Impact was eminent. After yelling NO! the small white dog only slowed a touch then resumed full sprint for my front wheel.

In a split second I abandoned my full braking and leaned back to brace for the hit.

That small toothy beast came out a me like fur covered rocket. I was in a solid endurance clip down a mountain valley doing 25 and stopping would have taken 3 seconds more than I had.

I rolled over the dog’s back but since I was still on the brakes a white puff of fur poped up from the squeeling animal like a torn down pillow. I was sure I was going to crash and more sure that this dog back would be broken.

Somehow I kept upright and heard the dogs claws scamper across the concrete. As I came to a halt I saw out of the corner of my eye the dog was moving fast.

I looked back to see the mangled bloody pooch whrithing like a worm that had been cut in two. But as I scanned back expecting major damage from the altercation I was amazed the dog had not so much as a limp. I circled back feeling that I better notify the owner of what had happened since I did catch air from this little dog and he might have some injury. Not surprisingly he didn’t not come over for me to check him out, he stood there composed and calm. Guessed he's ok.

I resumed my ride north towards a small Ski Resort called Bryce. As I rode I tried to make sense of what just happened. Or better yet what could have, it reminds me of the story when Paul hit the deer on Reeds gap doing 60.. Not so good, or when Mike Carpenter hit the Bear mach ing down Dowels draft. Perhaps it was the soft 75 psi touring tires that are 32c. Or perhaps the split second instinct to lighten the front wheel as I have done 100,000 times for logs or rocks that sometimes pop into view in .1 second. What ever the reason I finished the year with a close call and dog… he got lucky I wasn’t just a little heavier or not used to running things over.

Rest of the ride was not as exciting, but it was long and found some new roads deep in the small forested nest of mountains that makes up a maze of dirt road divided by Supine Lick Ridge. As is common for me this exploration had me finding myself pretty far from home with not enough gas in the tank. Mostly since I did not ride in the last week I met up a the toothy part of a what happens when you ambition and your ability are at odds. bad day for my legs everything ached as I struggled to turn the pedals, endurance wattage was out of the question, I thought I was getting sick I was riding so slow and the last few 1k hills looked like a dreaded blacked mountain slopes.

I just took it in stride, and worked to the tops of one hill at a time besides compaired to what could have happened I’ll take it as a good day for a bad day.

This is what the perp looked like. Don't be fooled he is a made of steel!

Well for the 3^rd time I get to proclaim hurray for the off season! I just had a great final race at the official season finally Ice Man Cometh. The nice part about tricking myself this way is I get the last race of the year party more than once!

With a best ever season in the bag that’s a good thing. Why was it a best ever? Hmm. I think because I rode really well in March and August and October! I also trained like I never have in my life. (Suppose that means I have to do it again this winter) I hosted a successful Alpine Loop Gran Fondo that helped raise a lot of money for Prostate Cancer Awarenss Project and SVBC for bike access in Harrisonburg and had a lot of fun hosting the show. Perhaps the biggest reason this season leaves a warm glow in my belly is that I got to show Conrad what Daddy does when he goes away, I brought him and Erin to a few of the races like Bonnelli Park ProXTC and even rented an RV for a week in the woods at TranSylvania Epic! There is nothing like the family times we had this year it was awesome!

For sure crashing at World Championships and limping to the finish was not the way I wanted to end the season anyhow, So instead I had some great fall racing like an a fantastic bronze medal at Pan American Games in Guadalahara Mexico, the fans were great that stoked it up a bit. Of course my Laissez Faire attitude toward training this time of year has left me in this limbo level, in shape but not smoking fast like I would usually want to be for big races, It doesn't bother me though because its all part of the plan. The good trade off is that I have been on the low stress program for a month now with trail work a six pack downhill and several trail runs interspersed with a bit of relaxation and off time drinking beer with friends. This will come in handy when the real work begins in December!

Now its time for a few weeks of wanted winter. Then I will be jazzed for the big push. I am kinda addicted to racing and will never be fully satisfied so it was important that I call it a season before I am racing the Christmas Cross races in Belguim! Ha ha ha...

I exceeded most of my goals like double wins at the first Pro XCT race short track and Cross Country! Top 3 at the Continetal championship in Colombia and at Sea Otter. Brought me back into the limelight as a contender for the USA's Olympic team. Stage Race wins at Pisgah and Translyvania Epic quenched my thirst for Epic. I went for broke at World Marathon Championships in Italy and lead halfway thru despite a bad last 10 miles I had fun. Attacked on Kulhavey and Sauser to take 4^th at the London Olympic Test Event shocking myself and the National Team Coaches. Met a bazillion cool people who love bikes from Mexico to Bogota from LA and the UK!

