Trek/VW Team in Review

Enjoy this slideshow of historical photography captured over the years of the Trek/VW Team....

Jeremiah ICES the competition at the Iceman Cometh

 

Jeremiah Bishop has managed to extend his season-ending streak past September, through October, and into November.  He just won the ICEMAN COMETH in Traverse City, Michigan, in record time, to close a string of wins including the NUE series Oktoberfest in Charlotte, and the Sierra-Tahoe 100 back in early September.  After turning on the jets in July, he's been on stellar form, showing pure determination in continuing to race when many have hung it up for the year.

Here's how it played out, in his own words:

JB, on the event:
    “This race is like the Midwest World Championships. It was unbelievably fast. I’ve dreamed of doing this race since I was a kid, so it was awesome to realize that dream. And to win too, well, that’s just awesome.”

JB, on the course:
    “There’s lots of of rolling terrain, and strategy played a lot into this race. There was a lot of drafting, so we [the lead riders] really opened it up on the fast, flowing terrain.

JB, on the competition:
   “Those boys are fast! This is post-season for me, but I was definitely a marked man from the start. The pack just wouldn’t break, and we all took turns leading.”

JB, on the win:
   “I had studied the course the day prior, so I knew that the last mile and a half included a fresh cut, slick singletrack. I also knew that 2,000 riders traversing the terrain would make it really slow — a perfect place to launch an attack. That’s where I gave it my all, and with a log jump leading into a steep uphill, followed by another technical section... I didn’t look back.”

JB, on the bike:
   “I picked my Elite 9.9 hardtail, but I really should have chosen a 69er. That front wheel would’ve been better for the sandy spots, and the 26” rear would’ve helped me with acceleration. Regardless, my bike was flawless...”


Stay tuned for more,from the man himself ... in the meantime, here's a comment posted on one of the blogs regarding JB:

"   Just a note about Jeremiah Bishop. One of the nicest guys around. My 5 year-old son was in the kiddie race in Middletown on Saturday and Jeremiah was out on the course warming up for his race that followed. Jeremiah saw my little guy and rode the whole race with him, giving him tips and encouragement and looking out for his safety. It was incredibly cool-my son now has a new hero. We cheered Jeremiah on and went crazy when he busted out his first bunny hop on the obstacle. He and my son both got second place in their respective races, and we have some great pics of them afterward holding up the "two" fingers"

 

Brian and Jenny Smith wrap the US Xterra circuit

I would have posted this a few days ago, but didn't want to distract from Brandon's win at Red Bull.  This post is about another new bike, the Top Fuel.  Within days of coming out of the factory, this bike won 24-hours of 9-Mile (the National Championship) and now the Smiths have piloted the 09 Top Fuel into top-5 results in the Xterra National Championship.  In a couple of weeks, they will head to Maui to compete in the Xterra World Champs.

Jenny tells a good story here:

The closest racing! The 2008 Xterra USA championship was aptly called the Pre Worlds Showdown. 3 weeks out from the upcoming World Championships it was the perfect timing for international athletes to race. It made for great competitive fast racing.

Womens top seven

1  Melanie McQuaid  35  Victoria, B.C., Canada  2:56:17 
2  Renata Bucher  31  Lucerne, Switzerland  2:59:34 

3  Carina Wasle  22  Kundl, Austria  3:00:30 

4  Lesley Paterson  28  Stirling, Scotland  3:02:24 

5  Jenny Smith  34  Westport, New Zealand  3:02:36

6  Danelle Kabush  33  Canmore, Alberta, Canada  3:02:43 
7  Shonny Vanlandingham  38  Durango, Colorado  3:03:42

Mens top 6   

1  Mike Vine  35  Victoria, B.C., Canada  2:32:38 
2  Seth Wealing  29  Incline Village, Nevada  2:34:03 
3  Josiah Middaugh  29  Vail, Colorado  2:35:12 
4  Dan Hugo  23  Stellenbosch, South Africa  2:36:14 

5  Branden Rakita  27  Mawitoo Springs, Colorado  2:37:00 
6  Brian Smith  32  Gunnison, Colorado  2:37:33
7  Chris Legh  35  Melbourne, Australia  2:38:02 
8  Conrad Stoltz  34  Stellenbosch, South Africa  2:40:17

How it panned out.

