So.........how to explain our team's trip to the '06 Death Valley Ride to Cure last weekend? Like every JDRF ride I've been lucky enough to attend it was such a powerful and emotional experience that I have a hard time describing it. ( As you know however, that won't stop me from trying!)
There's a lotta words here and it won't hurt my feelings if you feel the need to (in the words of Brother Maynard) "Skip a bit Brother".
39 riders and support folks set out for Death Valley via Sin City last week. The majority of us flew in on Thursday and caught a shuttle bus from the Vegas airport out to the Furnace Creek Ranch, which is nestled in a sweet little oasis full of mequite, cottonwood and palm trees smack dab in the center of DV Nat'l Park. It's about 200' below sea level as well. The West Michigan team is one of the largest (and the fastest growing) in the country and despite the name of our chapter is comprised of riders from as far afield as Chicago and Detroit. Thursday was my first chance to meet some of them that I had only communicated w/ via e-mail or the phone so that was way-cool. It was drag that 2 of our long-time riders who had been fighting injuries all season had to drop out on the eve of the ride but other than that the team seemed ready for the ride. We spent Friday engaged in a variety of pursuits all calculated to make Saturday go smoothly........a short "tune-up" ride, lying by the pool, lunch, a big pasta dinner, etc. We hung out together for a bit after dinner and I held a brief team meeting to get an idea of what everyone's plans and goals were for the big day. The weather had been perfect thus far........nice and cool in the mornings and at night, clear as a bell and completely windless.
Too bad that wouldn't last!
I got up Sat morning @ 4:45 and headed for the breakfast buffet. Gotta have time to digest, y'know? The first thing I noticed was the heat........right then, almost 2 hours before dawn it was alreadt hotter that it was @ 10:00 in the morning on Friday. Uh oh. Then I forgot about the temp when I realized that the wind was blowin' like stink! The flags were snapping on their poles all over the ranch. "Gonna be a l-o-n-g day" I said to myself as I met up w/ members of the team and we started fillin' our plates and bellies.
And so it was. We rolled out @ around 6:45, 250-some riders bound for Jubilee Pass and dreaming of finding a cure for diabetes. I drifted towards the back, as I'm inclined to do whether coaching or....alas... racing) and watched most of my team, including asst. coaches Rach and Patrick roll up the road. It was good to know that they'd be keepin' an eye on the fasted folks so I could bring up the rear and make sure that everyone was safe and having a good ride. WE got to the first breakpoint in good shape and the second one, Mormon Point was a good place to fuel up. It was hot, about 90, but everyone seemed to be dealing w/ it well. The wind was at our backs, so I kept reminding my riders that, despite what I'd been telling them all summer, they weren't gonna be halfway when they reached their farthest point away from the start. (Note.....most of the JDRF rides, including DV are "out and back" routes) Some of the folks I was with were startin' to feel it as we drew near the 45 mile breakpoint that denotes the start of the climb up to Jubilee Pass. A few decided to turn around there and I started up the climb w/ Eiko, Steve and Katie. It's a real climb......7+ miles @ an average grade of 6% so it tends to wear on you. Katie was a little dehydrated so we decided that it'd be best for her to go back to the breakpoint and recover. The rest of us kept on grindin' up to the welcome sight of the aid station that waits just this side of the sign marking both the pass and the turn-around point. I sent my riders down and stayed up there w/ some other coaches and spent some time riding partway down and helping other riders get to the top 'til we recieved word that everyone that was planning on doing the full ride had finished the climb. At that point I headed down the 35-45 mph descent, hell-bent on catchin' my riders and helping them get home into the 20-30mph headwinds that were our destiny for the rest of the day. I stopped to help a rider from NYC w/ a flat tire so by the time I got to the breakpoint @ the foot of the climb my team mates had taken off. Asst National Coach Tim and I gathered a group of 6-7 riders and formed a paceline into the wind. Everytime our speed went over 10 mph it came apart so I went to the front, checked my cyclometer and settled in for a long pull. We lost riders at every subsequent breakpoint and ended up with a surplus of coaches and just a few riders as almost everyone called it a day as we drag-assed our way in. I caught up w/ Rachel @ the 10-miles-to-go water stop and sg\he was riding w/ Mark and Eiko, the last 2 members of our team still riding. It was gettin' dark at this point but they dug deep and we got them in just before "dusk" became "dark". I waited w/ all the other coaches @ the turn-off to the ranch so we could all ride in w/ retiring Head Coach Jay Handy and we rolled in @ about 6:30 or so to a lot of cheers and tears (and beers!)
