Resolve to Ride Your Bike More in 2009 with Jamie Smith and Jef Mallett

Kick Off a New Year of Riding with Roadie Author Jamie Smith and "Frazz" Illustrator Jef Mallett in Royal Oak

December 23, 2008 - Boulder, CO, USA - Make a New Year's resolution to ride more in 2009 at the Roadie event in Royal Oak, MI on January 2. Jamie Smith and Jef Mallett, the entertaining minds behind Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer, invite fellow bike riders and fans of the sport to join them at the American Cycle & Fitness Trek Bicycle Store of Royal Oak.

A Roadie New Year
Friday, January 2nd at 7:00 p.m.
American Cycle & Fitness Trek Bicycle Store of Royal Oak
29428 Woodward Avenue
(just North of Twelve Mile)
Royal Oak, MI 48073
americancycleandfitness.com | (248) 542-7182

Refreshments provided. Public welcome. Free of charge. Get your copy of Roadie autographed at American Cycle & Fitness!

Veteran race announcer and long-time roadie Jamie Smith sets out to explain the sport he loves and the roadies who live for it in his new book from VeloPress, Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer. With help from the pen of nationally syndicated cartoonist Jef Mallett, Roadie celebrates cycling as it explains the neurotic tendencies of the sport and its lifestyle, from shaved legs and garish jerseys, to garages full of bikes worth more than cars. Perfect for roadies and their confused friends, family, and co-workers, Roadie puts an end to the head scratching and leaves roadies laughing out loud as they revel in their misunderstood world. Roadie is available in bookstores, bike shops, and online.

Roadie begins by explaining the lifestyle of a roadie, or bike racer, through the staples of a roadie's life: devotion to the sport, the bike, the training ride, nutrition and bonking, and more. Smith offers "classroom sessions" about drafting and the breakaway, sprints and temporary alliances, and crashes. The book explains the rituals of race day, the referee and race rules, and the tenuous relationship between rider and sponsor. Finally, Roadie explores cycling's race formats and how friends and family can get involved in their Roadie's favorite pastime.

Roadie is needed more today than ever as more Americans take up cycling as riders, racers, and spectators. The New York Times has called cycling "the new golf" and thousands of people are buying shiny new road bikes each year. For these recreational and fitness riders, Roadie offers a much-needed primer on the lingo, the gear, even the politics of a group ride. Pacelines, drafting, sprinting, climbing, and breakaways are turned into everyday commonsense with colorful anecdotes.

Roadie is perfect for those who have ever walked away from a bike race completely puzzled, explaining strategy for each race format and how best to watch the action from roadside. Roadie brings the excitement of bike racing alive for anyone who has ever taken off the training wheels.

Jamie Smith has been a bike racer since 1983 and a bike race announcer since 1985, working his way up through the ranks of amateur cycling and traveling with some of the world's greatest cyclists. When he's not on his bike, Jamie is a public information officer and photographer for the City of Rochester Hills in Michigan. Please visit Jamie's blog at RidersReady.net.

Jef Mallett launched his "Frazz" comic strip in 2001 and it now runs in 150 newspapers nationwide. An avid cyclist and frequent triathlete, Mallett is a regular contributor to VeloNews and Inside Triathlon magazines.

Media copies, author events and interviews: Dave Trendler, Marketing and Publicity Manager, (303) 245-2138, dtrendler@competitorgroup.com

Shops and clubs can place wholesale orders through: Jen Soulé, Sales Manager, (800) 811-4210 x169, wholesale@competitorgroup.com

VeloNews Seeking Candidates for Tech Editor Position

AVAILABLE: THE BEST JOB IN THE BIKE INDUSTRY

VeloNews tech editor position open to qualified candidate

Boulder, CO, USA - December 15, 2008 - Do you love working on bikes and know them inside and out? Do you appreciate staying on top of the latest tech trends? If you have the right stuff, VeloNews magazine has a career waiting for you.

