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
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