After a quick shower it was off to the palm grove for dinner and celebration. In what will no doubt be revealed as a mis-count I was voted "Most Motivational Coach" for the ride and much food and drink was consumed and merriment and fellowship was observed being had.
Here's the thing that I wanna tell you.....................I've spent a decent chunk of my "adult" life going out of my way looking for those "goosebump moments", y'know? Those few times that the hair raises up on your arms to let'cha know that at that moment you are where you should be, doing what you should be doing and with who you're supposed to be with. I've had a few while rock climbing back-in-the-day w/ my buds on the Ragged Edge Climbing Team, on rides in Moab, during a gig now and then...............but by definition they are hard to come by, right?
Well..............in Death Valley that weekend goosebump moments were everywhere ! To spend 3-4 days surrounded by 250 passionate and commited people is a real charge for this boy! I'm really fortunate to be allowed to be a part of the JDRF thing and I can't wait for next year! I wanna thank my team again..............you guys completely rock and I was so proud of each and every one of you in Death valley, Whitefish and Asheville.
There's gonna be as many as 6 rides in 2007, contact me if you're curious!
Other than that..............bike life is sweet and fine. There's tons goin' on here @ VCC. Julia Miller has joined us in the "Cruise Director" role........her gig will be to take over all the rides and tech support and to estart working on Velo Ventures which will become our Trips and Tours division. We're lucky to have her. Ted and Lee are en route to Iceman as I type. I hate that race but I'm still jealous-as-all-hell that they're racin' and I'm not. I'm totally excited that we're signed on to be Danielle Musto's sponsoring bike shop for 2007 too! She's the perfect rider for us to be involved with.......a nice person, fun to ride with and faster'n crap! She's the #2 ranked endurance woman mountainbiker in the country and we're gonna have a blast workin' w/ her!The Pineapple Bob Classic was just that......a classic! We had 40-ish riders and I got lotsa comments that it was the best P-Bob route ever from many veterans. The Chilly Chili Ride is coming up on the 12th and that'll be a biggie too. I'm workin' on the Nov Reader, tryin' to ride and get ready for my '06 KissCross debut (I'm gonna suck!) and completely enjoying al the dirt road night rides I'm doing w/ the Crazy Bastards in GR and the new ride we started on Tuesday nights from Hamilton. Plus the band has gigs the next 2 weekends. (www.tlcb.com)
My guess is that if you're still reading this you skipped a bunch and I can't say that I blame you! There's just a lot to cover, y'know?
Talk to you later, come riding w/ us!
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
"What's new?"
Man, there is so much new 'round here that I don't know where to start! Howzabout we start w/ all the new stuff that we're gonna have here @ the shop for this winter and next season? Here goes............
Niner bikes in the house! As a group we'ven been struggling w/ the whole 29R thing all season. Ted absolutely loves his Salsa Dos Niner but I've been unimpressed to say the least. Rach got a Karate Monkey but doesn't have have a ton of miles on it, Doez is on my side of the fence and Lee, as per usual, wisely listens to everyone else and keeps his thoughts to himself. (He's kinda Zen that way) So...one of our major agendas @ the show was to ride as many 29R's as we could get our butts on, both to decide how we felt about 'em overall and to find the cream of the crop.
