Meet Frazz Cartoonist Jef Mallett at the Chicago Triathlon

Author Packing Two Book Signings and Three Triathlon Races into One Weekend

Boulder, CO, USA - August 25, 2010 - Award-winning and nationally syndicated cartoonist Jef Mallett will test the limits of human endurance this weekend by participating in the Chicago Triathlon Triple Challenge and meeting fans and fellow triathletes at two autographing events. The Triple Challenge features the Fleet Feet Sports Supersprint Triathlon on Saturday and the Sprint and International-distance races on Sunday. Mallett is the creator and cartoonist of the triathlon-friendly Frazz comic strip, which is set in an elementary school and stars a janitor who is a triathlete in his spare time. Mallett will autograph copies of his new book Trizophrenia: Inside the Minds of a Triathlete at two events this weekend.

Friday, August 27, 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, August 28, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Fleet Feet Sports Booth
Multisport & Fitness Expo
Hilton Chicago
720 S. Michigan Ave.

Mallett's new book explores the triathlon lifestyle, with which Mallett is all too familiar! With the same humor and insight that readers love in his Frazz comic strip, Mallett delves into the intoxicating subculture of the sport that is three sports. His wide-ranging text and wonderfully insightful illustrations celebrate the necessary rituals and inescapable quandaries of the triathlete.

Peter Sagal, the Chicago-based host of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! and a 2009 Chicago Triathlon finisher, describes Trizophrenia as "a funny, heartfelt, serious work of evangelism."

Jef Mallett is the cartoonist of the award-winning and nationally syndicated comic strip Frazz, which runs in over 160 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada and at comics.com/frazz. Jef has published three collections of Frazz illustrations, Frazz 3.14159..., Frazz, Live at Bryson Elementary, and 99 Percent Perspiration. He also illustrated Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer. Jef writes a regular column for Inside Triathlon and Triathlete magazines and is a contributing artist for VeloNews magazine. Jef has been racing triathlons on and off since the early '80s, alternating between triathlon and bike racing. Jef blogs regularly at jefmallett.net.

To schedule interviews with Jef Mallett or host an event, please contact:
Dave Trendler, Marketing and Publicity Manager, VeloPress, (303) 245-2138, dtrendler@competitorgroup.com

The Chicago Triathlon press contact is:
Louise Edwards, Louise Edwards Public Relations, (312) 751-5511, PRLou@aol.com

To order Trizophrenia for retail, please visit velopress.com/shops or contact:
Jen Soulé, Sales Manager, VeloPress, (800) 811-4210 x2169, wholesale@competitorgroup.com

UPDATE: Phil Hersh of the Chicago Tribune profiles Jef Mallett and his very busy weekend!

Never Miss a Workout with One-Hour Workouts

Boulder, CO, USA - August 24, 2010 - For athletes seeking fitness, the most important rule is never miss a workout. But everyone has bad days-work demands, unexpected errands, and changes in family plans make sticking to a training plan seem as difficult as the workouts themselves. One-Hour Workouts: 50 Swim, Bike, and Run Workouts for Busy Athletes means never missing a workout. Athletes can rescue the day and stay on track using these base, tempo, and speed workouts to meet today's training goal in just one hour, from warm-up to cool down. One-Hour Workouts is now available in bookstores, bike and tri shops, and online. 5 free workouts and the table of contents are available at velopress.com/workouts.

Endurance coaches Mark Newton, Michael Jacques, and triathlon legend Scott Molina offer busy athletes their 50 favorite no-nonsense workouts for swimming, cycling, and running. Each workout is efficient yet challenging so that athletes can get in a quality training session before daybreak, over lunch hour, or whenever they can steal the minutes.

One-Hour Workouts is designed for ease of use. The book is compact and sweatproof so it's easily stashed in a gym bag or desk drawer, and the workouts are grouped for quick reference. The coaches offer tips to develop good form, and they explain how to modify workouts throughout the season to match an athlete's current fitness. In addition to the 50 swim, bike, run workouts, One-Hour Workouts includes 10 bonus workouts for strength training, crosstraining, bricks, and technique drills.

With One-Hour Workouts, busy athletes don't have to sacrifice their training to the full catastrophe of daily life.

