontrager, JBL, and Cyto Sport we couldn't do it without you.  Thanks!

The only incident of the day happened to me.  Since all of our Team riders decided to run the fifty milers it left me with some spare time while they were out on course.  I decided to take my new Remedy out on the twenty-five mile course.  About an hour in I got a huge cut in the rear tire while submerged in a mud pit, thinking it was glass from the looks of the cut.  After fixing my flat I settled in to a nice pace, cruising in with a top ten finish and a big smile on my face.  Some might think it crazy to ride a six-inch travel bike in a cross-country race but that’s just because they haven't been on a Remedy in the mountains of Michaux State Forest.  I will wager that there will be several Remedy's at the Dark Hollow, the next stop in the Michaux Endurance Series

Enjoy the day,

Steven

Photo Gallery: UCI #3, Madrid Race Day

Sven Martin followed the team on race day, while Colin Meagher snapped some shots of Canadian Trek rider Emily Batty.

Photo Gallery: UCI #3, Madrid Training Day

Sven Martin met up with the Trek/VW team again in Madrid, Spain to capture more UCI racing.

Mach 10 in Madrid!

Reports from the 3rd round of the UCI World Cup are filtering in .. and by all accounts it was scorching fast!  The course is situated in a park just near to downtown Madrid, somewhat similar to Central Park in New York.  It's smooth, fast, and non-technical.  A few short sharp climbs punctuate the lap, but most describe the pace as like that of a short track here in the USA -- just constant high-speed pedaling and blazing intensity.

A course like this demands the proper set up for speed.  We on the Trek-VW team are lucky to start off on the right foot with the Elite 9.9 hardtail bike.  The OCLV carbon frame was made for just this kind of race!  Next comes the Bontrager Jones XR Team tires.  This is a new tire for 2008, one that we have been asking for since 2005.  It's basically a Jones XR, in 2.0 size, with the knobs at 1/2 height.  It is blisteringly fast on a smooth, firm surface.  (In fact, Lea took down 1st place at the Sea Otter short track on just this same tire!!).  Of course, you have to have a RockShox SID World Cup to complete the package, light and supple to handle brake bumps, yet with firm lockout for the stand-up-and-sprint out of every corner.

Sue was 4th American across the line, in 41st.  Jeremiah was 4th American, in 80th.  Both are still in recovery mode after the punishment of Cape Epic.  We're still hoping to spring them into the Olympic selection with 2 World Cups plus World Championships still to go.  No matter what the placings, the enthusiastic crowd is always exciting!

We've got some race photos coming, but in the mean time check out Sue and Emily lookin' good at the tent, and these below from Germany:

Jeremiah and Team Dolphin-TREK rider Alban Lakata

Me and ace mechanic Steve Borkoski at the Dolphin-TREK tent

While you were away ... we were in Fruita!

As you know we have so many double booked weekends it is almost silly!  But the bright side is that we get to reach more people than ever.  The other weekend while Sue and Jeremiah were racing the World Cup in Offenburg, Germany, our domestic team stopped in Fruita, Colorado for the Fat Tire Fest.  There is no racing at this event, only a ton of good fun!

Fruita is on the western edge of Colorado, situated perfectly for our team trailer to stop, set up, and talk shop with the riders in attendance.  We had Ross lead a group ride or two, while Dusty and Shep did bike work and chatted with consumers.  No real hardcore mission, just a chance to interact with the guys and gals keeping our sport alive and healthy.  Trek's Ride the Best demo tour had a rep on hand to loan out some bikes, and our mechanics did a little work on some consumer bikes.  All in all, a good time!

Report from Offenburg World Cup

By now I'm sure you've seen or heard the stories from the 2nd round of the UCI World Cup in Offenburg, Germany.  After rain in the early part of the week, things dried up nicely on race day, and full fields of men and women attacked the course in search of speed and superiority.  The dry weather was welcome after rain last year turned the race into a slippy quagmire.

Our own Susan Haywood was 31st, building on her start position of 37th, and maintaining her spot as the 3rd American female in the World Cup overall standings.  So, she's basically right in the running for a possible Olympic bid!  The first selection criterion is top two Americans in the World Cup overall, so if she moves up just a few spots in the next few races, she's there!

Jeremiah Bishop on the other hand is struggling, and we all feel bad for him.  His lifelong dream is the Olympics, and he was OH so close in 2004.  This year was supposed to be about total focus, and I've seen his training data: he's focused all right!  But somewhere along the line this spring, between training, Cape Epic, and traveling, he's really tired.  We were all hoping that he'd come out of the Cape Epic with huge form, but it's turning out that he's just really zapped for strength.  A huge miscalculation somewhere along the line...

On the other hand, it's not as if things are living up to recent standards.  Most of the American men are suffering in Europe -- Todd Wells and Adam Craig being the notable exceptions.  Those guys must have stepped it up a BIG notch over the winter.  It's great for them!  But on the other hand JHK and Sam Schultz are not up to speed yet, so JB is not alone.   Racing in Europe is exceptionally hard.  There's just no way to understate the level.

I didn't come away with photos or video of my own, but here's something from Jeremiah's wife Erin:

Jeremiah Bishop's "Tunes to Ride By"

Biking, music, the environment: three things we all love.

Jeremiah Bishop and long-time Trek/Volkswagen Racing Team sponsor JBL are teaming up for an exciting

project: "Tunes to Ride By."

