So - 6:00am comes early, I don't care who you are or what time zone you're in! But - duty called (our hotel uses an Elvis impersonator for the wake up call, 'twas awesome!) and off we went in search of breakfast and the shuttle bus.
At the Demo we stopped by the C-Dale booth and picked up our matching Super Six bikes for the Tour de Lake Mead ride that is the fixture of Tuesday morning. Formally known as the "hangover ride", this is a 13 mile downhill blast into the Lake Mead Natural Area and the l-o-n-g climb back. Given that our bikes were equipped w/ new Dura Ace bits and fancy Mavic wheels...I reckoned we could get there and back. Man - that frame is something else! Following the current bike biz M.O. of making everything lighter, stiffer and faster (as well as overseas, alas) the new Super Six is a sprinter's dream! Wicked quick when you jump outta the saddle, but pretty comfy. (At least as far as I could tell on a 2 hour ride anyway). Very fast bike!
After that I took advantage of the fact that I was @ the C-Dale booth and grabbed a chance to try out their new Flash Carbon hardtail. They didn't have any of the 29er version (their bad) so I "settled" for an old school 26er. (Assuming that you can call a 19.5 lb carbon fiber ATB "old school"!) I set the fork for my considerable weight (sigh) and headed off for a lap on the longest and most technical (and therefore my fav) loop. Given the aforementioned sub 20lb weight, the SRAM XO 2x9 set up and the schweeet carbon Lefty fork it was all you'd expect for a bike that'll run ya a cool NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!!!! (Granted - that will be w/ the ultra-new and fierce-hot SRAM XX group). Musta been the most expensive dirt bike I've ridden, I bet'cha. What's that? Is it worth it? Ummmmmmmmmmm...........well...........of course not! Good Lord - 9K???!?!?!?!?!!?!?!? You could get a damn good fleet of bikes for that! (And you should - you know that, right?)
Still - someone's gotta come out here and ride this stuff - it's the least we can do!
After that lap - which came to about $1500 / a mile - Berger and I hooked up w/ Danielle and Scott and off we went to ride Salsas. I grabbed a Dos Niner, their 29er "soft tail" design that offers about 1.5" of rear travel in an effort to take the edge off the bumps w/ only an 8 oz weight penalty over their way-light Mamasita frame. I've ridden it before...we had a demo in the shop for a season that started the whole 29er thing for us....but wanted to try one again. Berger did a reprise on the Big Mama & Scott-n-D each got a Mamasita , one of which had the aforementioned wicked hot XX stuff. They liked their bikes better than I liked mine - but I suspect my issues were a combo of a poor position on the bike and the fact that I was pretty wiped out by then! I've ridden (and liked) that frame before.
That was it for riding - we attended a SRAM tech seminar on the XX stuff, strolled around a bit soaking up the vibe and the sun (and the dust and the heat) and then headed back to the noise and clamor and stink of the Strip. Tomorrow is the actual show, followed by your trusty reporters jumpin' on the Lazer bus and heading to the Cross Vegas race and then a party w/ the Ridley folks. Liable to be a long day, but I'll try to post up before callin' it a day.
Later, MC
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