As I drove the last few quiet miles of Interstate 81 and watched leafs spiral to the ground I was a little sad, last race was over especially since it’s like the end of a great party with friends, the lights and sound wind down everyone goes home. A slight tweak would have been a win at ICE Man but eh 2^nd is solid and besides got to be hungry to train like an animal this Winter so maybe it’s a good thing to keep the fire stoked!

For now its time to rake leaves make sure there is enough firewood for the cold months ahead. I am looking forward to the holidays with family as well as a refreshing change of hiking and cross country skiing that this time of year brings. Next spring is a big one with the Olympic Qualification being decided in the first 1/3 of the year. So for now I hope White Grass gets snowed over like a one of those sleepy winter scenes with the snow globe. I imagine a winter night, glowing orange light in the little window of a cabin with a blue and white winter storm raging outside. Ill keep the fire stoked and enjoy the calm while it lasts.

Thanks to all of the fans sponsors and supporters who have made this year exciting and memorable.

Jeremiah Bishop

Cannondale Factory Racing.

Pisgah National Forest from a distance looks inviting on a clear day like steep ridges with ripples like a giant potatoes chip covered with green carpet few peaks dotting the skyline. When weather rolls in the mountains take their real form a closer look reveals enchanting wisps of clouds like smoking plums. Vapor swirls up and turns back to rain and pockets where the air flows in strange spirals. Pisgah is a seasonal rain forest The patchwork quilt of the most divers temperate forest in the World is revealed. Cascades of water fall down headwalls and carve thru the sandy clay sediment revealing ancient sand stone and granite and roots like toes of a 400-year-old tribesman. The rhododendron thickets make the steep side hill trails feel like a tunnel into the mountain kingdom.

Pisgah makes a legendary backdrop for a race. A true test of endurance, perseverance, bicycle integrity and nerve. Blind corners lead to 3-foot drops and staircases of gnarly shit that will make a downhiller pucker.

Respect for the difficulty and danger of riding here comes quick. I always am a little nervous at the ramifications of riders racing down evil rock drops caved-in trails and root clusters as steep as a ski slope. It’s amazing that there are so few major injuries at this race. Of course this is super fun stuff to ride and forest gremlins conjure up some amazing trails of unique character only describable as Pisgah.

Sam Koerber was in rare form, blazing the first stage to win by several minutes, winning the third stage, and he fought like a caged tiger the last day! I couldn’t help but wonder if it was his turn to win this one? I could imagine, while chasing him, that he had every square inch of the jungle memorized while I sprinted and slowed cautiously for each blind turn… It made for awesome racing!

Highlights of the week:

Come from behind WIN at the third Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race despite an epic battle with Sam “the White Squirrel” Korber and being exhausted from the Alpine Loop Gran Fondo.

Getting to, as Adam Craig says, “rodeo down Black Mountain Trail" at the end of several stages. Wicked drops berms wall rides log stairs and chutes. Yeah! Real mountain biking.

Not crashing too hard. It's not IF you crash but how hard and how many times. Just two for me and some banged up shins and ego. ;)

Having a great time at Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race happy hours and spending evenings at the mountain cabin with Conrad, Erin and her Mom. Everyone hung out, had free beer and appetizers and talked story about the day's adventure.

Seeing Sam almost hit a bear while we were at full speed racing, we looked at each other and reflected on how awesome what we where doing really is, then we went back at it trying to smash each other.

In a nutshell Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race was very hard - maybe harder than La Ruta - but more fun than any stage race course I have ever done! The magic forest brings me back every year to challenge the Lion.

For sure I knew it would be a different trip to Colorado as I hoped to be prepared for Leadville and I expected to do some things I have not done before but ah.. The best laid plans are sometimes no match against lady luck. The trip was great the race….Well a flat on the first climb had me chase at desperate speeds more suitable to a downhill race and if not for a wheel from Tinker and a solid lead out into the second climb by cross star Tim Johnson I may have not salvaged the top five. For sure have a team approach helped Alex to his best Leadville so far and 3^rd and my 5^th made for a solid team showing and of course hanging out and eating Tim Johnson’s special home baked cookies with ice cream was fun. It was also sweet watching Tinker drink the fishbowl sized margarita I bought him. It was so big he brought it home to nurse it the rest of the evening. ;)

Highlights of the trip included meeting Mike Hall and touring the Uber high tech SRM HQ and seeing the gadgets of the best riders in the world not to mention the imported euro toilette, nice touch.

I went up to Leadville for a pre ride but preferred to stay in the Breckenridge area with my awesome host Kristin and Clay. It was fun to ride the trials there since the LVT100 is the day before Breck Epic I couldn’t fit it in. May as well check out the dope single track there. I randomly hooked up with Josh Tostado for a short jamm session. So much rippn single track there it was killing me as I rested up for the dirt road fest. I am doing Breck next year for sure! Leadville is a scene but the real trails are at Breck.