Now, in its third volume, "Tunes to Ride By" is turning its attention toward the environment. Mountain bikers are invited to share favorite songs, enter for a chance to win great products from JBL, and download rider-created playlists - all in support of worthy organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council and the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA).

For more information and to enter, check out the Tunes page at www.jeremiahbishop.com

The Grey Daze in Germany ...waiting on a World Cup

Well, I dropped my camera about 2 feet the other day, in Houffalize, and now it will not turn on.  Awesome.  It's pretty much what you want to have happen, while in Europe, for 5 days, between races, with no particular team related duty that can be performed other than blogging.  Yeah, it's just fine that I can't post any photos or lifestyle stories now.  Sheesh.

I guess when it rains, it pours, although the rain here is more like 200% humidity.  It doesn't so much pelt the ground as saturate the air and earth simultaneously.  We were walking the course the other day, and some German riders rolled up to look at the same section we were looking at, and one of the women was like, "Hey the forecast for Sunday is dry, so I think it will dry up by then."  And I was like, yes, it must be nice to be high all the time.  I should try that ...

No, seriously, all is not as bad as I like to make it sound.  I just had to catch you up on the last 3 days, which were in fact as gray and dreary as I've ever seen Europe.  Today actually is sunny, dry, and nice ... perhaps mild optimism is not so out of line as I thought.  I'm at a cafe/bar with free and fast internet -- something you would have thought was ubiquitous in Germany, but is not.  Sue rode the course and came back with only a few mud splatters, not nearly the 4" gunk layer we expected.  SO, despite the fact that we are here on business, the business of racing, things are going better by the day as it dries up, warms up, and we get to know the local layout.

We drove to Germany on Monday, slotted in to the Gasthaus Renate Meier in Ebersweier, and since then have been just kind of in limbo waiting for the racing to go off.  We don't have internet at our house, hence the daily visit to the cafe.  English language TV is limited to CNN and BBC, so I know as much about world news as I could care to ...and I'm almost finished with my one book.  It's about the slowest my life has moved in 3 years.  But, you know, I'll take it!  And now that the sun is shining, things are looking up!  Riders are training, bikes are tight, and all is well.  We picked up credentials today, tomorrow is registration, Saturday is managers meeting, and Sunday is GAME THE HECK ON!!!

wish us luck and continued blue skies!

Sea Otter vs Houffalize World Cup

With so many double-booked weekends this year, I should put some thought into a way of tabulating overall scores for each team at each separate venue.  For example, this past weekend we had Lea and Ross out at Sea Otter, competing in the Super D, Short Track, and Cross Country.  While this was going on, I've been in Houffalize, Belgium for the first round of World Cups, escorting Sue and Jeremiah through the weekend XC race.

If the events at Sea Otter are to guage, I would say Ross and Lea's team won the weekend!!   Lea won both the Super D and the Short Track, both first time wins for her.  The short track at Sea Otter is HUGE, because the crowds are great and all the Trek and VW people are attending.   She went on to take 5th in the XC.  Meanwhile Ross was 4th in the STXC, but faded in the XC to 25th place.

On the flip side, Sue and Jeremiah struggled over here in Belgium.  The weather was typical -- rain and gray made the course a slippy mess.  And the racing was typical -- over-full fields of rabid Euro mountain bikers elbowed their way around the course.  But the results here were not what we hoped:  JB in 77th, and Sue in 36th.  This on a day when other top Americans were riding just fine, in the top 20.

So as I say, cheers to the other team for pulling down some results for the weekend!!

We're off to Offenburg, Germany for the next World Cup, and hoping for better things.  No photos, sorry, my camera took a dive and won't turn on.  I'll try and borrow some during the week.

so what ELSE have we been up to?

At the same time Cape Epic riders were sending plumes of red dust skyward, we had the other half of our team in southern California and the desert Southwest, tackling the first 2 rounds of the NMBS series.  From my perspective it was a challenge to have 2 events running at the same time, but on the other hand, it will be a neccessary situation for this whole season.  I'm trying to wring the most out of our program, and that's going to mean MANY double booked weekends.  It means I'm doing everything twice!

But despite that challenge, we had great success in our first 2 domestic races.  Competing were Ross and Lea, and staffing were me, Dusty, and new guy Shep.  At the first round in Fontana, we were pleased to see a busy venue and a boost in attendance from last year.  The course was a little shorter, but the same fast urban singletrack. 

Lea kicked off the XC with 8th place, a solid top 10 to start the year.  Ross was stunned by the level and came in 16th, but made up for it the next day with the most exciting short track we've seen in years, landing on the podium in 4th.  Lea was right in there too on her short track, taking 8th again ... while our Canadian Mical Dyck was 4th.  So it was great to be in the mix on the first weekend!

From Fontana we drove across to Arizona, with a 2 night stop in Sedona.  The riding was part of the goal, but we also had committed to a school visit.  As it happens there is a great k-12 mountain bike league in AZ, and we stopped in on Scott Keller's group in Sedona.  The riders did a short ride with the kids, and we had a great time!

 

Finally getting down to business in Fountain Hills, site of NMBS #2, we pulled down a few more sweet results.  Lea broke through to the top 5 for the first time, taking 5th on the short track.  Ross was ultra consistent, just inside the top ten in all 3 events for the weekend, and taking 5th on the weekend overall.  Lea was 4th on the weekend overall.  For me and the team, it was a real breakthrough because it means our up and coming riders are now UP and consistently in the top 5.  That's what we need!