Jan
25
Yellow Jacket – The Beach Crazy Cyclist
Filed Under Cycling, Interbike, Racing | 3 Comments
I hope you have some time to kill, because this will certainly suck you in.
Have you ever seen these little French die-cast metal miniature cyclists painted in pro team colors like the ones below? I actually have a couple at home: one Peugeot rider with arms up in victory salute and one St. Raphael-Gitane guy in the drops going all out. A few US mailorder companies have sold them here over the years.
Well, from what I can tell, these miniature racers are very popular with French kids and they play a game with them and marbles at the beach. A race course is carved out in the sand with a shovel and they take turns shooting marbles around the course. Their mini racer is placed where the marble stops until their next turn. The racer with the fewest shots to get to the finish wins. The guys at MegaFilms in France remembered playing with them as kids and decided to make some short movies. The result is the “Yellow Jacket – Beach Crazy Biker” series. The star and hero of the series is Yellow Jacket – he of the eternal victory salute. His arch-rival is Black Jacket – oufitted head to toe in black (and with aerobars on his bike).
Maybe I’m wrong, but I think these are great. They even have an online game you can play that simulates the real-world in the sand game with marbles. Give it a try by clicking on the screen shot below. I’ve only played it 3 or 4 times, but my best score is only 14. I don’t know how everyone was able to do it in 6 moves. Since it keeps track of the best scores, let’s see how many new best scores we can get up there.
Next time I head down to the beach with the kids, I’ll have to bring my “team” and some marbles and carve out a course in the sand. Maybe even have a big industry competition in Vegas in September.
Jan
23
Saw an interesting link in my Google Alert today. Take a look at this:
Still early for details, but check out (a little) more info here. And here’s the Cross Vegas Flyer.
Cyclo-cross in Vegas, huh?
Thoughts?
Jan
22
So this last Saturday night the wife had the rare treat of going out alone for the evening. With 2 kids (one 4 and a half and the other 18 months) we obviously rarely get out much. Being the bike geeks that we are (she’s a Cat 2 herself), where do we go? How about to a bike race. That choice would probably elicit the same response form our non-cycling friends as when we told them that we were going to honeymoon by taking our bikes to France and following the Tour de France for 10 days through the Alps and into Paris. They just don’t understand, do they?
We had some awesome seats at the ADT Events Center (what’s wrong with just calling it what it is: a velodrome?). About 3 rows up from the track and right at start/finish line. Pretty great viewing location for our first track race – I won’t count the Tuesday night amateur races at the Cooper City, FL track I saw 7 years ago while visiting the folks in Miami. Much nicer track, this LA velodrome. I guess this wood track was made in Belgium or Holland and shipped over here for assembly.
A few of my fellow Interbikers went, too: Robert and Lance with spouses/friends. I wish I had more and better photos, but my point-and-shoot camera isn’t very nimble with the fast moving sport shots. A Cat 4 in a Pro/1/2 field, if you will…
The photo at the top of this post is of Sarah Hammer winning one of her many medals during the 3-day event. This one is of her during the individual pursuit, an event in which she is the reigning world champ. The amount of power she generates is evident while watching her – not the smoothest of riders, she seems to really muscle the bike around the track. Very impressive. Her opponent, Joos of Germany, was a contrast in styles and very smooth. But, obviously, she was not nearly as powerful as Hammer.
This shot is to show off how close our seats were. These are the two finalists in the men’s sprint: Roberto Chiappa of Italy and Gregory Bauge from France. Chiappa looked really intense on the start line with a few aggressive psych-up “bunny-hop” like moves while his assistant held him up. He would jerk up on the bars and slam his front wheel down on the track. He seemed really wound up for the race. It didn’t seem to influence Bauge as he went and beat Chiappa in two straight races for the gold medal.
Los Angeles (actually Carson, south of LA) has an awesome facility and if you get a chance to see one of these world class events and are within a few hours drive, you should really try to get there. This wasn’t a cheap event with tickets at $30 and $40, but it’s a rare opportunity to see a track event with so many world class racers.
Jan
19
Great Idea: Tour of California in Schools
Filed Under Advocacy, Industry News, Racing | 3 Comments
Now how’s this for a great idea to motivate students and to promote the sport of cycling: The Tour of California promoters sent out a press release about a new program to provide an educational curriculum based on the ToC to schools in the areas along the race route. The program will teach fourth through sixth graders about the history of cycling, and include bike safety and maintenance tips as well as including “targeted lesson plans that use cycling as a means to teach core subjects such as math, science and geography”.
How great is that?
