New Fuel EX + Remedy pages

So the marketing team over here at headquarters has been hard at work dialing in an awesome new web initiative.

Since it's not exactly all that visible from our homepage, I thought I'd set up this blog post to show people all the awesomeness we've created. Check it out!

Remedy Site

Fuel EX site

 

Packing for a Stage Race -- Jenny goes to the Andes

Just got this article from Jenny Smith last week, who's headed down to Chile/Argentina for an adventure of a lifetime — the TransAndes Challenge.

In a rare, almost unheard of partnership between athletes sponsored by rival companies Trek and Specialized, Jenny Smith has partnered with Rebecca Rush to give it a go at this legendary South American stage race.

Take a read, then follow her posts that will appear on Cyclingnews.com and Mountain Flyer throughout next week. Go Jenny! Go Rebecca!

Adventure Packing

I am really lucky to be promoting Trek Women in the Trans Andes Challenge, Jan 25th – 30th 2010. But what to take?

I have available 1 bike case and one 50 lb bag.

 

Choosing the bike is easy—my 2010 Trek WSD Top Fuel 9.8 I’m going to trust its quality and include minimal spare parts, some spare Bontrager tubeless ready stems, brake pads, extra set of tires, seat collar and a little sealant.

 

We’re camping, and the tent is provided, but I need to take a sleeping pad, bag and pillow. 

 

We’ll take the foam out of my ironclad bike case and use the sleeping things as bike padding. (Airlines only insure bikes contained in hard plastic containers, a factoid learned with my job at American Airlines this winter, it’s a good consideration when packing your bike for travel, worth its weight I think) This leaves about 45lbs

 

• Sunscreen
• Dr Bronners peppermint soap
• toothpaste and brush. 
• My packable down sweater. 
• Swimsuit, cap and goggles. ( Several of the stages have over 2500 meters of climbing.. this is a lot for January!) The area has lakes and thermal pools, Swimming feels so amazing and is great for recovery during these events. 
• Running shoes, shorts and singlet. ( You never know, I might feel like running). 
• Sunglasses: Rudy project Noyz photo chromatic unbreakable scratch free lenses. (I love these glasses they are Genius) 
• Same fantastic bike shoes I’ve been wearing for 2 years, helmet, gloves, three pairs of shorts and Jerseys. 
• A towel 
• Vitmains
• Dilma tea (from New Zealand)
• My metal melita-style coffee drip filter
• Nalgene bottle
• Camel Back and several water bottles.

 

Then there's food. I eat a gluten-free diet and eat as much whole food as possible. I’m taking my infinit sports drink, raw revolution bars, dates for during the race, and Gu gels. I have some Justin’s pre packaged single serve nut butters ( they are less than 3 oz each, and can be carried on; gluten free oats and a loaf of gluten free bread. Travelling with food is tricky— it’s really heavy! There's a little extra room, so I can fit a few more things:

 

• Compression tights
• leg warmers
• yoga pants
• shorts
• short sleeved shirt
• long sleeved jersey
• vest
• buff
• Gortex jacket.
• Camera
• phone (instead of computer)
• MP3
• trigger point therapy kit. 

 

Travelling lightly and cycling, can they ever go together?
Any ideas are welcome.

The Schalk Diaries: ea Tough Lesson

Chris Eatough retired this year from professional racing and I attended a party last month at the Rumor Mill in downtown Ellicott City that honored his career. The night gave me cause to reflect since he has been a huge mentor and influence in my own racing since I’ve been on the East Coast. Much of my own career owes him a debt of gratitude since I have followed in his footsteps in the niche world of ultra-endurance racing.

 
It isn’t as though he sat me down and whispered secrets to me. Instead, I’ve watched how he rides and competes while training and racing alongside him. And the most general thing I can say about him is that it wasn’t raw power and super-natural talent that made him a great rider; rather, it was a certain finesse that is much more difficult to pin down. He made everything look relatively easy because he flowed through the trails rather than fighting through.

