May
27
Retailer Registration Outlook – Looking Good
Filed Under Attendee News, Industry News, Interbike | 1 Comment
Richard, of Cyclelicio.us, commented recently in response to my post that retailer registration was open for this year’s Interbike by wondering how the bike industry would respond given the current condition of the economy. He hinted that it could go either way with high energy prices encouraging more bike use but also a sour economy that could cause many people to re-evaluate their spending habits.
Are retailer registration numbers a bellwether for the condition of the bike industry as a whole? Obviously, to some degree they are, but I’m not sure as to how much. Regardless, numbers are looking very strong early in the game here for 2008: individual buyer registration numbers are up about 42% compared to the same number of weeks out from the show as last year. The number of businesses (primarily stores) that have registered already is showing an even larger percentage increase being up 52% over last year. For what it’s worth, the numbers for Interbike’s sister show, Health+Fitness Business, are up even higher.
I sincerely don’t mean this as a shameless sales plug here, just an informative look into a statistic that represents something about the state of the industry. There are many factors that could effect this number and one of them to not overlook is that we have a renewed emphasis on retailer outreach with a marketing person dedicated to the job. We also take pride in the fact that we’ve continued to try to make the show increasingly relevent, effective, informative and, yes, entertaining to attendees.
With that said, we also know that this is a mature industry that isn’t growing by leaps and bounds, as all of you in the biz know too well. We can’t realistically expect to have 42% more people showing up in September, but the early interest in attending is surely a positive sign for the industry. Are people just registering earlier than last year because we’ve been communicating better? Are more people more interested in attending this year because of the opportunities or challenges that the economy is presenting us? We’ll see. 17 weeks to go…
OK, shameless plug time. Despite all the great networking and communicating that takes place online between all the great industry blogs, podcasts, videos, Twitterings, etc., we still believe in the value of the face-to-face social networking that takes place at a trade show–especially in such a passionate and tight-knit industry like ours that has so much to gain by getting together and working together.
See you in Vegas! (and Providence!)
May
16
It’s Bike to Work Day in SoCal
Filed Under Advocacy, Deep Thoughts, Rides | 4 Comments
As if you didn’t know, bike community members, today is Bike to Work Day in Southern California. I guess other regions have it on different days. Judging by the number of bikes on the train platform this morning, I going to guess that its will be a pretty successful BTWD. The ongoing challenge, of course, is to keep everyone going beginning Monday. MasiGuy’s blog had a comment this morning that describes this well here.
A side effect of BTWD is the crowded trains. I guess it’s a positive sign for cycling, but the 2 racks per car on Metrolink here don’t cut it. There were 5 bikers on my train home last night. Can’t wait for tonight’s crowds.
On a positive note, there happened to be a “market research” person from Metrolink on my car. I commented to her about the need for more racks. She smiled and handed me a survey to fill out and suggested that I use the comment area to mention the problem. Also was able to put down that the bike is my mode of transport pre- and post-train ride. Bonus.
Along with the four other bikes there were four other bikers on the train. Had a nice conversation with one who was on a really nice carbon road bike. He’s definitely one of the industry’s “VIP Customers.” So much so, that after he found out that I worked for Interbike (did the jersey and socks plastered with the logo give it away?), he mentioned that he loves Interbike and goes every year. When I asked him how he gets in, he said that he’s a very good customer of his shop and they get him into the show. Now this volatile topic is worthy of a whole other post, but suffice it to say that if any type consumer should be let into the show, this is it. He doesn’t ask for price lists or deals or sponsorship, knows that the show is for the dealers and manufacturers to conduct their business and he buys everything he sees there from his local shop.
I’m not advocating at all that it’s ok for retailers to do this. They still need to respect the exhibitors and those other retailers who are uncomfortable with this and have expressed a desire to keep the show for the trade only. I do have to admit that this guy’s passion and love of bikes and cycling is strong enough to get him to drive 5 hours each way to Vegas and pay for his own hotel and expenses just to ogle cool new bike gear.