(By the way..........for those of you who may be wondering whatinthehell a "29R" is.......good question and I'm glad you stopped me. 29R's are mountainbikes w/ bigger wheels, the rim size is the same as a road wheel and the outside diameter, nominally anyways, is 29" 'stead of the standard 26. They've been around for about 6-8 years, neither catching on or going away. After the initial buzz wore off they became pretty much a niche...........kept alive mostly by smaller builders and single-speeders. And then lately........re birth!)
So, out in Bootleg Canyon we tested 29R's on the crazy, rocky trails out there outside o' Sin City. Cannondales, Salsas, (Salsas? Is that a word?) and.....Niners. The results were painfully obvious. All four of us felt that the Niner frames out-handled everything else we'd ridden, that day or ever. As a result.....currently there are 8 Niner frames hangin' here right in front of me. One of 'em's mine and I'm really lookin' forward to gettin' some real miles on it.
Here's a semi-funny thing and a small confession- I was hoping that we'd all like the Salsa frames the best. It'd be easy to be a Salsa dealer......we deal w/ their parent company every week and in a big way, I dig the names (Mamacita! Dos Niner! el Mariachi!) and we like the people behind the bikes. But..............why spend all that money to go out to the show, close the shop for 4 days and then try to ignore what we learned? How stupid would that be?! So............Niner it is. These guys have been makin' 29R frames since Day One and that's all they'll ever build. Great frames, great colors, the EMD 9 is only 500 bux and the AIR 9 is the lightest 29R frame on the market @ 3.2.#. We think that they're gonna rock!
What else is new? Well, despite still semi-reeling from the bummer news aboiut Burley we are more-than-excited to be doing more w/ Gunnar and Co-Motion! Look for Gunnar frames hittin' the doors in the next coupla months and Co-Motion tandems and frames right behind 'em. We'll be offering a variety of build kits for all our frames so we can offer you a better selectiojn of prices and features than you can possibly get when buying "off the rack". Can't wait!
The new wool L/S jerseys are ordered and might be here before Christmas. The new first-time-ever VCC jerseys-n-bibs are in the last stages of the design process and will be here sometime this winter as well. It's time for a new t-shirt too.
Another brand new and top secret project has us looking for a new Velo-Citizen as well. It's not your typical bikeshop job description and it'd be best to contact me if you are at all intrigued. Suffice it to say that it's a full-time gig..but not focussed on wrenchin' or talkin' to folks on the floor.
Another new thing that I am totally excited about are my new favorite rides. I've been doing a dirt road ride one night of the week w/ a group of duds in GR that call themselves the Crazy Bastards. Basically the idea is to ride on dirt roads after dark all winetr long. I have a complete bladt o both of the rides that I've been on and am plannin' on makin' as many of 'em as I can. Still..........it's kind of a drag to hafta go all the way over to the Cannonsburg area erevy week so Brother Davison and I are gonna start Crazy Bastard West rides on Tuesday Nights starting in November. Check @ the shop for details.
Don't forget the Pineapple Bob Ride comin' up here on the 29th! Always a classic!!! I'm off to do the JDRF Ride in Death Valley this Thursday...........we have a team of 38 riders! That's almost 3 times as many as in '05! What a cool deal!
So, sorry about starting this off w/ so much commerce. I try to keep the shop stuff a little seperate from the other stuff but sometimes....................it's just all balled up together y'know? There's so much cool stuff going on, so many rides and things to look forward to....man, I can't wait! It's been a great season here..........in every way. Sales were great but just as important....we had fun, got a lot of folks out on their bikes, got a couple of new projects off the ground and did good work. That's hard to beat!
Gotta go........talk to you next time. I will write about the Kokopelli, I promise!
Niner bikes in the house! As a group we'ven been struggling w/ the whole 29R thing all season. Ted absolutely loves his Salsa Dos Niner but I've been unimpressed to say the least. Rach got a Karate Monkey but doesn't have have a ton of miles on it, Doez is on my side of the fence and Lee, as per usual, wisely listens to everyone else and keeps his thoughts to himself. (He's kinda Zen that way) So...one of our major agendas @ the show was to ride as many 29R's as we could get our butts on, both to decide how we felt about 'em overall and to find the cream of the crop.
