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It should be somewhat obvious that I am enthusiastic about road racing. So when presented the opportunity to visit the Highland Park Trek Store to meet with the ATA and Robbie Ventura, I was very excited. While I am not a very serious road racer, I have the utmost appreciation for it and train just the same way for cyclocross as roadies do, for the most part. Also, being able to spend some time with the good folks from ATA and some of their members was a pleasure.

As you may know, I don’t own a Trek but do ride some Bontrager components. I had also only been to the Trek store in Michigan Ave downtown prior to Thursday. That did not stop me from being continually impressed by Trek. The Highland Park location is huge. Partly due to the fact that it also houses a Vision Quest training facility as well. I was immediately impressed be the magnitude — and there was a lot of awesome old US Postal/Lance Armstrong memorabilia on display.

The event served as a benefit to ATA members and as a social get-together. The presentation by Ventura was to be the highlight (despite the bicycle powered blender’s best efforts).

small bike or big blender?

He went on to explain Vision Quests’ mission as well as telling some very interesting stories about providing commentary on the Tour de France for VS. It made me, and hopefully everyone else in the audience, even more excited to see what unfolds in July (Contador has it locked!).

I have known people to use Vision Quest for winter training programs and they all spoke very highly of them. During the Q & A portion Robbie also mentioned that the spectrum of instruction they offer at VQ includes lessons on riding in a pack. It made me think back to my first Hillsboro, last year, when I was in a chase group without any of my own teammates. The two Vision Quest riders in the pack were able to keep the paceline organized despite alot of other riders’ inabilities. It really solidified my opinion of them as a class-act — and now I know why.

Overall the event was great! Next time maybe I’ll get to tell Robbie a bike racing story; like about the time I saw him jump a curb on Zipp 808’s at last year’s Glencoe Grand Prix!

Just a few months ago marked the beginning of my new existence as a bicycling-blogger. While this and the number of posts here may state otherwise, it was on an autumn trip to Whitewater, Wisconsin that the wheels began turning – so to speak. In order to delve into the world of bicycles, beyond my own riding/racing of them, I took a tour of the Trek factory to see their American-made bike operations first hand.

Upon entering the facility, I was not immediately impressed. I paged through product catalogs and noted bikes I liked. There was also a custom-painted Madone on the wall, but other than that I remained collected. I then met our tour guide, Juan Nava, put on some goggles and walked through the door.

I was not 15 feet onto the factory floor before the awe set in. I have never owned a Trek, but I do own a set of Bontrager Race Lite wheels. The production of these, and other models, was the first stop on the tour. Bontrager is the component brand of Trek and I was to learn that the wheels that carry that name were made, by hand, in-house. This explained why I’ve been able to race, train and commute on my Race Lites without the need for any major truing for thousands of miles.

The care taken and the precision of the manufacturing process was not only dedicated to wheels. The Whitewater plant is also where all the high-end Madone (road race bikes) and Fuel (mountain/cross country) bikes are assembled. It was abundantly clear to me at this point that Trek is dedicated to excellence in the United States. The bikes that Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador rode in and won the Tour of California and the Tour de France were assembled there. I got a few chills thinking about that.

I’ve always sought to ride American-made frames whenever possible, and the Bontrager parts I happened to own were just parts – until that day last fall. Upon taking this tour I gained a new perspective, as I thought about how Trek made their way from a small garage with a few people to the Whitewater facility and places beyond – including retail locations. I have had great experiences at their South Loop location when I needed to replace other Bontrager components. Even Juan, our guide, was an enthusiastic mountain bike racer, so it all began to fall into place – Trek cares about bikes as much as I do, so it was time for me to write about it.