Continuing the trend of interesting conversations that happen when you bike and train to work instead of driving, I met the publisher of Skateboarder magazine this morning (they’re also based in San Juan Capistrano and are the sister mag to Bike magazine). He bikes to work most days of the week. Great talk about the future of traditional media and the web and also nuances of the various core “tribes” within the skate world. Good stuff. Would never happen in a car by yourself.
Finally, here’s one more pic for Carlton Reid (congrats on your award, btw!) who enjoys seeing where people live, work and ride. I was bit early this morning to the train and rode a couple of blocks over from the station to the beach. Another beautiful day to ride.
May
15
Scenes from a Bike Commute
Filed Under Cycling, Interbike, Photos, Rides | 6 Comments
In the spirit of Bike to Work Week, I thought I’d show a few scenes from my bike commute. I live in northern San Diego County and my commute is multi-modal: 14 miles by bike to the Oceanside (California) train station and then a 25-or-so minute train ride up the coast to San Juan Capistrano in Orange County – mostly through the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base. I try to leave the house by 6:15 when I commute by bike. I can be showered and ready to go by the 8:30 start of our work day.
For simplicity’s sake and to protect my nice camera, I just used the camera on my cell phone. Not bad, but not exactly stunning color repro – there was actually beautiful blue sky this morning that doesn’t come out in these photos.
That’s my bike in front of a piece of sculpture in Oceanside. This is near the start of my own version of the “Stupidest Bike Lane.” It’s seperated from the street (as you can see in the photo above), is perfectly paved and striped, has nice signage but it is only about 500 feet long through a residential neighborhood and has 2 stops signs along its route. At either end of this path there’s nothing more than some of those “Bike Route” signs. Not lane, no path. This is just a random piece of bike facility that lives in a vacuum.
This is my local shop. It’s not the closest to me by any stretch, but it’s the one I chose to frequent. I have two bike “super centers” – one that I can even walk to – and while they’re nice and all, I still prefer the old- school independant shops like Pacific Coast Cycles in Oceanside. Chuck, the owner, used to work for Masi Bikes years ago and is a great guy to chat with and he’s got a bunch of cool classic bikes and parts in the shop. He’s also very opinionated about what he likes and dislikes in bikes and the bike industry. Worth a visit if you’re in the area. I try to make a point of stopping in to say hi on my ride home.
The Oceanside train station is near the beach and pier (visible in the background). Also near the station is this blue house that you may recognize from a little old movie called TopGun that took place in and around San Diego. This is where Charlie (Kelly McGillis) lived and was visited by Maverick (Tom Cruise). It’s in pretty bad shape and is scheduled to be torn down, the last I heard, to make way for a big resort complex. Pity. Not exactly a significant piece of American heritage, but a neat part of American pop-culture.
There’s my bike on the train now. The Metrolink trains have room for two bikes on each car. Not a problem in the morning as I get on at the first stop, but it can be a problem going home at the end of the day since the train comes down from LA with lots of commuters. I have to guess which car will be emptiest and hope for the best since there’s no time to “browse” all the cars to see which has room for me. More often than not I’m stuck holding my bike the whole trip in a crowded car. No telling what Bike to Work week crowds will be like.
Here’s a little nod to our friends at Timbuk2 bags. I love this backpack they made for us with the Interbike logo. It’s a nice change from the messenger bag I usually use. This is also a nod to the guys at Bike Hugger that recently had a discussion about the best bags for laptops and bikes. This one holds a MacBook Pro very nicely, by the way.
This is a typical view out the window of the train during the commute. What you see here is the pier in San Clemente and some nice waves. I tried to catch some of the many surfers in action, but the phone camera makes them look like specs. Suffice it to say that this is probably one of the most beautiful train rides you can do: along the beaches and coastline of Southern California. Dolphin sightings are common, too.
We’re there! Waiting for the train to pull away so I can cross over the tracks to roll to the office.
This what’s on the other side of the tracks: the Los Rios district of San Juan Capistrano. I believe that it’s the oldest neighborhood in California going back to the time of the missions (don’t quote me, though). Very cool old neighboorhood that feels more like something you’d see in Disney World’s frontierland – but it’s authentic.
