November 20, 2004

The Classic Series presented by TREK Awards Banquet Saturday November 20, 2004 at the Three Little Bakers Country Club Celebrity Room in Pike Creek Valley - Wilmington Delaware was a night to remember. Close to 200 mountain bike enthusiasts including all but one series champion attended. The banquet was possible due to the generous contributions from two race teams......... Wooden Wheels Racing $500 (thank you Buddy Briggs and team who run the "Escape from Granogue" race) and No Cents Racing $500 (thank you Chris Hinman and team who run the D & Q Summer Sizzler). This allowed the Series Champions to attend for free and helped reduce the costs for trophies. The two teams were called up to take a bow before ceremonies got underway. mountainbikeRACER.com supplied the trophies.

Roger Bird of TREK in Wisconsin supplied us with a $300 Wheelset, four Bontrager Race Lite XXX seatposts ($140 each), two Bontrager Race Lite XXX carbon fiber handlebars ($100 each), a TREK watch (10 year warranty), lots of TREK t-shirts and other assorted goodies. Chris Dragon of JBL supplied some wonderful door prizes in the way of a home theater speaker system pictured at the top of this page (retail value $399.95) and three portable speakers (retail value $100 each), plus over 100 JBL hackey sacs which disappeared quickly. Jon Pozner - TREK national team manager for 2005 was kind enough to bring even more door prizes in the way of two TREK zip up sweaters, 2 Fuel travel mugs, and 2 pair of 9.0 SRAM half pipe shifters to add even more smiles to the faces of the winners. Amy Breyla, Jon Pozner and Doug Mills handed out the prizes at the end of the evening and it was a great finale to a very successful first year awards banquet.

National star Jeremiah Bishop & five time 24 Solo World Champion Chris Eatough from the TREK/VW squad were on hand for a short talk and a question and answer period that was a hit with the racers. Chris talked about how he got started in racing and how this area (the Mid-Atlantic is one of the best places in the world to race and ride mtn bikes and has fostered the growth of some of the fastest racers in the world. Jeremiah Bishop was mentioned along with Gunnar Shogren, road racer Floyd Landis and Sue Haywood. Chris talked about his dad, Mike Eatough that had the reputation of a fast, aggressive downhiller and mentioned a funny moment for himself as he took the lead in a regional race when he first started racing at Michaux from Gunnar on a downhill, and as Gunnar caught back up to him on the next uphill he wanted to know, "Who is this guy" and actually asked Chris his name........ when he heard the last name "Eatough" Gunnar replied, "I guess I should have known".

Chris went on to mention that the technical courses in our region are not as plentiful in the rest of the country and that is one reason we develop some very good riders with excellent bike handling skills. He said, "Something I'm sure that Jeremiah and Sue will agree with is the races we have in our area......... the fact that our courses are so technical, something that we might take for granted now because we do it all the time.......... as we travel around different parts of the country......... they don't have the kind of trails that we have....... they don't have as much rocky terrain....... they don't have the roots......... they don't have places like Michaux (near Gettysburg, PA) all that often. Sue and Jeremiah are probably some of the most feared technical riders on the national circuit. I think you have to have character to do the tough races and the tough races build character." Chris is an excellent bike handler himself and has got to be one of the toughest mentally and physically and we thank him for his generosity in supporting this race series with his presence.

Jeremiah Bishop was next up and thanked Chris for the kind words and thanked mountainbikeRACER.com for putting things together. His first thank you for the rare opportunity to be living his dream went to Ernie Martin (who was in attendance) of EMSM (Ernie Martin Sports Marketing) the company that handles the marketing for TREK. Ernie has been in the business for years and has done great things for the sport plus he is in charge of all of TREK/VW/JBL factory teams.

Jeremiah was great........ never having done this before, he handled himself in his usual professional manner.......... upbeat, creative, intelligent and inspirational. This guy won the Waco, Texas Norba National in 2004, the first American in three years to win a Norba National on a flat tire! The first question was from Lisa Vible, FSVS who asked if Jeremiah was going to race any Cyclocross. He responded that he does enjoy it but after such a hectic schedule of mtn bike racing all over the world in 2004 he would most likely need some rest during the winter months. Marc Vettori - Spot Brand Single Speed racer asked, "Did Tyler do it?" Referring to 2004 Olympic gold medallist Tyler Hamilton's testing positive along with teammate Santiago Perez in a new test that can tell if a rider has had a probable blood transfusion (the blood tests involves taking a sample and splitting it in two. They test the first one, and then repeat the test on the second if the first one is positive. If an athlete fails both, he or she fails the test). At the Olympics Tyler's first test came up positive but the testers accidentally deep froze the second sample instead of refrigerating it and could not verify a second positive result, so he kept his gold medal. He tested positive again in the Tour of Spain and his Team Phnoak was banned by the UCI from entering the 2005 Pro Tour which includes the Tour de France.

Joel Gwadz, winner of the Andrew Mein Memorial Sportsmanship Award asked, "What's your resting heart rate, what's your heart rate at peak performance and what's your heart rate right now? Jeremiah responded, "Well, my heart rate right now is probably as close to peak training as ever " with laughs from the crowd. He mentioned that his maximum heart rate is in the mid to upper 190s, and his resting heart rate was currently at 43 to 44 beats per minute. Someone asked, "What's your favorite airline?" to which Jeremiah responded, "My favorite airline is one that can land safely." There were several other question and answers and Chris Eatough helped out with a few questions himself. Ernie Martin asked Jeremiah, "Where do you see yourself next year and who do you think your biggest competition will be? Jeremiah answered, "The biggest competition will be myself as far as trying to focus and be my best. I've given a lot of thought about the whole competition thing.......... it's exciting to be in the heat of the battle in the middle of a race and compare yourself with everybody else, but I always thought that the most enjoyable thing is seeing how much you are capable of. Everyone in this room has a lot of room to improve, a lot of room to get faster, and it's really captivating. No matter what position you are in you are always capable of obtaining more." He then mentioned that he would like to win the Mt. Snow Norba National for 2005 on what could be considered home turf as that was where he first raced in a Norba National. Later during this question and answer period Jeremiah gave this additional bit of advice........ "Follow your dreams and never give up!" What an inspiration Chris and Jeremiah are, they made it a fun hour, and a nice transition into the awards presentations.

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