Go Clipless

Preparing the Interbike itinerary

On the way to vegas preparing our show itinerary. Of course with the requisite bloody mary...hey where's the change?!

Bootleg Canyon

In about 24 hours I'll be riding this luscious little trail in Boulder City, Nevada! And, I'll be doing it on nearly any bike I want at the Interbike OutDoor Demo (jealous? ha ha!). Bootleg Canyon looks like a spectacular set of trails that will be unlike the east coast riding that I do. (Although, without rain here in the D.C. area for several weeks the trails have become very desert like.)

Grabbed this photo from BikeRag to give you a flavor for the trail. Check out the way this singletrack just carves along the side of the mountain.

Bootleg Canyon is a mountain bike park. It has more than 30 miles of trail and is designated as an epic ride by IMBA.

I can't wait! Gotta go...off to the airport...my next set of posts will be from Vegas.

Interbike anticipation

Only three more days before J-Vicious and I head to Vegas for the Interbike show. I finally received the show program in the mail, but I've got to tell you there is only slightly more information in the print program then there is on the Web site. What little information there is on the Web site is either out of date or incomplete. For example, on the OutDoor Demo page, both the directions and trail maps documents are from 2004. Now I'm sure that not much has changed regarding the trails, however, the directions document has last year's dates on it.

It looks like the Seminars, Clinics, and Events page was finally updated in the last day or two. It seems that the listing of events is for 2005, however, the page's introduction reads "below is a listing of seminars, clinics and special events that took place at Interbike 2004." Which is it?

Inconsistencies like these run rampant across the site, making an attendees pre-show planning experience extremely frustrating. As a result of this confusion, I have had to call the firm that handles registration for Interbike several times to confirm various things. Now the people I have talked to have been very nice and as helpful as they could be, yet I could hear the phone ringing off the hook in the background. If they only updated the site early and often they could cut those calls down dramatically.

I can't help but draw parallels between my experiences in preparing for this show with those of Comdex a few years ago. For those that don't know, Comdex was a technology conference that was one of the largest industry shows in the world. The show is now defunct. The show got so big it essentially collapsed under its own weight. The company running the show simply could not keep the quality high as it grew and the experience sufferred significantly. I hope this is not the case at Interbike.

Anyway, I'm still really excited about the show. J and I are cooking up some fun ways to report what we learn so stay tuned.

Scintillating reading

The 2006 - 2011 World Outlook for Wheel Rims and Spokes for Bicycles, Unicycles, and Adult Tricycles

At least the shipping is free!

Would someone please leave us a synopsis in the comments.

(Found on Seth Godin's marketing blog.)

Can an adult helmet fit a kid?

It seems that everything in the biking world for kids is backwards. The bikes weigh a ton. Their geometry is all off, making it next to impossible for a kid to get a decent pedaling position on the bike while at the same time be able to reach the ground. Many kid's bikes now come with cheap suspension which is totally unnecessary and counter-productive; especially for those just starting out. Even helmets for kids are just plain crap!

Which brings me to the point of this post...

Graham's Glass Slipper

So, here we are spending a lazy day at GC Headquarters when Betty shows with a cardboard full of Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale.  Then it all started.

"I really like this beer!"

Those were the words Gman uttered over and over.

Oh those crazy tall-bikers

If cross-country riding is the "missionary style" of mountain biking then tall-biking is the "S&M" of cycling. This could become even more of a fetish...I mean fashion then even singlespeeding. Alas, I have not tried either, but hey, I'll try anything once ;-).

Found this at one of my favorite marketing blogs and got the photo from flickr.

Interbike here we come

Finally wrapped up all of the logistics and J-Vicious and I are heading to Interbike. Yeah...I'm obsessed...I know. But...hey...I've got a ton of frequent flyer miles and hotel points and its a trip to Vegas. This is of course the first time either of us have attended this show so we're not exactly sure what to expect. Here's the itinerary so far:

1. Arrive on Sunday the 25th.
2. Attend the Outdoor Demo and test ride tons of cool bikes on the 26th and 27th at Bootleg Canyon.
3. The conference begins on the 28th and lasts through the 30th with a huge exhibit hall and lots of seminars and workshops. I'll be busy soaking up what I can on the first two days as I am leaving on the morning of the 30th.
4. On either the 28th or 29th I will be attending the blogger meet-up that Jonathan Maus is arranging. As excited as I am to to see all of the cool stuff in the industry, I'm probably looking forward to this event the most. It will be great to meet some of the people behind the blogs from which I learn so much. What a riot!
5. Return home on the 30th.

The plan is to post up as much as we can about the latest and greatest in the industry live from the show. I've been testing the moblogging features of TypePad (the blog service I use) along with my Palm Treo and it works pretty well. We'll take lots of notes and get some more in depth stuff up on the site either in the evenings (in between partying) or upon our return.

Meanwhile, let us know if you are attending and how we might meet up with you while at the show. Also, if there are any Interbike veterans out there with advice for a couple of first-timers please share!

Banned.

Once he said his peace for being banned from the 24 Hours of Adrenalin World Championships, Jeff Kerkove remained silent on the issue -- until now. Just in time for Interbike, you can sport one of Jeff's new shirts supporting lower race entry fees. Better yet wear one to your next over-priced racing event.

Buy the shirt from CafePress.

If you are not familiar with the controversy that sparked this "movement," I posted some thoughts here and here.

Schaeffer Ride and Sign Work

With the weather as fantastic as it was this Labor Day weekend, I couldn’t possibly pass a day without a ride – and when I found that Dave Magill, MORE’s trail liaison for Schaeffer Farms, was offering a ride and opportunity to do some work on the same day I just couldn’t pass it up.  In my mind, MORE offers a very attractive incentive to get out and sweat on the trails without a bike, but even without the schwag offerings and bike raffles I’m just one of those saps that love the satisfaction of giving my time to create something that I and all my brothers- and sisters-in-dirt can benefit from when it comes time to saddle up.  OK, now that we’re all inspired…let’s get on with the ride.