AEG, the Tour organizers, said that they have seen such an enthusiastic response to the race from the towns that it passes through – primarily among the younger generations. I agree having followed the old Tour DuPont for a few stages back in 1994 and witnessing tons of kids out on the road sides cheering the racers on. The curriculum would increase awareness and build anticipation for the upcoming event while providing real world applications of the core subjects they study in school. It can be tough for kids to appreciate why they need to learn certain skills such as math and applying them to such a fun, fast-paced and colorful sport such as cycling could really help with their interest and motivation. I hope they get to take field trips to the race when it passes through town.
The side benefit, obviously, is the exposure that the sport will get in front of kids at an age where they may start to feel like they’re outgrowing bikes and looking forward to getting a car. Showing bikes in a competitive setting might help the kids to see cycling in a different light than they have been exposed to until this point in their lives: as a kid’s toy.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has lent his office’s support by reminding everyone that “Few childhood activities are as enjoyable and invigorating as riding a bicycle, and we want to use cycling as a platform for introducing the joys of outdoor recreation to young Californians.” Here, here!
So cycling will be used to enrich the minds and bodies of these lucky kids. I would love to see some of the materials that will be used. I truly hope that the impression that is made in their minds will endure and have a positive and meaningful impact on their futures.
Too bad my kids are still too young to participate. And the Tour hasn’t seen fit to include stages in San Diego County – yet. Come on AEG, how about a stage up the south side of Palomar Mountain? (Palomar is considered by some to be the sole US mountain that could approach European Category 1 status for difficulty).
Jan
11
I’m signed up with Google Alerts to notify me if certain keywords related to Interbike turn up on the internet. I get at least an email a day with a list of links to news stories, blog entries and various other places where my keywords have been used. Most are just blog postings where someone mentions that they saw such-and-such a product at Interbike. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see the brand awareness spread daily, but the story or post is not really about the show itself.
I usually get an average of about 2-3 alerts per day of sites that mentioned “Interbike”. The G-Men sometimes send me as much as 40 or so if we’ve sent out a press release and all the newswire services and bike magazines and sites are picking up on it. It’s like the old news-clipping services from the pre-digital era.
Unfortunately, among all of the legitimate appearances of our brand are some strange random mentions. While not an expert on it, yet, there seem to be blogs that have been set up to just cull material from around the net and copy it onto there sites hoping to attract traffic from people searching for info ion the subject. The resulting traffic, I would assume, adds to the potential ad revenue that they are able to attract. My last post prior to this one, has been quoted verbatim on a site that seems to have lots of random info on a variety of loosely fitness-related subjects. I won’t mention the site here so as to avoid rewarding them for their hi-jacking of our work.
On a positive note, Google Alerts has turned me on to a bunch of new sites and blogs out there. I haven’t had a chance to make my own B-List of blogs and most of the other bloggers have mentioned most of my favorites already. Occasionally, I’ll post here about a new blog that I stumble upon that I think is a worthwhile blog to check out.
Here’s one that I just learned about this morning from GA: J.R.A. by Sarah K. GA picked up on it since she mentions riding in Bootleg Canyon (where the Interbike OutDoor Demo is held each year) while on a road trip. I thought is was a nice description of the IMBA Epic Ride from a rider’s perspective. For an industry insider’s thoughts on Bootleg Canyon, you should give a listen to Carlton Reid’s (of BikBiz UK) comments in the 12-15-06 episode of The Spokesmen Roundtable podcast.
Speaking of podcasts, I was speaking with Chip Smith from SOAR Communications, our pr and media relations company, yesterday about podcasts and we agreed that it’s tough finding time to listen to too many of them. One of the reasons that I still don’t own an iPod is that I don’t know when I would have time to listen to it. I’m either at work or doing stuff with the family. It’s not like when I was in high school and was plugged into a Walkman all the time. When do you all listen to podcasts? Any tips to keeping up with them? I’ve found a lot through iTunes that I would love to listen to, but finding the time is tough. Sometimes, if I’m doing the right kind of work, I can put one on in the background here at my desk, but it does require some attention.
Is there an easy answer?
Jan
10
So I guess a few people have been paying attention to this blog. There have been a bunch of memes posted over the last month or so related to the end of the year – some retrospective commentaries on the year that passed and some great lists of blogs that the particular writer has enjoyed following. More than a few were kind enough to list this blog as one that they look forward to reading on a regular basis. I’m really honored that they feel that way about IB Times, but I feel that I haven’t held up my end of the bargain.
Things really started to fall apart in the few weeks leading up to Interbike. I was really hoping to bring some behind-the-scenes coverage about what we do to setup the Expo and OutDoor Demo before the bike industry arrives. It was my first time experiencing that and I was hoping to share that perspective. We were just so busy, though, that by the end of each day when I was finally back in my hotel room and troubleshooted the Venetian’s internet connections, I was just too drained to write. That and you other industry bloggers really kept me busy keeping up with all your great show-related posts. I should really be tipping my hat off to you for all the great show coverage you provided. I also feel like I should apologize for the spotty internet service that was available at the new Media Center at the show. We really underestimated the needs of live streaming video that we were sending out from the studio and net access was sluggish at times. Lesson learned.
