Jeremiah Bishop, one of the top cross-country racers, spent his down time in our neck of the woods. He did a 300 mile grass-roots race in Harrisonburg, Virginia. That is one of the great things about our sport, the pros can be seen at grass-root events with the everyday rider. Show me a pro basketball player that comes to Virginia for a little pick up game.

Via CyclingNews.com

Many of the top mountain bike pros took the week between World Cups in Mont Sainte-Anne, Quebec (June 24-25) and Angel Fire, New Mexico (July 9-10) to get some quality recovery and training time. That means workouts at altitude, leisurely recovery rides, road work, massage and maybe some downtime to mentally prepare for the next event.

One American cross-country racer is taking a more active approach to his preparation, though. During his break, Trek’s Jeremiah Bishop entered the six-day, 300-mile Tour de Burg stage race; a Harrisonburg, Virginia grass-roots event now in its tenth year.

Bishop describes the event as “hard core, back-country mountain biking and road riding” and “no way to spend the week off” but says his trainer put him up to it. “My coach (Hunter Allen) is a maniac. He wanted me to have a really hard week. But this race is tough.”

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