Just like in 07 a storm blew into Incline on Friday afternoon dropping the temperature/ and bringing with it rain and snow on the mountains.

Brian and  I  ventured into the lake on Saturday morning to pre swim and check it out –  Wow The 3 foot swells  and breaking white cap waves  were something  else. I was freaked out.  But with a good deal of self talk I got myself out to the first buoy and along the back side of the swim loop before coming back in.

The flip side was the rain had significantly improved the bike course. It had been incredibly dry and deep sandy. We had mixed feeling about this as it made for better passing opportunities early on but it also made the bike course a lot easier too.

Sunday morning dawned cold but calm. Yes! Smooth water for the swim.  We did have to stay right of the capsized boat with its hull sticking straight up in the air!

I was super disappointed in my swim. I got clobbered by a man arm early on and my right goggle filled with water for the first of the two laps.  I swam off to the side and out of trouble for the first lap. Out of the slip stream too and my swim time reflected it. I put a lot of pressure on myself over the swim because a huge part of succeeding in it where I swim is mental:  suck it up, get hit, drink the lake, stay calm, and be aggressive. I’ve been practicing and I just got thrown off… luckily I still have Worlds to get my redemption for myself!

Brian had a good swim and came out in 35^th!  he's getting faster!

We both had fantastic bike legs. I moved myself up into 3^rd on the bike riding 2 minutes faster than last year. (The top fuel was amazing – I love this bike) My bike split was 2^nd fastest to Renata Bucher of Switzerland.  Brian had the 3rd fastest bike split and rode himself into 8^th.

Xterra provide the water support on the course. it has always been bottle feeds BUT this year they had cups at the feed zone. It got me into trouble as I’d carried one bottle on the bike and was relying on another at the feed.  I downed 1 gel with ½ cup of h20 and had to make do… ended up riding without fluid for a good 50 mins and no way to take another gel before the run.

I got through transition with one hiccup… my heel raise in my racing flats moved as I forced the shoe on… so I ran 10km with the heel raise under my arch! Otherwise my run was smooth; I warmed into it and ran strong …  Carina Wasle of Austria caught and passed me… she is an amazing runner. At about 8km I realized Leslie Patterson of Scotland and Danelle Kabush of Canada where gaining fast and I better give it if I wanted to hold them off… I picked it up, it was crazy… Leslie caught me with about a minute left in the run and I outsprinted Danelle to hold onto 5^th place and the podium!

What a field. I think if you can podium here this year, you can podium at Worlds.

Brian had a stellar run (2nd fastest by 6 seconds to Chris Leigh of Australia) to run himself up to 6^th place. We are excited for Worlds, warm, sea level, with a longer harder bike and a longer harder run…

The US Championship series rounded out  with yesterday. I finished 3^rd in the overall. Brian was 4th overall in the mens Series.

Full results and reports are atwww.xterraplanet.com

thanks for reading

Jenny Smith

Attatched below is some fan mail I received overone of our Tri top's we put into a silent auction to raise money For Jamie Whitmore this past weekend. The auction raised 12,500 dollars which felt great for us to do and it was awesome to see Jamie there too. Inspiring! check out her blog www.jamiewhitmore.com for more information. She's still a long way to go in her recovery from cancer as she's yet to endure chemotherapy.

