You Can Call Me Joe -- A Joe V Blog
Joe V

Hi, I’m Joe V. The V is for Vadeboncoeur, but no one ever really calls me that (except my business card). That card also calls me the Global Director of Product Development, Marketing and Creative Design for Trek Bicycle. Yep, I am sometimes not really sure what all that means either. I do know that I dig bikes, oatmeal, motorcycles, burritos, the weird things I see along the way, my family and my job. I get to travel the world helping make great bikes, so it’s a pretty great gig.

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« PJ20 - You knew this was coming from me! | Main | Chequamewamwamagan - or something like that. »

September 18, 2011

MTB - La Crosse - on the river there...

Last week, I played hooky from work one afternoon and busted over to La Crosse to see my daughter at College there.  She is in her 2nd year and needed a visit from Dad.

(Actually, it was Dad that needed some daughter time - the other daughter is next up on the list)

I busted over and we did some grocery shopping, hung out with the roomies, went for a MTB ride, visited the bike shop in town and then busted out for some dinner (Mexican of course).

It is always fun to see the kids at school, and always good to sample the mexican food somewhere else.  But, I have to say the 2 highlights from the day where the following.

First highlight.

The HPT trails outside of La Crosse on the bluffs.  The IMBA rep Hansi Johnson originally told me about the trails.  He said they were good, he was right.  They wind up and down the bluffs and have great swoopy turns and a few rough things here and there couple of features etc...  They are not long, but the kind of trails that every town should have.  If you get a chance to get over to La Crosse with your mountain bike - check them out.  HPT Trails.

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Hanna and I about to plunge into the trails.

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The HPT trails have one of the most scenic pump tracks in the state.

 

Second Highlight.

I stopped by Smiths bike shop in La Crosse.  The people there are pretty nice.  They have a great little shop and hire college kids to help them get through school etc...  Really nice.  There is a legendary Trek employee working there. 

Scott Mccullum used to work at Trek.  He did a lot of different things from engineering to tech rep to proto lab etc...  Scott was here when I first started.  He lives in La Crosse, and works at the shop there now.  My favorite Scott story is when we were a small company, Scott got employed one time to help with some impact testing.  We did not have nearly the sophisticated testing facility that we do now (this was like 20 years ago), and Scott was the test pilot for doing impact testing. 

He would put on a full face helmet, get all padded up and ride a bicycle right into things.  Hilarious.  Wow.

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Scott and I at Smith's now.  All those crazy memories.

Out.

Joe

Posted at 03:56 PM in Travels, Zen of Joe |

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