One-Hour Workouts: 50 Swim, Bike, and Run Workouts for Busy Athletes
by Scott Molina, Mark Newton, and Michael Jacques
Spiral-bound sweatproof pages with 2-color interior | 6" x 7", 136 pp., $24.95, 978-1-934030-58-5

Scott Molina ("The Terminator") claimed 104 victories as a professional triathlete. Molina now trains, races, and coaches triathletes in New Zealand. Mark Newton is an exercise physiologist with a degree in Exercise and Sport Science from the University of Sydney. He has worked with triathlon stars Chris McCormack and Normann Stadler. He lives in Sydney, Australia. Michael Jacques is a multisport coach and elite-level distance runner with over 15 years of coaching experience. He lives and coaches in New Zealand.

VeloPress is an endurance sports and fitness publisher of books for cyclists, triathletes, and runners. VeloPress is the book-publishing division of Competitor Group, which publishes VeloNews, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, and Competitor magazines and produces the Rock 'N' Roll marathon and half-marathon series, the TriRock triathlon series, and the Muddy Buddy adventure race series.

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

Distributors and specialty retailers please order through:
Jen Soulé, Sales Manager, (800) 811-4210 x2169, wholesale@competitorgroup.com

Matt Fitzgerald's New Book Teaches the Run-by-Feel Techniques of Elite Runners

Boulder, CO, USA - June 15, 2010 - Most serious runners don't realize their potential because they are unable to run by feel. For many, years of traditional training have taught them to rely on formulas and gadgets instead of how to listen to their bodies. They simply stop getting faster and don't understand why. The best elite runners have learned that the key to faster running is to hear what their bodies are telling them.

In his new book RUN: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel, best-selling author Matt Fitzgerald explores the run-by-feel practices of elite runners and draws on new research to explain why their techniques can be effective for all runners. RUN will teach runners how to listen to their bodies so they can train in the most personalized and adaptable way and begin to realize their full potential. The book is now available in bookstores, running shops, and online. The table of contents, foreword by Dathan Ritzenhein, and first chapter are available for download at VeloPress.com (.pdf).

Fitzgerald's mind-body method is a thought-provoking approach to training and will revolutionize how runners think about their workouts, their limits, and their potential. RUN explains how to interpret emotional and physical messages like confidence, enjoyment, fatigue, suffering, and aches and pains. RUN guides readers toward the optimal balance of intensity and enjoyment, volume and recovery, repetition and variation. As the miles add up, runners will become increasingly confident that they are doing the right workouts on the right days, from one season to the next.

RUN marks the start of a better way to train. The culmination of science and personal experience, the mind-body method of running by feel will lead runners to faster, more enjoyable training and racing.

RUN: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel by Matt Fitzgerald
Paperback, 6" x 9", 276 pp. | $18.95, 978-1-934030-57-8

Matt Fitzgerald is a prolific health and fitness journalist and author of many books on fitness, nutrition, and weight loss, including Brain Training for Runners, Racing Weight, and The Runner's Diary.

VeloPress is an endurance sports and fitness publisher with books on cycling, triathlon, running, swimming, nutrition and diet, yoga, and the histories and personalities of our sports. VeloPress is the book publishing division of Competitor Group, Inc., publisher of VeloNews, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, and Competitor magazines and producer of the Rock 'N' Roll marathon and half-marathon series, TriRock triathlons, and the Muddy Buddy adventure race series.

To request a media copy, excerpt, or interview, please contact:
Dave Trendler, Marketing and Publicity Manager, (303) 245-2138, dtrendler@competitorgroup.com

Distributors and specialty retailers please order through:
Jen Soulé, Sales Manager, (800) 811-4210 x169, wholesale@competitorgroup.com

In His New Book Boy Racer, Mark Cavendish Sprints to Superstardom

Boulder, CO, USA - June 14, 2010 - Cycling super-sprinter Mark Cavendish explains his phenomenal rise to stardom in his new book, Boy Racer: My Journey to Tour de France Record-Breaker. Cav describes with riveting detail the sprint victories that propelled him into the highest ranks of the cycling elite. His first-person play-by-plays put readers wheel to wheel with the world's fastest cyclists. Boy Racer is now available in bookstores, bike shops, and online, just in time for him to take the starting line of the 2010 Tour de France.

Boy Racer is a page-turning journey of pure exhilaration-candid, opinionated, and scrupulously honest-chronicling Cavendish's rapid rise from local hero to National Champion to Tour de France stage winner. Along the way, Cavendish takes us behind the scenes of the Tour de France to unmask the intrigue, the mayhem, the hysteria, and the adrenaline-fueled, all-out chaos of professional cycling.

Written off as "fat" and "useless" in his youth, Cavendish has since sprinted to the front of the peloton to become cycling's brightest star-and its most outspoken. Cavendish tells how defying the naysayers fueled his early career on the road and the track and led him to ten Tour de France stage wins and overall victory at Milan-San Remo.