(By the way..........for those of you who may be wondering whatinthehell a "29R" is.......good question and I'm glad you stopped me. 29R's are mountainbikes w/ bigger wheels, the rim size is the same as a road wheel and the outside diameter, nominally anyways, is 29" 'stead of the standard 26. They've been around for about 6-8 years, neither catching on or going away. After the initial buzz wore off they became pretty much a niche...........kept alive mostly by smaller builders and single-speeders. And then lately........re birth!)
So, out in Bootleg Canyon we tested 29R's on the crazy, rocky trails out there outside o' Sin City. Cannondales, Salsas, (Salsas? Is that a word?) and.....Niners. The results were painfully obvious. All four of us felt that the Niner frames out-handled everything else we'd ridden, that day or ever. As a result.....currently there are 8 Niner frames hangin' here right in front of me. One of 'em's mine and I'm really lookin' forward to gettin' some real miles on it.
Here's a semi-funny thing and a small confession- I was hoping that we'd all like the Salsa frames the best. It'd be easy to be a Salsa dealer......we deal w/ their parent company every week and in a big way, I dig the names (Mamacita! Dos Niner! el Mariachi!) and we like the people behind the bikes. But..............why spend all that money to go out to the show, close the shop for 4 days and then try to ignore what we learned? How stupid would that be?! So............Niner it is. These guys have been makin' 29R frames since Day One and that's all they'll ever build. Great frames, great colors, the EMD 9 is only 500 bux and the AIR 9 is the lightest 29R frame on the market @ 3.2.#. We think that they're gonna rock!
What else is new? Well, despite still semi-reeling from the bummer news aboiut Burley we are more-than-excited to be doing more w/ Gunnar and Co-Motion! Look for Gunnar frames hittin' the doors in the next coupla months and Co-Motion tandems and frames right behind 'em. We'll be offering a variety of build kits for all our frames so we can offer you a better selectiojn of prices and features than you can possibly get when buying "off the rack". Can't wait!
The new wool L/S jerseys are ordered and might be here before Christmas. The new first-time-ever VCC jerseys-n-bibs are in the last stages of the design process and will be here sometime this winter as well. It's time for a new t-shirt too.
Another brand new and top secret project has us looking for a new Velo-Citizen as well. It's not your typical bikeshop job description and it'd be best to contact me if you are at all intrigued. Suffice it to say that it's a full-time gig..but not focussed on wrenchin' or talkin' to folks on the floor.
Another new thing that I am totally excited about are my new favorite rides. I've been doing a dirt road ride one night of the week w/ a group of duds in GR that call themselves the Crazy Bastards. Basically the idea is to ride on dirt roads after dark all winetr long. I have a complete bladt o both of the rides that I've been on and am plannin' on makin' as many of 'em as I can. Still..........it's kind of a drag to hafta go all the way over to the Cannonsburg area erevy week so Brother Davison and I are gonna start Crazy Bastard West rides on Tuesday Nights starting in November. Check @ the shop for details.
Don't forget the Pineapple Bob Ride comin' up here on the 29th! Always a classic!!! I'm off to do the JDRF Ride in Death Valley this Thursday...........we have a team of 38 riders! That's almost 3 times as many as in '05! What a cool deal!
So, sorry about starting this off w/ so much commerce. I try to keep the shop stuff a little seperate from the other stuff but sometimes....................it's just all balled up together y'know? There's so much cool stuff going on, so many rides and things to look forward to....man, I can't wait! It's been a great season here..........in every way. Sales were great but just as important....we had fun, got a lot of folks out on their bikes, got a couple of new projects off the ground and did good work. That's hard to beat!
Gotta go........talk to you next time. I will write about the Kokopelli, I promise!
Monday, October 02, 2006
4 stories of cleavage!