Hello Jenny Smith!
My husband, Jonathan Kiley, has been doing XTERRA Triathlons for about 4 years now.  He just competed in Nationals this morning with all of you pro's!  It was his 3rd year qualifying for Nationals.  I wasn't able to go to the race this year as we have just moved from NC to TX and I just started a new job and hated to take off work so soon.  Anyhow, I really enjoy attending the XTERRA races and rarely miss any of the 7 or so races he does each year.  We have all of the XTERRA Nationals and Worlds DVD's as Jonathan and I watch them for tips for transitioning and also to get motivated to train.  We put on the XTERRA Smith Lake Triathlon on Fort Bragg for the past two years.  I am all about the XTERRA spirit and the surprising fellowship and upbeat attitude among all of the racers at these events. 

As most XTERRA fans have, I have been following Jamie Whitmore's blog for updates and information on her recovery and continued dealings with cancer.  She is an amazing athlete and very down to earth and friendly.  (She paused after an exhausting finish at Tahoe last year to take a photo with my 8 year old niece!) I told my husband about the silent auction and asked him to check it out and make some bids!  :)  He called me last night to report that he won for me a Jenny Smith Tri-top!!! (-and a Conrad Tri-suit for himself).  I am very excited and he said that you even signed it for me!  THANKS! 
I have not competed in an XTERRA yet.  I do mountain bike, we did the Flume trail and many other Tahoe trails after the race last year and had a blast.  Unfortunately, the move to TX may put an end to my Mt. Biking!!!:)  Falling on the trails on the East Coast meant falling on rocks, sand, mud, pine cones-at worst, but here in Abilene, the trails are lined with CACTUS and rattlesnakes!!!!  Not very fun to fall over into a cactus (and fall I do frequently).  :) The guy at the local bike shop is trying to convince me to buy a road bike! 
Anywho, I just wanted to say thanks for the tri-top complete with signature!  I can't wait to see it!  Also, a big thanks for supporting a fellow athlete in her time of need.  With your help, Jamie can work harder and more comfortably toward recovery!  It is great to see athletes supporting such a good cause! 
Thanks again, Caroline Kiley

2009 Top Fuels off to Xterra ..

Pretty exciting news from my garage today:  I just assembled and delivered 2 brand new 2009 Trek Top Fuels.  I'd seen the bikes before, first under Chris Eatough at the 24 Hour National Championships, and second under Travis Brown at the Fall Classic MTB race here in Colorado.  But, as I'm not the team mechanic anymore, I hadn't really tinkered or played with the bikes at all.

So it came as a pleasant surprise and a huge thrill when we got the green light to order up a couple of bikes for Brian and Jenny Smith.  They are our Xterra heros, and the biggest events of their season are right coming up.  What's cool about the Xterra events is the packaged TV production that airs in local markets for the duration of 2009.  Since these two regularly land on the podium, and are always featured in the pre-event TV interview, it made sense to get them some bikes.  Plus, they nearly always clock the fastest bike split of the event and in so doing, earn extra TV time.  With National Champs coming up in Lake Tahoe, and World Champs coming up in Maui, the cram to make some bikes happen was well worth it.

In building the bikes, the remarkable features stand out:  pivot bearings, headset bearings, and BB bearings rest directly into the carbon of the frame.  The carbon tubes seem just slightly fatter than before, adding stiffness (eg, the seatpost is now 34mm rather than 31.6).  All the hardware is smaller, lighter, and tighter than that found on previous bikes.  Every pivot rides on a bearing, so the suspension travel is smoother than ever.  Rear tire clearance seems to have improved by 20%.

Best of all?  Sensibly built, XTR bike with SID fork, XTR pedals and 2 bottle cages: 22.65 lbs.  We've been waiting for the sub-23 lb bike for years, and now it's here.  (curses for not photographing the scale!!).

But we can console with a pic of ecstatic Jenny Smith and new bikes.

THANKS TO RAY AT TREK, AND BRYAN AT SRAM, FOR LAST MINUTE DELIVERY OF FRAME/SHOCK HARDWARE.  THESE GUYS MOVE MOUNTAINS TO GET BIKES IN THE FIELD!  THANK YOU!