Vivid, unflinching, and brilliantly conveyed, Boy Racer sweeps readers into the swirl of the racer's world and delivers them to the finish line with an insider's view from the freshest eyes and most agile mind in bike racing.

Boy Racer: My Journey to Tour de France Record-Breaker by Mark Cavendish

Paperback with color photo sections | 6" x 9", 252 pp., $21.95, 978-1-934030-64-6

Born and raised on the Isle of Man, Mark Cavendish became a world track champion as a teenager in 2005 and a Commonwealth Games gold medalist a year later. In 2008 he regained his world title on the track with British teammate Bradley Wiggins. After switching his focus to the more glamorous world of road cycling, Cavendish set a new record of four stage wins in the 2008 Tour de France. He won six stages of the 2009 Tour de France and the prestigious Milan-San Remo one-day classic. Widely regarded as the most exciting and charismatic young rider to join the sport in years, Cavendish rides for the American cycling team HTC-Columbia and will be the most closely watched sprinter in the pro peloton in 2010.

VeloPress is an endurance sports and fitness publisher with books on cycling, triathlon, running, swimming, nutrition and diet, yoga, and the histories and personalities of our sports.

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

Distributors and specialty retailers please order through:
Jen Soulé, Sales Manager, (800) 811-4210 x2169, wholesale@competitorgroup.com

Photo credit: Ben Pryhoda / Mark Cavendish holds an advance copy of his new book in front of the HTC-Columbia team bus at the Tour of California.

Meet Tour of California Stage Winner Mark Cavendish at Helen's Cycles

Super-sprinter Mark Cavendish to Autograph Boy Racer in Santa Monica Bike Shop

Boulder, CO, USA - May 21, 2010 - After winning a stage and finishing this week's Tour of California, Mark Cavendish will appear at Helen's Cycles in Santa Monica on Monday, May 24th at 6 p.m. to meet cycling fans and autograph copies of his new book, Boy Racer: My Journey to Tour de France Record-Breaker.

Mark Cavendish Book Signing
Monday, May 24th at 6 p.m.
Helen's Cycles
2501 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA
(310) 829-1836, www.helenscycles.com

In Boy Racer, cycling super-sprinter Mark Cavendish explains his phenomenal rise to the top of the sport. Cav describes with riveting detail the sprint victories that propelled him into the history books. His first-person play-by-plays put readers wheel to wheel with the world's fastest cyclists. Cavendish describes his six 2009 Tour de France stage wins, his battle with sprint rival Thor Hushovd, and his overall win at Milan-San Remo. Boy Racer will be available in bookstores, bike shops, and online in late May, soon after Cavendish races the Tour of California and just weeks before he starts the Tour de France.

Written off as "fat" and "useless" in his youth, Cavendish has since sprinted to the front of the race peloton to become cycling's brightest start-and its most outspoken.

Boy Racer is a page-turning journey of pure exhilaration-candid, opinionated, and scrupulously honest-chronicling Cavendish's rapid rise from local hero to National Champion to Tour de France stage winner. Along the way, Cavendish takes us behind the scenes of the Tour de France to unmask the intrigue, the mayhem, the hysteria, and the adrenalin-fueled, all-out chaos of professional cycling.

Vivid, unflinching, and brilliantly conveyed, Boy Racer sweeps readers into the swirl of the racer's world and delivers them to the finish line with an insider's view from the freshest voice and most agile mind in bike racing.

Born and raised on the Isle of Man, Mark Cavendish became a world track champion as a teenager in 2005, a Commonwealth Games gold medalist a year later, and in 2008 regained his world title on the track with British teammate Bradley Wiggins. After switching his focus to the more glamorous world of road cycling, Cavendish set a new record of four stage wins in the 2008 Tour de France, and won the prestigious Milan-San Remo one-day classic in 2009. Widely regarded as the most exciting and charismatic young rider to join the sport in years, Cavendish rides for the American cycling team HTC-Columbia and will be the most closely watched sprinter in the pro peloton in 2010.

Distributors and specialty retailers please order through:
Jen Soulé, Sales Manager, (800) 811-4210 x2169, wholesale@competitorgroup.com

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

Photo caption: Mark Cavendish wears the green jersey of the sprint leader while holding a copy of his book in front of the Team HTC-Columbia bus at the AMGEN Tour of California, San Jose, Wednesday, May 26. Photo credit: Ben Pryhoda/VeloPress