That about sums up Vegas for me.........now that they've figured out how to turn the entire side of a huge casino into a billboard there she was...........starin' us in the face everytime we walked outta our "hotel" onto the strip. I'm not sure exactly who Toni Braxton is but I can tell you that she' was lookin' good up there, all 50-60 stories of her!
Anyway.......somewhere in there in the midst of the glitze and cigarette smoke and blatent attempts to turn Mr's Clark's boy into a lesser being was a bike show. We went w/ a smaller agenda than in years past. After all, we've had a great year and that tends to make you a little more open to the status quo, y'know? ( I think they call it the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" syndrome). Still..........our quest for Cool Bike Shop-ness knows no limits and we will not be thwarted in our drive to discover same so off we went to the Outdoor Demo on the first day of the show. Our main focus was to ride every 29'er mountainbike that we could perch our chamois' on. After all..........Ted's a huge fan while Doez and I are sceptics to say the least. So, all day Monday we rode 29'ers from Cannondale, Salsa and Niner, interspersed w/ the occasional road bike or full-sus 26" wheeler. Much sweat was given up, many free paper cups of energy drink were consumed and more than a few precious minutes were wasted hangin' out @ the Crank Brothers Hospitality Tent tryin' to cool off and snag a 'burger! It was at least 10 degrees cooler than in years past, only 86 or so, but still the heat and the trails extracted a tole on all 4 of us. ( We were hangin' and travelin' w/ Shop Bud Chris D who was there w/ a different company). At the end of the day the results were clear-as-a-bell......the Niner frames rock w/ a capital "R"! They rode the best, hands down. They rode so well that even I, the shop's resident nay-sayer and skeptic, was schemin' about how to fit one into the fleet asap.
Day dos found me @ the Demo all by my own self as the boys decided that they'd had enough dust and sweat to last 'em for awhile. Given that I thrive on such an environment I boarded the shuttle bus for one more trip out to Bootleg Canyon. I caught more of the "History of Colnago" video this time 'round.............I was half asleep the first time. I left my riding gear back in the room this time...........I had ridden everything I wanted to ride on Monday and the Demo is so much busier that the trails are over-run and you hafta wait forever to get a bike anyway....... my agenda was to walk the Expo, take pictures, be outside and talk to folks that I hadn't seen for a year. Mission accomplished, I headed back to Sin City to hook w/ the boyz.
Day 3 had us lining up w/ about a gazillion other bike-geeks waitin' for the doors to open and unleash another year of wonder and new-ness on us. (Or vice versa!) Again, devoid of a massive agenda we were free to roam, searchin' all the aisles for "cool bike shop stuff". And we found some.............Phil Wood's cool little tool so we can replace the iffy stock bearings in your outboard bb w/ kick-arse Phil ones, sweet new 29'er rims, tires and forks, all the cool new sweetness that Seven has comin' out for '07, more lights and shorts and food and carbon fiber weirdness than you can imagine......blahblahblah. We had dinner that night w/ good buddy Zac from Seattle. He's the only person in the world that's worked for the Highwheeler and Seven Cycles and now he's got a sweet little shop out there in the "PNW" and is Seven's #5 ranking dealer for '06 even though he opened up in March of this year! (It strains my humanity to the near-breaking point to write that w/out muttering under my breath!) After dinner (rockin' enchiladas along the canel w/ gondoliers singin' opera...........gotta love Vegas!) we went out to walk off dinner and get a glimpse of the "life" of your average Vegas visitor. Man.......a little of that goes a long way!