Loyal VW fan reaches out

from Randy:  My Then Brand new 1981 Jetta Diesel Coupe (very rare!)

I've been saving this post for a slow news week, and here it is.  When we were out in California for the Downieville Classic, a brand-loyal VW fan came up to chat with us.  Randy van Vliet has owned a series of cool VWs and Audis, and sent me some photos.  He's a big fan of the VW diesel cars, I'm personally a fan of diesel as an efficient fuel for the future, and now VW is reintroducing clean diesels to the USA.  Pretty exciting stuff!  Here's what Randy had to say:

"Greetings Zach,

I had the chance to volunteer at the timing booth for the 2008 Downieville Classic, as well as chat with eventual winner of the All Mountain category Ross Schnell on Saturday at the VW Trek booth on Main Street in Downieville.  At the booth, I requested info on how  to get a VW / Trek T shirt in XL, seeing that I've been a brand loyal VW owner since 1977, with a 1996 Passat TDI and a 1998 Jetta TDI currently in the stable.  You referred me to emailing you here, stating you were out of stock of shirts for Downieville.

Some links to my VW's.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v374/grand_toots/B4%20passat/10-10-05022m.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v374/grand_toots/A3%20jetta%20Bleached%20Bora%20II/8-14-07026Medium.jpg

Thanking you in advance for a lead on a Team shirt of sorts.   PS, if you can find the time, you owe it to yourself to at least demo a  new 2009 Jetta TDI. Check out the DSG 6 speed auto/manual paddle shift on the fly feature on it when you do. It's impressive how fast it shifts without lifting your foot off of the pedal. The computer chip programs throttle reduction when you shift on the fly, no need to lift your foot out of it..

Randy van Vliet,  brand loyal VW / Audi owner since 1976

1998 VW Jetta TDI (same platform at the VW TREK Series but in Turbo Direct Injection powerplant)

1996 VW Passat TDI  ( one of about 5000 imported from Germany into the USA in1996=1997)

Lea wins Chequamegon 40

Lea Davison capped off her phenomenal season by winning the Chequamegon 40 at Cheq Fat Tire Fest in Cable, Wisconsin.  It is just the latest sign of her maturation into one of the best female mountain bikers in the country.  She's now taken down top 5s in national XC, won two national caliber short tracks, earned a top 10 in a world cup, and top 20 at world championships.  I'm telling you, she's gonna be the next big thing in US women's mountain bike racing.

The Cheq Fat Tire  fest has been happening for 26 years now, and attracts 2500 mountain bikers from around the country.  In fact, entry is by lottery, and the organizers regularly turn back 1500 riders that don't get selected.  It's fantastic to see the size of the field, and the enthusiasm for racing and riding that comes with such a home-grown event.

She became an instant celebrity and gave 3 newspaper interviews and one radio interview before even stepping onto the podium.  Her time was reputed to be the fastest since 1995!  Pretty exciting stuff.

I felt lucky to catch her 20 miles into the race, after starting somewhere near the back of the field.  The starts are super sketchy with so many people, and as usual a crash in the group scared me out of my spot near the mid-front of the pack.  When I finally caught Lea, 20 miles in, she was riding wheels with a group of fast guys, and it was cool to see her taking pulls and closing gaps.  The race is incredibly fast the whole way, much like a road race on dirt, with short climbs and long stretches of fire-road.  This year, rain the day before created big puddles which required creativity to navigate.  As you can see, she looks awesome, and I look annoyed.

Well, it was worth the trip because we got to visit with a lot of folks from Trek, and a lot of people were thrilled to visit with Lea, the new Cheq 40 champ for 2008!!

Thanks to Gary Crandall, race organizer, and to Tom Kelly for the photos from the website.

