Wiggins has sideburns...I do not!

 

Yes it is true. I know it will come as a major surprise to you, but I do not. In fact I do not even think a sideburns is ever in my future. In spite of the no hair thing, I could have sideburns...if I wants to. I mean, I have to shave everyday. But, I just don't think sideburns look that good on me. I have tried. I actually have put a legitimate earnest effort into it.  I slept well, I ate right, I bought new razors, I listened to a lot of Pete Townsend, I bought some pants like Tom Jones. But alas, I just didn't mesh well with it.

Aside from that difference, there really isn't much difference between Wiggins and I. We are both tall, we both are crazy skinny, we both can go really fast on a bicycle... (I admit that I am significantly better looking, I think he does as well)

Of course there is the Converse high tops. I would bet that my high top collection is better than his. I can pretty much fake the same English accent like he does. I am not even sure if he has any Converse.  Shame.  I also don't go in much for mod stuff. Although I did stay in a hotel in Paris recently.

 

I bet I can eat more burritos than he can in a year. Burrito eating is one of my core competancies, as timetrialing is one of his. I also have never seen him clear a double on a Remedy, which means I am way better than he is at that. (categorically)  Can he even think about rebuilding a 4stroke motor?

Ok, he has won a little bike race in France that I have not yet won, but I am not done yet. I might decide to win it next year. I am good like that.

In all seriousness, that was a masterful performance in France this month.  Chapeau.

I bet I know more words than he does to Pearl Jam songs... See, the list just keeps growing.

Jens Voigt is everyone's hero. After the race I asked him about the effort on the Champs. He said "I had a little bit of aggression to get out. I figure I saved Paris tonight. Can you imagine the damage I would have done to Paris tonight if I had not gotten that out of my system? The city would be burning tonight if I would not have. I saved Paris today!". I love that guy.

Out,

Joe

 

 

Most People Call Me 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. Yep, I am sometimes not really sure what all that means either. I do know, that I dig bikes, oatmeal, motorcycles, the weird things I see along the way, my family and my job. I get to travel the world helping great bikes happen so it’s a pretty great gig. 

So I am starting this blog entry (as well as my stint as an official “Trek Blogger”) while sitting on a plane in Tokyo, waiting to get going on the final leg of a flight to Taiwan. It’s not the first time I have been on this flight. This is not something that everyone who rides a bike does, but it is something that many of us in the bike biz do from time to time.
 
The bike biz, what is that anyway? I guess I never thought that I would be on a plane to Taiwan nor even in the bike biz. It's a crazy thing. I love bikes. I have come to accept, maybe even really like, travel. I should, this job gets me on a plane more in a year than most people will in a lifetime. Sometimes the travel is fun, sometimes not. But a lot of it allows me to ride a bike in some really great places. During dinner one night at a recent mountain bike test event in the Arizona desert, the gang of us were recounting all the great places we were fortunate enough to ride this year. I got in road rides in Tuscany and France. I should have gotten MTB rides in Chatel, France but had a separated shoulder from a previous mountain bike crash at the Whistler bike park. There were great XC rides in Colorado and northern Wisconsin, a bunch of big bike rides on the freeride trails in the UP of Michigan, Ray’s Indoor MTB Park in Cleveland; road bike rides in northern California, southern California mountain bike rides...  That was just my list in what was a mediocre riding year for me. I am very fortunate.
 
This week in Taiwan will be interesting.I hope to mix all the experiences that I have had this year, and to do some good work to set the stage with a bunch of suppliers to deliver the greatest Trek and Bontrager lineups you have ever seen. We have a bunch of things planned that will set the cycling world on fire. We are on a complete tear lately with product development and it gets better every year.
 
So I sit here, reading a Bike magazine on Zinio while listening to Michael Franti and Spearhead on my iPod. All around me are a bunch of business people. I am in my usual attire (Converse shoes, jeans and a cycling t-shirt). I definitely do not fit in here. When I climbed into the seat, I jammed 2 cycling magazines a ski magazine and a motorcycle magazine into the pocket on the seat. I have a trashy scary novel somewhere in there also. Something I picked up in the airport. It may be cheap and pointless but it has the uncanny ability to pass the time after I have exhausted the Bike and Moto magazines. The people around are all Financial Times and business books. I just cannot do that stuff.
 
I am going to help build really cool bike stuff. That is business, yes. But over and above that it is bike stuff. That is what all this is really about.
 
Just don't tell anyone around me.