Bishop Earns Top Spot at Iron Mountain 100

The NUE Iron Mountain 100k mountain bike race took place June 24, in Damascus, Virginia. Part of the National Ultra Endurance series, this was a new venue added on the 2018 race schedule.

Taking the win in the men’s open class at the was Jeremiah Bishop (Canyon Topeak Factory Racing), with a time of 4:24:01.

“[Bishop’s friend and travel companion for the weekend] Keck Baker found out his step-father was killed in an auto accident at 5:30 that morning. It was a challenging morning. Then, on the way to the race, we hit a deer with the van”

Bishop put the day in perspective by saying, “Sometimes you win by finishing, sometimes adversity finds a way of distilling how lucky it is that we can do such things for the few moments we have on earth.”

“The gun went off, and I was not ready,” he said. “Dillion Johnson kept me honest today, attacking the first climb, he kept coming back after I countered his early push! He caught me on the first nasty wet raining descent through the jungle. I had to find my groove but I needed to nail this one.”

Bishop said, he attacked several times on the long grind up to Iron Mountain until he was clear. Along the way, he says he enjoyed “some of the best trails I didn’t know were out there!”

“I won,” Bishop said, “but more importantly, I proved I could turn the day around and stay focused when things got sideways.”