The other neat thing I did was stay at the Mont Alto cycling house in Nederland. My host were the excectric but bike loving couple that set me out on some great adventures like the sourdough trail. Some tricky high alpine single!

Hmm.. What elses. Now I am in Switzerland for the World Championships of XC. Pretty much like the course but its only 4 k long so.. I go for some wunder riding today. I will bring the camera to share what mountain top I can find. There are many insanely steep ones here. Yesterday I found this half track trekking trail that was eched into the side of a dark green wall of a mountain. It was so steep I had to walk the switch backs like a dwarf staircase thru the ferns and shrubs. Occasional vistas offered a glimps into the life of the sheep herder his summer range house just above tree line and the brave sheep that make that tundra their home. Bahhhh.. You could hear miles away as sound here travels like history sometimes muffled; some times ringing clear for ages.

As I spun the funky euro luggage cart like a magic wand tethered it “I though to myself that’s how to do it”! I was headed back to America after a great weekend; one where I felt like I learned a few things or at least found great confidence that my training is back on track. Like a merry go round with a huge cardboard rectangle on it I would spin and guide the floating sculpture and let it glide for long stretches. I walked down the hallway box spinning on and realized that just like the seemingly silly all four wheel swivel carts, I too had a good handle on this trip to the Olympic test event because I found the right combination of momentum and direction

I didn't have any expectations from the weekend other than get

some good recon in for team USA; power files video and the like. I knew it was a chance to have fun and even throw caution to the wind a bit. Marc Gullickson, Tom Nebb and Bernard were our ace support for a limited team of Georgia Gould and myself.

I was fortunate enough to hook up with Julian Absalon and his teammate for part of a lap and see how he took the technical sections. It was nice chance to compare lines with the best in the sport. He wasn’t afraid to whip the bike thru the high speed marbled turns and ride the spin cycle section with no brakes at all, it was pretty cool kind of like hitting the speed bag with Sugar Ray Leonard next to your as your pacer.

After seeing just one full lap I actually started to notice how it would flow at speed and I noticed I was really getting good on it. The track is fun and challenging hybrid of a world cup and a desert race because of the tons of very tricky gravel. Sure is steeper and more technical than it looks on the internet.

The 1/2 million dollars of elaborate rock work made for an amusement park of advanced features; one i called blood rocks because on of the Brits went down on the section. I was wondering why that red paint was splatter in a trail about 9 feet long? As I was pre riding the steep sketchy drop it dawned on me that that spray of red was blood. I snaked down the rock stairway thinking “just paint that’s just paint” The whitish gravel and sand corridor makes it look like a F 1 bike path but since the surface is wearing in for only one line in half the track and to pass is riding on apples. Fencing and security measure where immense, Sabine Spitz German defending gold medalist couldn’t get in without a pass! Not only that she was finned 1000 swiss francs by the UCI for riding with no number plate!

The announcer called up each rider and listed off the number of World and Olympic accolades. I was wondering what he would say about me as I paraded around the start loop a part of the gladiator pomp that had been worked up for use in the games. Sure there is a trap door with some Lions somewhere around here.

I had a rough start and got bumped off by Magnus but rallied hard! With the stars and stripes on I had to push back up into the top ten if just to see what that pace was about for a lap, all of the sudden my legs opened up like jet turbines on a winter day. I could tell there where thousands of cheering fans but suddenly it became quiet in my mind. I slowly tracked down Olympic medalist and World Champ Christoph Sauser on his ascent up the leader board; something had clicked, I was riding in the zone for the middle 5 laps. I had the amazing perception that these guys seem like they are moving in slow motion. An amazing feeling to flow thru the turns at full tilt spraying rocks and sweat in my wake. To jump on the pedals out of every corner without any pain is magical. In fact had a small gap out of the switchbacks and put in a couple good attacked to see what i could do, I had them worried! Last lap cramps removed me from medal contention but I had a hell of a race and had the 2nd fastest laps of the race on 3,4 and 5. A great indicator that the training is on target!

Wow! A fantastic race for team USA and Cannondale our camp was thrilled with Georgias 2^nd and my 4^th.

It was a very tough course and will be a worthy test for next years games. No question I could ride well in London, making the team is the tricky part.

As the trolley spun thru to the check in the pre dawn sky swirled like a butter tomato soup and I thought what will my legs have in store for Leadville?

1 Julian Absalon (France) 1:31:48

2 Christoph Sauser (Swiss) 0:01:20

3 Karl Markt (Austria) 0:01:46

4 Jeremiah Bishop (United States of America) 0:02:19

5 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) 0:02:33

6 Kohei Yamamoto (Japan) 0:03:27

7 Maxime Marotte (France) 0:04:38

8 Magnus Darvell (Sweden) 0:04:58

9 Uwe Hochenwarter (Austria) 0:05:14

10 Rubens Valeriano (Brazil) 0:05:46