Day 4, the last day for the Velo-Citizens, second-to-last day for the show. We had appointments w/ Seven, Electra and QBP so we weren't as free as before but we managed to fill in the gaps and polish off the rest of our agenda. Ted and I are both testing custom footbeds to see where we wanna go in that department, I ordered some new racks so we can fit more bikes in the shop and gathered up info on the next edition of the VCC wool jersey. I bought a big honkin' Chrome messenger backpack to haul all the catalogs and schwag back home and scored some unbelievably ugly custom armwarmers from old bud RH @ Sugoi that I can't wait to wear. We checked out Bianchi's new models, (Felice Gimondi was hangin' round the booth), the new Dutch-inspired Amsterdam cruiser from Electra that's gonna be a big hit 'round these parts, went back to the Niner booth a coupla times, saw Eddy freaking Merckx walking down an aisle all by himself like he was just some dude instead of being EDDY FREAKIN' MERCKX and in general immersed our tired selves in all things bicycle.
I love it.
If and when I don't wanna go to the show..................you'll know it's time for me to find a new gig. Here's the thing.............it's gotten to the point that shopfolk don't need to go to the show, the "big boys" like Trek and Specialized have been tryin' to render the show moot for years w/ their own little dealer parties and it's gotten to the point that even semi-little shops like ours have seen everything from companies like Cannondale and Bianchi well before Interbike rolls around. So..........why spend a buncha $, hafta close the shop and go somewhere I hate (Las Vegas, bay-bee!!) to go if we don't have to? Because.............it's a celebration of our sport and our industry and the best way to see every-damn-thing there is about it! I can't even imagine not going! Where else am I gonna see Eddy and that absolutely gorgeous Soulcraft frame w/ the internal hydraulic lines or that perfect Vanilla tourer in the Brooks booth? How else am I gonna visit w/ Zac or Rick H or Steve N or John T? Or get to see the spanking cycle @ the Paragon Machine booth(you had to be there) or all the crazy folks that make up this crazy biz?
So.there you have it...... my "Vegas Report" Sorry if you lookin' for more insight about FSA cranks or Michelin tires.............what I remember is finally havin' a face to go w/ the voice when I talk to Kelly @ Pearl or how the Dirt Rag booth filled up w/ messenger wanna-bees the minute they started pouring beers towards the end of the first day. Man, I did not have the right costume on for that party! Stay tunde for more as it occurs to me.
Next blog................Kokopelli Report. (Hopefully, instead something or someone ticks me off first!)
Current favorite fortune cookie fortune: "Declare peace every day"
Later..................MC
Anyway.......somewhere in there in the midst of the glitze and cigarette smoke and blatent attempts to turn Mr's Clark's boy into a lesser being was a bike show. We went w/ a smaller agenda than in years past. After all, we've had a great year and that tends to make you a little more open to the status quo, y'know? ( I think they call it the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" syndrome). Still..........our quest for Cool Bike Shop-ness knows no limits and we will not be thwarted in our drive to discover same so off we went to the Outdoor Demo on the first day of the show. Our main focus was to ride every 29'er mountainbike that we could perch our chamois' on. After all..........Ted's a huge fan while Doez and I are sceptics to say the least. So, all day Monday we rode 29'ers from Cannondale, Salsa and Niner, interspersed w/ the occasional road bike or full-sus 26" wheeler. Much sweat was given up, many free paper cups of energy drink were consumed and more than a few precious minutes were wasted hangin' out @ the Crank Brothers Hospitality Tent tryin' to cool off and snag a 'burger! It was at least 10 degrees cooler than in years past, only 86 or so, but still the heat and the trails extracted a tole on all 4 of us. ( We were hangin' and travelin' w/ Shop Bud Chris D who was there w/ a different company). At the end of the day the results were clear-as-a-bell......the Niner frames rock w/ a capital "R"! They rode the best, hands down. They rode so well that even I, the shop's resident nay-sayer and skeptic, was schemin' about how to fit one into the fleet asap.
Day dos found me @ the Demo all by my own self as the boys decided that they'd had enough dust and sweat to last 'em for awhile. Given that I thrive on such an environment I boarded the shuttle bus for one more trip out to Bootleg Canyon. I caught more of the "History of Colnago" video this time 'round.............I was half asleep the first time. I left my riding gear back in the room this time...........I had ridden everything I wanted to ride on Monday and the Demo is so much busier that the trails are over-run and you hafta wait forever to get a bike anyway....... my agenda was to walk the Expo, take pictures, be outside and talk to folks that I hadn't seen for a year. Mission accomplished, I headed back to Sin City to hook w/ the boyz.