From the station, I hop on the San Juan Creek bike trail for about a minute. I runs along a small canal that looks like the ones they always had car chases in in 70’s police shows and the movie Grease. Being a non-native Californian myself, I always enjoy seeing this type of Hollywood-inspired California imagery. Along the same lines, I still chuckle when I see CHiPs officers on motorcycles.
That’s our office as seen from the bike path. If you keep heading down the path, you’ll hit Doheny beach in a couple of miles. That’s the way we usually head during our lunch time rides.
So door to door, it’s about an hour and forty minutes. At 14 miles of riding each way, it’s a decent enough workout. And the shower at work helps make the commute more enjoyable for my co-workers.
What’s your commute like?
Update: Per Carlton’s request in the comments, here’s where my bike I live between commutes:
The bike lives just around the corner from my cube during the day. Jennie, our art director, keeps her Electra beach cruiser on the other side of my cube. During any given week, you can see a Fuji (mine), an Electra, a Giant, a Burley, a Ridley, a Trek, and a Felt. Sometimes I break out the old Bridgestone RB-1 with Campy C-Record and Delta brakes for fun and style on the commute. Downstairs in the bike rack are a couple of rusty cruisers that a couple of people use for running errands or getting lunch.
My cube. Not much to say about a cube. Actually, looking at it in this photo, it looks pretty sparse – even for a cube. We moved cubes earlier this year, so there’s not much decoration other than the Eddy Merckx being interviewed in the Interbike Media Center poster on the left and the Bikes Belong musette hanging on the wall. Up on the shelf there’s a team High Road/Shimano/Giant pint glass that I got at the Tour of California, a Trek shot glass and cowbell from Sea Otter and a travel mug from the Interbike/Bikes Belong coffee giveaway at last year’s show. That’s about it. Feel free to send me some schwag to help decorate the cube…
May
14
The Post-Doping World of Pro Baseball
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Racing | Comments Off
Doping has been somewhat less of a hot topic lately in the cycling world, but I always find it incredibly interesting to look at the extent of the doping problem in other sports and how the media and public view it as compared to cycling. Mainly it’s because I believe that cycling gets an unfair share of the negative media attention and that there’s a perception by the general public that pro cyclists have been more doped up than other sports’ athletes. Pro baseball, here in the US, has been helping take some of the negative headline burden off of cycling’s shoulders, lately, as a result of some government inquiries, confessions and just plain old “I know steroid use when I see it” skepticism by observers as players bulked up and power hitting numbers skyrocketed since the early 90’s.
I was listening to a sports talk radio show this morning before work and heard some amazing analysis of how pro baseball has changed as a result of (finally) stronger drug testing and the government’s recent Mitchell Report that resulted from investigating the use of drugs in baseball and incriminated many high profile current and former players. While immunity has been granted for the many players named in the report, the statistics for this first season following the release of the report indicate that there has apparently been a strong reaction amongst the players that has led to a dramatic reduction in steroid and HGH usage. As the host of the program said, “when the lights were turned on in the kitchen, all the rats and cockroaches went scurrying for cover.”
The big statistic that struck home for me, was the expected total number of home runs for this season – the home run being the play most likely to be positively affected by an increase in strength. A former Major League Baseball executive, who is now an analyst, said on the program that, at the current pace and about 40 games into a 162-game season, the league will hit 1,000 fewer home runs this year than in 2006. Considering that in ‘06 there was a total of 5,386 home runs, the difference is staggering – nearly a 20% drop.
Additional evidence of a change in drug use is a drop in average pitch speeds and anecdotal evidence of smaller physical stature and more frequent injuries so far this season.
So pro cycling is the only sport that was rampant with dopers? I think not.
May
8
If you are a bicycle industry retailer, registration for Interbike 2008 is now open! Follow the link in the right hand column (attendees) or right here to register. (Exhibitor and media reg coming soon)
Remember, Interbike is still a trade-only event and is not open to the public. Sorry guys…
And don’t forget about your hotel and travel needs. There are still rooms available at special Interbike attendee rates here.
Blatant sales pitch over…