The Early Season with Jeremiah Bishop!

This is Jeremiah checking in. Preparations for the

2008 racing season are in full swing, and I can report that my form is the best it has ever been for this time of year. Chris Eatough and I are getting ready for the excitement of being the first-ever American pro team to compete in the Absa Cape Epic - a nine-stage, 966-kilometer stage race with 18,529 meters of climbing. The 2008 course is the longest and features the most climbing in the race's history. It will undoubtedly have the toughest competition as most of the the world's top riders are set to compete. We are only 28 days away from the biggest race of our lives.

But first, the Trek/VW team will kick off the season with team camp in Moab, Utah, where we will reunite with teammates and staff, and welcome our new sougnier Laura Downey. I'm excited that Fred Dreier of VeloNews and Kip Mikler of Bike Magazine will be there to witness the excitement. It will be fun for them to see the inner workings of the team, the preparation and the training. Team camp is a great opportunity to get everything ready for another challenging and exciting race season that will take us around the globe.

Now matter where the season takes me, it's always nice to have great music. I'm going to fill my iPod with training mixes and even when I'm where no one speaks the same language, I'll be able to get pumped up to ride, from downtown Madrid to the mountainous interior desserts of South Africa. 

Because I'm always looking for new music and motivation, I'm teaming up with long-time Trek/VW sponsor JBL for an awesome project: Tunes to Ride By.

It's going to rock! "Tunes to Ride By" is a chance to win some great product from JBL, support worthy organizations like IMBA, and put together some great music that will get us pumped up to ride. I can't wait to hear what you've got.

Rock and roll,

JB

For more information and to enter "Tunes to Ride By,"

check out www.JeremiahBishop.com.

Shandro and McCaul in For Seasons

From the brain trust that created The Collective and ROAM comes this new film, For Seasons . It's nice to see the film crew include gravity racing notables like Peaty and up-and-comer Stevie Smith.

And it's great to see them give so much film time to our boys Shandro and McCaul. Movie Premier happens at Sea Otter. We'll see you there.

Throwin down for Tara

By now you've probably heard about Tara Llanes' accident. The ripper from out west experienced a crash like no other, which has given her a temporary disability. Unfortunately, the road to recovery is a long and expensive one, and it just began only 5 months ago.

Thankfully, the mountain biking and BMX community is coming together  to support her

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo

I recall the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo as an event where I would watch my friends bundle up in the cold basement of the Dirt Rag HQ, preparing on their journey to search for warm weather, fun times and good magazine sales. Funny how hopeful snow birds can try to will good weather, forgetting that the desert gets frigid in the winter.

Ah yes, the Old Pueblo isn't a time for tropical temps --- maybe in the middle of the day --- but not around the clock.

But Sue knows better. And she also knows how to ride a bike quite well. I'm happy to relay this little ditty about her winning team down in Tucson, Arizona at the 24 Hour in the Old Pueblo.

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo

I enjoyed the start to the race season by doing the 9th annual 24 Hours of Old Pueblo put on by EpicRides.  I did the race in 2005 on a local five person team.  It was really cool race with a friendly relaxed vibe.  It is true grass roots racing with over 1600 racers.  But it also has this very professional appearance and more vendors than at any national series race.  Plus there were some very fast racers there from around the country.

So this year, I wanted to do the race as a bit of training for the Cape Epic race in March.  Since my Cape Epic partner, Jenny Smith, was going to be Australia, I asked my great friend Spring Clegg.  Spring is a Tucson expert rider.  She is one of the most enthusiastic, determined athletes that I have ever met.  She smiles all the time.  Our team name was "Born Famous" as a flick to all the tabloids that seem to possess the minds of  American public these days.  Don't read about famous people's lives, go live your own!

And nothing makes me feel more alive, then riding my bike all day and night.  This is the first time that I have done the Female Duo category.  I was so curious about this category because so many people say that they think it is the most difficult category because you go both fast and  long.  Our strategy evolved to do two lap rotations until the night and then go to three and then back to two.  It worked good for us.  It was nice to get the 4 hour break in the middle of the night to really eat, drink , recover and stay warm.  At the same time, doing three laps in a row keeps you warm, loose and the nighttime is when all the hallucinations start!  Several times I saw cactus with cowboy hats wave hello to me.  I even saw E.T. 

We were powered throught out the night by team sponsor "Light and Motion"  I used the ARC lithium ion.  The same set up I used to win the Worlds Solo in 2006.  They were there at the race as well, being totally indispensable to all the racers.  I rode my Top Fuel with Stansed Super Xs.

Spring and I were helped by Spring's husband, Kevin Clegg.  The first lap was so muddy, I had to wash my bike after wards.  Kevin was teasing me and laughing that the poor pro had to wash her own bike and did I know how to do that?...HaHa. Dane from Fairwheel bikes lubed my chain for me.  I lubed my own chamois.

As noon approached, We were up by four laps and I thought that was plenty.  I tried to talk Spring into coalescing  and being satisfied with 17 laps.  But Spring wanted to get 18 total laps.  There were only two other men duo teams that had 19 laps.  So, with tired muscles and sore asses, Born Famous, was famous again winning the Female Duo.

Gobi Desert Scouting Trip: Photo Gallery

A Lesson in Customer Service

3 hours and 17 minutes. That's how long I was on hold with the GE Wellness Plan.

But what does this have to with Trek and mountain biking? Hold tight... I'll get there.

Don't you hate those services that you sign up for once, and then a year later, a charge pops up on your credit card with some unknown charge? You call the number only to find out that you were automatically reenrolled for something you don't care about...

Well, this happened last year, but I never got around to calling about the $59.95 charge. It's now 10 months later, and I finally call...

...and over 3 hours later, I find out that it's the GE Wellness plan that I signed up for to reduce my dental costs.

The point is, Trek will never be that way. You got a problem? Give us a call: 1.800.TRY.TREK.
We'll take care of it. We're there for you.

Attack of the Marketing Manager

I was just scrolling through some old blog comments when I came across an unpublished comment from the end of September, written by none other than Andrew Juskaitis.

Andrew used to be an editor at Rodale, and then on to VeloNews. His tenure at VeloNews ended when he accepted a job as marketing manager at Giant Bicycles. Seems to be a common trend to go from editor to marketing... Back when I was editor of Dirt Rag, we always referred to Andrew as "Iceman" for his '80s-era haircut that resembled so closely Maverick's arch-rival pilot in Top Gun.

Here's Iceman's oh-so-cunning reply to a post about ABP,

If ABP works so well, why not apply it too all of your 2008 full suspension designs?

So it was refreshing to see old Iceman resurface on the blogosphere. And his comment seems even more relevant now that the press is talking about the new Session.

Does this mean Giant's quaking at the thought of increased competition with the Maestro design? Perhaps the proprietors of mutli-linkage designs have finally realized their unnecessary complexity and weight.

Oh Iceman, won't you return and comment again?

Going Gobi

The famed New World Disorder crew recruited Trek's own Cam McCaul to go on a scouting mission to China. I thought they were crazy, but you have to have faith when coming up with the next movie or Red Bull event site. Check out the latest teaser highlighting their adventures. Jealous!