The best way for me to emphasize this is to use an analogy to the NFL (of which, I’ve always been a huge fan). I’ve always thought of Eatough as a sort of Barry Sanders type of athlete. Barry Sanders was one of the greatest running backs of all time because he had patience and finesse that worked around and through the defense. Many running backs fall short of greatness because they attempt to use raw power to shove themselves straight ahead through the defense. And they become impatient and don’t allow the holes to open up before they slam into defenders. Sanders danced around the defense.

And this is how Eatough rode – by using the least amount of energy possible to flow through the terrain rather than trying to shove his bike directly ahead with stubborn power. He had patience, allowing the best lines to present themselves. This was a huge, but tough lesson for me to learn while riding hundreds of hours behind him on technical trail. Over the course of four years, I think I saw him crash maybe 3 times. In contrast, he probably saw me crash well over 100 (or rather, heard the explosion of bike and limbs go down behind him as he pulled away).

The analogy also works well because both athletes were humble and understated, which is something I’ve always looked up to. I've always thought an athlete should just get the job done and let others do the talking. Luckily for Chris, however, the analogy doesn’t extend into their respective organizations. Trek’s support helped Chris win big races whereas the culture of losing that has always plagued the Detroit Lions ultimately pushed Barry Sanders into early retirement.

Chris and I no longer train together now that he has moved onto an office job in bike transportation policy. However, I still remind myself to relax and flow through the rocks like he would. I have always gravitated towards a stubborn impatient style of riding, but I have gotten much better with his example and I crash a lot less.

JBL's Tunes to Ride By: Tracy Moseley

Tracy Moseley is a legend.

And with good reason -- This 14-time World Cup Champion is a seasoned, winning athlete who did it all on her own for years with little support; a super personality with a relaxed attitude that makes everyone want to be around her. Not to mention she loves dogs (and who doesn't love dogs?).

Now's the time we dig a little deeper and find out a bit more about her besides the fact that she rules. Here's Tracy's pick for playlists in a variety of situations...

 

Traveling: Just a bunch of tunes that are easy-listening sing-a-longs that get me in a good mood for long days on the road and being away from my friends and family for a long time...

• Red Hot Chili Peppers “Worm Tape”
• Pretenders “Forever Young”
• Lene Marlin “Flown Away”
• Crowded House “Weather with You”
• Counting Crows “Round Here”
• Air “Sexy Boy”
• Duffy “I'm Scared”
• Crowded House “Distant Sun”
• Stereophonics “I Wouldn't Believe Your Radio”

Relaxing: Songs from a variety of different artists that I can just listen to, unwind and chill to. Great for getting away from the madness of the racing circuit!

• Morcheeba “The Sea”
• Enya “Adiemus”
• Bic Runga “Drive”
• James Blunt “High”
• Enigma “Sadness”
• Crowded House “Four Seasons in One Day”
• Alexandra Burke “Hallelujah”
• Alex Parks “Cry”
• David Gray “Please Forgive Me”

Pre-race: A selection of songs that help me during my warm-up for races. They make my cadence on the turbo trainer increase and help me focus and get ready.

• Airbourne “Runnin Wild”
• Blink 182 “All the Small Things”
• Smudge + Smith “El Nino”
• Faithless “Insomnia”
• Faithless “We Come Over”
• The Killers “Human”
• Evanesence “Taking Me Over”
• Evanesence “Whisper”
• Powderfinger “Waint for the Sun”

Training:  A group of songs that help motivate and kill time when out riding or on the turbo trainer. They are fun  to listen to and just help lift my mood and push harder during my training session.

• Massive Attack “Bumper Ball Dub”
• Kasabian “Club Foot”
• Aerosmith “Dude”
• The Buzzcocks “Ever Fall in Love”
• Natalie Imbruglia “Torn”
• Nirvana “About a Girl”
• Counting Crows “Mr Jones”

World Cup DH Season in Review

Trek World Racing's video team is Jon and Rob Parkin. These are quite possibly the hardest-working team of go-getters you've ever met -- sleeping and uploading content in airports, bumming rides to get to race venues, staying up all night to get that perfect sunrise shot -- they are the real deal.