Wow. While writing this I have been catching up on listening to a few bike podcasts. Right now I have Tim Grahl’s Crooked Cog Podcast on from Dec 21 on and I just heard him mention my name! His main topic for the episode was “The Top Ten People of 2006″ – his favorite people in the industry that he met during the last year. When I saw the topic before clicking on”play” I was thinking Gary Fisher, Tom Ritchey, Marla Streb… but guess who’s number 1 on the list? (“In no particular order” Tim says) “Rich Kelly of Interbike,” he says. Now, I’m still getting used to being in such a visible position in the industry and seeing my name and quotes printed in trade mags (Bicycle Retailer, Tradeshow Week) and blogs, but something altogether different to hear your name mentioned like this in audio format. Tim, thanks for the very kind words and it was a great pleasure to meet you too last year. Tim is someone with such enthusiasm and passion for the sport. Keep up the great work and spreading the love of the bikes. And I love the Euro-Pro racing commentary – good stuff! Maybe you should add the “Crooked Cobble Blog” to the network in time for the Spring Classics…
That was truly a surprise to be singled out like that, but I had two other mentions that I can recall – both on The-Spokesmen podcast. On the Dec 15th episode, the roundtable discussed the (now-postponed?) Eurobike-USA-Portland issue of a couple of months ago.
So what’s going on here at Interbike? Just before the holidays, we sent out our Interbike renewal kits. 735 companies exhibited last year at the show, so our account executives have been making a lot of calls. Apparently, many of you people in the bike industry take time off in December – go figure. They still have plenty of calls to make, but if you’re a company planning to come back to Interbike in 2007, we begin the floor-planning process in a few days – get your contracts in! I know it’s tough to think about the next show already, but it really does take a lot of time and planning to make it all come together by September. The first round of floor-planning – the process of taking all the contracts we’ve received by the renewal deadline and assigning them to booths on a big map of the show floor – is really where it all begins in earnest. Floor-planning is long and arduous. Our three account reps, Robert, Andria and Brian, pretty much lock themselves in the conference room for a week and try to accommodate all requests for upsizes, downsizes, moves and company mergers.
In the marketing department, I’m now working on the Sales Kits for the Interbike and the Health+Fitness Business Expo & Conference, IB’s sister show in Denver for the retail fitness industry. HFB is in early August and we get a fairly large contingent of bicycle retailers in attendance as home fitness equipment is an important category for many bike shops – especially those with very seasonal bike sales. We see a bunch of familiar faces at the show. Maybe you saw our ad in the last issue of Bicycle Retailer. It’s a great show with a strong educational conference aspect to it. Sell fitness equipment or want to add it to your product offerings? HFB is a the place to be. And it’s produced by your friends here at Interbike.
Enough with the sales pitch. On a personal note, I just started back on my lunch time rides this week. I had taken some time off during Thanksgiving and Christmas and in between had thrown my back out from tossing my kids around on our bed. I was hanging them upside down and dropping them on the bed. Lots of fun and laughs until Daddy couldn’t stand up straight anymore. It took me 10 minutes to put on my shoes the next morning. Is this what getting old is like? There’s still a twinge left, but I’m mostly back to normal.
It’s been warm here in San Juan Capistrano so the rides have been nice in just short sleeves and shorts – though I am anxious to try out my new Hincapie arm and knee warmers that I got for Christmas. They’re made in Italy and seem really nicely made. Rich and the guys in South Carolina also make our official Interbike jerseys that we’re wearing in the holiday photo from the previous post and BRAIN ad.
We have a bike path literally across the street from the office that goes down to the beach in Dana Point. This is our easy ride loop and once we get to the beach, we turn south on the Pacific Coast Highway for a ways then wind back through some neighborhoods to the path again. Not an epic ride, but is lunch and to gets us back in less than an hour. Scenery’s not too shabby either. We have another harder loop with good climbs that I’ll start once I’m back in a little better shape. I was hoping to get back into racing this year, but I’m back at square one now and the season starts much earlier here in SoCal than back in New England where I’m from originally…
Robert and Alicia (form our operations dept.) usually join me for the rides. Lance started commuting by bike during the last Bike to Work Week and the guy never stopped. That’s great and all for the environment and his wallet, but we lost a riding partner at lunch – I miss the bike and music talk that we used to have.
I have to admit that I feel blessed to have a job where lunch time rides are pretty much encouraged and one that is located in such a great location for riding year-round. If you’re ever in the south Orange County area and would like to join us, drop a comment here and I’ll get an email and we’ll try to set something up.
Enough rambling for now. Upcoming topics: the Bicycle Leadership Conference and the National Bike Summit.