Day 3 had us lining up w/ about a gazillion other bike-geeks waitin' for the doors to open and unleash another year of wonder and new-ness on us. (Or vice versa!) Again, devoid of a massive agenda we were free to roam, searchin' all the aisles for "cool bike shop stuff". And we found some.............Phil Wood's cool little tool so we can replace the iffy stock bearings in your outboard bb w/ kick-arse Phil ones, sweet new 29'er rims, tires and forks, all the cool new sweetness that Seven has comin' out for '07, more lights and shorts and food and carbon fiber weirdness than you can imagine......blahblahblah. We had dinner that night w/ good buddy Zac from Seattle. He's the only person in the world that's worked for the Highwheeler and Seven Cycles and now he's got a sweet little shop out there in the "PNW" and is Seven's #5 ranking dealer for '06 even though he opened up in March of this year! (It strains my humanity to the near-breaking point to write that w/out muttering under my breath!) After dinner (rockin' enchiladas along the canel w/ gondoliers singin' opera...........gotta love Vegas!) we went out to walk off dinner and get a glimpse of the "life" of your average Vegas visitor. Man.......a little of that goes a long way!
Day 4, the last day for the Velo-Citizens, second-to-last day for the show. We had appointments w/ Seven, Electra and QBP so we weren't as free as before but we managed to fill in the gaps and polish off the rest of our agenda. Ted and I are both testing custom footbeds to see where we wanna go in that department, I ordered some new racks so we can fit more bikes in the shop and gathered up info on the next edition of the VCC wool jersey. I bought a big honkin' Chrome messenger backpack to haul all the catalogs and schwag back home and scored some unbelievably ugly custom armwarmers from old bud RH @ Sugoi that I can't wait to wear. We checked out Bianchi's new models, (Felice Gimondi was hangin' round the booth), the new Dutch-inspired Amsterdam cruiser from Electra that's gonna be a big hit 'round these parts, went back to the Niner booth a coupla times, saw Eddy freaking Merckx walking down an aisle all by himself like he was just some dude instead of being EDDY FREAKIN' MERCKX and in general immersed our tired selves in all things bicycle.
I love it.
If and when I don't wanna go to the show..................you'll know it's time for me to find a new gig. Here's the thing.............it's gotten to the point that shopfolk don't need to go to the show, the "big boys" like Trek and Specialized have been tryin' to render the show moot for years w/ their own little dealer parties and it's gotten to the point that even semi-little shops like ours have seen everything from companies like Cannondale and Bianchi well before Interbike rolls around. So..........why spend a buncha $, hafta close the shop and go somewhere I hate (Las Vegas, bay-bee!!) to go if we don't have to? Because.............it's a celebration of our sport and our industry and the best way to see every-damn-thing there is about it! I can't even imagine not going! Where else am I gonna see Eddy and that absolutely gorgeous Soulcraft frame w/ the internal hydraulic lines or that perfect Vanilla tourer in the Brooks booth? How else am I gonna visit w/ Zac or Rick H or Steve N or John T? Or get to see the spanking cycle @ the Paragon Machine booth(you had to be there) or all the crazy folks that make up this crazy biz?
So.there you have it...... my "Vegas Report" Sorry if you lookin' for more insight about FSA cranks or Michelin tires.............what I remember is finally havin' a face to go w/ the voice when I talk to Kelly @ Pearl or how the Dirt Rag booth filled up w/ messenger wanna-bees the minute they started pouring beers towards the end of the first day. Man, I did not have the right costume on for that party! Stay tunde for more as it occurs to me.
Next blog................Kokopelli Report. (Hopefully, instead something or someone ticks me off first!)
Current favorite fortune cookie fortune: "Declare peace every day"
Later..................MC
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