Bishop and Eatough -- sharing the win at Tahoe-Sierra

Exciting news from the weekend:

1. Chris Eatough and Jeremiah Bishop ventured to the high Sierra mountains of California for the Tahoe-Sierra 110 race, the last race in the NUE Endurance Series.  After riding most of the race together, and gradually burning off the competition, they elected to end the season as it started in South Africa, by finishing together.  They shared the top spot on the podium as tied for first place.
2. Brian Smith and Kelly Magelky went 2 -3 at the Mountain States Cup finals, in Breckenridge, CO.  "The Fall Classic" as it was titled featured nearly 30 miles of high-alpine singletrack and jeep roads.  Jenny Smith won the women's race. 
3. Ross Schnell was in Are, Sweden for a Megavalanche race.  I can't find info on the web for some reason, but these races are basically 2000-people strong, and take in up to 2+ hours of super-D style racing.  Ross was stoked to make the trip and get a feel for the scene, but was taken out in practice and couldn't race the final.  His shoulder is in bad shape, so it's a wrap for him ... bummer.

Next up, Chequamegon!

Another pair of wins at Shenendoah 100

Steven Hoover writes in with a brief re-cap on the Shenendoah 100.  It was nice to see Chris Eatough take his first 100 mile win of the summer, despite the challenge from teammate Jeff Schalk.  In the women's race, Cheryl Sornson got the win, making it 2 for 2 Trek-VW on top of the podium.

This race is always a happening for Trek, as the East Coast Regional team is always in force, and of course Susan Haywood and Jeremiah Bishop are natives of Harrisonburg.  JB wasn't there this year, but "Off Road to Athens" and "24-solo" filmmaker Jason Berry was on hand to keep the dream alive!

Steven says:  "We have had warm and humid weather the last week.  We went down to the Shenandoah mountains for the SM100 race over the weekend.  On Saturday night the humidity started really climbing and they were talking about 100% humidity for our 6:300 am start time on Sunday, not what you want to here for a day when you are going to climb 13000 feet on your way to completing a 100 mile race.  We were lucky though, a unexpected storm rolled in just before midnight and dumped 2 inches of rain and in doing so it drove out the predicted humidity.

Race day dawned clear and cool.  The rain left the course a little slick but otherwise in perfect shape. In the mens race, Jeff was not climbing at his normal pace (after five 100 milers and the BC bike race he is not quite 100%) and got dropped about thirty miles in and never caught back onto the two leaders.  He stayed in third for the remainder of the race and finished about 20 minutes behind Chris Eatough.  In a strong women's class Cheryl rode a smart race and finished in 9:08 beating second by 11 minutes.

Having won the National Endurance Series overall title in the Men's and Women's class Jeff and Cheryl are headed off to Tahoe California this weekend for the final race of the NUE series  were they will collect there overall series award. With one more 100 miler and two team races I think they are both ready for a break."

Ross and Lea-- double the wins in Brian Head

The NMBS Series wrapped up in Brian Head, Utah this last weekend.  It was a pretty quiet weekend, being Labor Day and questionable weather.  But all the players with a stake in the series wound up on site and in action.  And despite chilly temps on Sunday, the action was hot!

Lea Davison kicked things off by winning the short track on Saturday.  This was the first time in years a non-Luna female has won a short track, and it was THRILLING to watch.  She was clearly strongest, making attacks to thin the field, then outsprinting Katerina Nash in a perfect tactical battle to the line.

Then Ross made it two in a row for Trek-VW by taking down the men's race.  Same thing: he dialed it up a few times to chop the lead pack into a managable number, then soloed away with 3 to go.  What a thing to see!!  And even better was watching teammate Jeremiah Bishop police the chase group, making sure no one got away in chasing Ross.

The next day, Lea worked into 4th on the XC, while JB flatted out of the lead (bummer!) with only 2 miles to go ... making room for Ross to take 2nd behind Fisher team winner JHK.  Still a super-exciting way for our team to finish the year.