VeloNews is growing its tech department, expanding on the huge body of work done by Lennard Zinn and Matt Pacocha, the most respected technical writers in cycling. VeloNews is seeking a tech editor to spearhead the department, producing their own work while collaborating with Zinn and Pacocha.

The position requires a thorough understanding of bicycle technology, management ability, professional writing and editing competency, and solid communication and interpersonal skills. The ideal candidate will have bike industry experience, preferably in a bike shop or R&D. Attention to detail, multi-tasking skills and the ability to work under tight deadlines are essential.

Interested candidates can send a résumé, cover letter and three writing samples to: Attn: HR, 1830 55th St., Boulder, CO 80301 or boulderjobs@competitorgroup.com. No phone calls, please.

More information on VeloNews magazine is available at VeloNews.com.

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Meet Joe Parkin at Bicycle Trip in Santa Cruz, CA

Santa Cruz Bike Shop Kicks Off Amgen Tour of California Buildup with Charity Event Featuring Local Author and Former Pro Cyclist Joe Parkin

The Amgen Tour of California is coming to Santa Cruz for the first time in 2009, and race sponsor Bicycle Trip is kicking off the buildup to the race. On Friday, December 12, cyclists and friends of the sport are invited to Bicycle Trip to meet local author and former pro cyclist, Joe Parkin. Parkin will autograph copies of his new book A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium.

10% of book sales from the event will benefit Project Bike Trip, a national nonprofit based in Santa Cruz that introduces the bicycle as a safe and healthy alternative method of transportation and offers technical bike maintenance training to youth and adults. This is a free event with refreshments provided.

AMGEN TOUR OF CALIFORNIA EVENT
Meet Joe Parkin, local author and former pro cyclist
Friday, December 12, 5-7 pm
Bicycle Trip
1127 Soquel Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95062
5-6 pm social hour: mingle, munch, shop
6-7 pm author reading and book signing
Questions? Visit bicycletrip.com or call (831) 427-2580.

Parkin's new book is A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium. The book is a memoir of Parkin's experience as one of the first Americans to race bikes professionally in Europe. The book is available in bookstores, bike shops, and online. Parkin will autograph copies during the event.

In 1987, Joe Parkin was an amateur bike racer in California when he ran into Bob Roll, a pro on the powerhouse Team 7-Eleven. "Lobotomy Bob" told Parkin to go to Belgium to become a pro bike racer. Riding along a canal in Belgium years later, Roll encountered Parkin, who he describes in the book's foreword as "a wraith, an avenging angel of misery, a twelve-toothed assassin". Roll barely recognized him; Belgium had forged Parkin into a pro, and changed him forever.

A Dog in a Hat is Joe's remarkable story. In plainspoken, fast-paced prose, Parkin describes the true life of the professional bike racer, putting the reader into the whirlwind of this hardest of athletic educations. A Dog in a Hat begins with Parkin's terrifying first visit to his team doctor, where he is strapped to a table and monitored by humming electrodes as men in white lab coats coldly divine his future as a pro.

A Dog in a Hat celebrates the glory of bike racing, but Parkin tells the hard reality of the life-the drugs, the payoffs, the betrayals by teammates, the battles with team owners for contracts and pay, the endless promises that keep you going, and the sheer physical agony of racing day after day. Despite the pain, despite the suffering, A Dog in a Hat is a beautiful book. It is one American's story of his love affair with professional cycling, set in the hardest place in the world to be a bike racer. It is a story untold until now, and one that readers will never forget.

Joe Parkin represented the United States at the World Professional Cycling Championships and the World Cyclocross Championships. Following his road racing years in Belgium, he returned to the United States and began a successful second career as a pro mountain bike racer. Parkin lives in Santa Cruz.
For more information about this event, Bicycle Trip, and Project Bike Trip, please contact:
Julie Mitchell, Bicycle Trip, (415) 235-8377, julie@bicycletrip.com

To schedule author interviews or request media review copies, please contact:
Dave Trendler, Marketing and Publicity Manager, (303) 245-2138, dtrendler@competitorgroup.com