TrainingPeaks member Jeremiah Bishop wins Iceman Cometh mountain bike race!

TrainingPeaks member Jeremiah Bishop claimed the win and set a course record at this weekend’s 10th annual Iceman Cometh, a Michigan mountain bike race sometimes referred to as the Midwest world championships. Although the race officially caps registration at 2,000 because of its immense popularity, Bishop remarked, "there were actually 2,500 registered plus comped riders and sponsors, putting the total closer to 3,000 racers!"

In his first attempt, Bishop set a course record on the 27-mile course of 1:28:31. “Wow, what an incredible race!” Bishop said. “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.”

Bishop, the 2008 short track and marathon national champion, finished ahead of Brian Matter (Gear Grinder) and Mike Anderson (Bell's Beer) on the point-to-point course from Kalkaska to Traverse City.

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

“I had studied the course the day prior, so I knew that the last mile and a half included a fresh cut, slick singletrack,” he said. “I also knew that over 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.”

Read more about Jeremiah Bishop on Velonews and on his website!