So, now we're going to dial back our schedule, we've got Chequamegon next week, then Moab and we're done!  Not a weekend too soon.  Everyone is pretty fried.  It felt like 2 seasons in one for me and much of the staff.  Lots of events early, many weekends doubled up with multiple events.  But, our success rate is something like 50% of our race starts have ended in podiums, and we've won 8 big events in the last 6 weeks, so it's a worthy effort.

thanks for following, and we'll get more news out soon!

Story from Leadville

Not to distract from Jeremiah's AMC win just this past weekend, but I was reminded that Trek-VW had a good presence at the Leadville 100 a few weeks ago.  Yep, same Leadville that Lance and Dave tackled.  Boulder legend and singlespeeder Charlie Hayes piloted his Trek 69er ss to the win at Leadville in the no-shifters category.  Here's his story!

Hey Everyone,  I wanted to give all of you a quick update on one of those good days when everything comes together.   I was one of the many “other riders” aboard a Trek up in Leadville last weekend.

In the days leading up to race day, the weather had been unstable and the area was getting rain every day which helped firm up the loose and dusty areas.  Race day dawned cool and partly cloudy and stayed relatively stable all day which helped hydration and cramp avoidance.

The top 100 finishers from the previous year start in the front behind the neutral pace car which leads us downhill on pavement for about 4 miles before pulling off and letting the race get underway.  Starting up front is still a little hectic with one gear and trying to maintain position.  Friends of mine further back later told me of at least 3 separate crashes during the initial miles.  You’ll have that with 1000 people getting up at 4am for a 6:30am start.

As many of you know,  speed on the SS is a combination of the gear, terrain, and conservation of momentum.  The first climb is within the first ten miles and having maintained my position, I suddenly found myself working my way to the front and before I knew it I’m sitting in the lead group on the wheel of a well-known Trek Bicycle rider (no, not T. Brown…the other guy who won a race in France).  Well, trying to keep my momentum on a steep pitch, I had to call ‘left” on Armstrong and move to the front.   Now, I’m laughing to myself  at this point because he and Weins are probably wondering who’s this joker on the “onee”.  It wasn’t long before the gears gained the advantage again and moved ahead.

Some more climbing and some relatively flat terrain brings the race to mile 40 where a 10 mile climb begins up to the turnaround  at Columbine Mine (12000+ feet).  The climb went great and later I found out I had moved all the way up to 15^th place by the turnaround.  Retracing the out-and- back course,  I shuffled back and forth with the same geared riders for the next 3+ hours. 

After the hike-a-bike up “Powerline”, I was caught in some brief rain on a pavement section  with 15 miles to go.  On the return trip with about 30 minutes of riding left,  I realized a sub 8 hour ride might be possible.  I spun as fast as I could and tried to catch the draft of 5 geared riders who motored by but to no avail.  I rode across the finish just over 8 hours 2 minutes and change.  I now have next year’s goal!!!!

Each of the last three years the same course has been faster and faster.  Last year the goal was to repeat and try to get in under 8h30m.  The goal this year was to “threepeat” the SS title.  I had no idea I would be shaving 25 minutes off  last year’s time!  The 69er is working great and is a key factor. I ran a Jones Dry X upfront and a Revolt Super X in the rear.  Two weeks ago I shaved 10 minutes of my PR at the

Laramie

111K Enduro enroute to winning the SS title there for 2 years in a row.

Thanks for everyone’s help and especially my fellow firefighter,

Dan Johnson

, who crewed for me aboard his  motorcycle all day.   

If you have time, check out the link below from Brian Riepe’s magazine showcasing Dave and Lance.  Scroll down thru the photos ( seven down to be exact) and there might also be another familiar face and bike.

http://www.mountainflyer.com/news.cfm?itemid=142

A weekend off and then resume defending the Mountain States Cup series up in

Nederland

,

CO

.

Thanks for reading and all the support.

Sincerely, charlie