UTAH, CALIFORNIA & COLORADO EARN HOST SITE HONORS FOR JEEP® KING OF THE MOUNTAIN 2007 MOUNTAIN BIKING WORLD PROFESSIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

World’s Top Ranked Racers to Compete for Mountain Biking Racing’s Richest Cash Purse & World Professional Champion Honors

VAIL, Colo. – May 31, 2007 – The Jeep® King of the Mountain Series (www.jeepsports.com) today announced host sites for professional mountain bike racing’s most prestigious event, with the chosen venues offering a decidedly western flavor. Three of the most cycling friendly, talent laden states in the U.S. – Utah, California and Colorado – are set to entertain the top ranked racers in the sport during the 2007 Mountain Biking World Professional Championships.

The Jeep King of the Mountain Series features 16 of the world’s top riders competing head-to-head to capture the coveted title of World Professional Champion. In addition, the athletes will be battling for a share of the richest cash payout in the sport, topping $100,000, and the keys to a new 2008 Jeep vehicle.

World Professional Champions are crowned based on a system of cumulative points earned throughout the Jeep King of the Mountain Series, which will include three races to be held from August to September 2007. This year the event has scheduled races at three highly regarded scenic outdoor havens in the Rocky Mountains and Western U.S., each offering a unique backdrop and world-class recreational facilities:

• Saturday, Aug. 4 – Canyons Resort (Park City, Utah)
• Saturday, Aug. 18 – Madonna Inn (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)
• Saturday, Sept. 1 – Beaver Creek Resort (Beaver Creek, Colo.)

Jeep King of the Mountain Series Announces Host Sites for 2007 Mountain Biking World Professional Championships, Page 2-2

“We are thrilled to bring the Jeep King of the Mountain Series to world-class resorts in Park City, Utah; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; and Beaver Creek, Colo.,” said Henry Schneidman, president of Vail, Colo.-based Eclipse Television & Sports Marketing, producers of the series. “These sites each offer tremendous facilities, full-season amenities and, most importantly, an avid cycling fan base eager to support this sport and the tremendous athletes we’re able to attract from across the globe.”

In addition to an elite field of pre-qualified national and international professional racers, each event will add two local racers as well as two wildcard participants based on UCI and NORBA standings. Information regarding local and wild-card entry into the Jeep King of the Mountain Series will be available at www.jeepsports.com prior to each race.

This year’s event will again be staged on the innovative Y-Cross racecourse, which combines the two most dramatic and popular forms of mountain bike racing into one unique discipline. Competitors begin the race on separate sides of the course (the prongs of the Y) before converging midway into a single course (the crux of the Y). In the bottom section, racers must navigate a series of banked turns, tabletops, step-down jumps and rollers before the track climaxes with an all-out sprint to the finish. The daredevil racecourse has been described as the ultimate format for mountain bike racing, as the overall winners must have a diverse set of skills to win the coveted title of World Professional Champion. Select athletes participating in the Jeep King of the Mountain Series will be selected to offer their expertise in the design of the racecourses in Utah, California and Colorado. The “athlete inspired” racecourse design concept proved to be a tremendous success in 2006, with legendary racers Mike King and Brian Lopes helping create some of the most demanding and exciting layouts in event history.

Each race of the 2007 Mountain Biking World Professional Championships will be televised to a national broadcast audience on CBS Sports, representing the most expansive coverage of professional mountain bike racing in recent history.

About the Jeep King of the Mountain Series
The Jeep King of the Mountain was established in 1993. Jeep is the title sponsor for the Jeep King of the Mountain Series. The Mountain Biking World Professional Championships are the sister competition to wintertime’s Skiing & Snowboarding World Professional Championships, now celebrating its 15th season. Other marketing partners for the Jeep King of the Mountain include Bike Magazine, Columbia Sportswear Company, Edge Advanced Shave Gel, John Paul Mitchell Systems, Madonna Inn, Nalgene, San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce, San Luis Obispo County Visitors Bureau, Utah Sports Commission and Voler. During each race of the World Professional Championships, the athletes will be competing for the right to don the coveted John Paul Mitchell Systems black leader’s jersey, which also accruing points toward a cash bonus at season’s end.

The Jeep® King of the Mountain Series today announced host sites for professional mountain bike racing’s most prestigious event, with the chosen venues offering a decidedly western flavor. Three of the most cycling friendly, talent laden states in the U.S. – Utah, California and Colorado – are set to entertain the top ranked racers in the sport during the 2007 Mountain Biking World Professional Championships.