So I'm super excited to share with you this season in review. This more than just Trek World Racing -- it's all the footage they gained from a season of living and traveling the World Cup circuit. This one's awesome, so take a look. And if you have the bandwidth, watch it in HD!:

Lukas Flückiger is CX Champ! And TWR roster news...

So I don't have any pictures except for these older photos taken from this Swiss event two months ago, and I've only received a couple text messages confirming this Velonews report, but how exciting is it that Lukas Flückiger is now the Swiss National Cyclocross Champion??!

Lukas has really come into his own this season, and now with Liam no longer on the team, Lukas takes over as leader of the XC squad of Trek World Racing. 

That's not the only exciting  thing happening with TWR these days -- there are a couple of really great roster changes that will be revealed in the coming week or so. We all know about Neko Mulally joining the team squad as a junior development rider, and with Lukas in hot seat, everyone's asking -- what's next for the XC side?

Well, there's one more announcement coming your way, but I can't say much right now. The talks have been going well, and things appear to be in the final stretch. So  while I wish I could say now, all I have to say is, "I know nothing."

Trek/JBL survey winners announced

So sorry to all those who were waiting for yesterday's announcement of the JBL survey winners. I was actually waiting for replies from the winners before I announced them -- I mean, wouldn't you be upset if instead of having your name announced as a winner, the Trek MTB brand manager instead posted your actual email address? Wouldn't that be a violation of our email newlsetter agreement that we respect your privacy and won't share your address with anyone?

So you see -- I missed the deadline for a reason. And a good reason too -- only 8 of the 10 winners have confirmed their names here. I'm going to give it another couple days for them to respond, but if I don't hear back from them by the end of the week, I'm going to have to pick someone else.

So stay tuned -- there could be more coming! In the meantime, here is the list of confirmed winners:

P. Snyder of Appleton, WI

A. Defibaugh of Clarksville, TN

A. LeBeau of Indiatlantic, FL

T. Lauer of Portland, OR

A. Marsh of Louisville, KY

M. Kolody of Medford, NY

D. Sebastian of Fargo, ND

K. Glasgow of Princess Anne, MD

Congrats to the above winners -- you'll soon be receiving a JBL On Stage Micro iPod docking station.Now you can rock out in your bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, basement, shed or wherever, all while charging your sweet iPod. Thanks JBL for the gear!

 

The Schalk Diaries: Big Impacts

It’d be nice to think that my role as a professional athlete adds to the greater good by inspiring more people to ride, push their limits, and realize their full potential both on and off the bike. But, all such ideas only seem like idealistic psycho-babble when I realize who the real stars are of mountain biking.

I took part in a trail work day back in November out in the Watershed of Frederick, a fantastic network of trails that have been cobbled together by tons of hours of dedication to the sport.  As with every time I participate, I am amazed at how much can be done in so little time if enough people are willing to get together as a community.  The trails in Frederick are amazing, world-class works of landscaping genius, and they have all been created for our enjoyment by a collective of organizations and individuals.  MORE, IMBA, and some of the most active residents of Frederick were there and they are the ones that truly have a big impact on the sport.

 

 

One of the most incredible trails I’ve ever ridden was recently completed by a few locals who did so for no other reason than wanting to have a sweet trail to ride.  I’m talking about Iceberg – a trail that is several miles worth of rock gardens and well-crafted features – I have ridden it dozens and dozens of times, and am always challenged; I may never be able to ride it cleanly, a true testament to the fact that it is a trail that will be enjoyed for years to come.  The master mind behind Iceberg (local insurance agent and father of three) dedicated long, unpaid hours to its creation.  Many thanks go out.

I’d like to suggest that everyone take part in one or two trail work days every year.  Of course, I realize that I am just as guilty as many and am in no position to get too preachy (I’ve only taken part in four trail work days during the four years that I’ve been on the East Coast… far too little).

 

 

 

Regardless, I’m inspired to do more.  So, if you can’t lift a shovel, try lifting a few dollars out of your wallet and give to those who make it happen: MORE and IMBA.