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Just a quick post with a few photos I took at setup on Sunday. It’s brief since I’m rushing to head out to the Demo this moring for the opening.

Check Campagnolo’s company VW wagon’s license plate:

Cannondale looks to have the largest fleet of demo bikes again this year. This photo doesn’t do just to the quantity that are packing their tent.

The commuters are in attendance too. Here’s Civia:

Dahon:

Pashley from the UK:

I guess there’s something to those 29″ inch bikes. Niner’s got a monster presence:

Trek is back with a bigger booth this year:

 

 I received the complete schedule of events that Bicycle Retailer & Industry News compiles every year for Interbike. Looking over it, it always amazes me with all the awesome events, signings, giveaways and other happenings that our exhibitors put together for all the retailers that are traveling out to the show. You can see the whole list in the “2008 Schedule” link above orhere.

Here’s a few (very few) highlights to whet your appetite (if times aren’t listed, check the schedule as they may happen on more than one day):

OutDoor Demo:

• Free Gelato [served with the biggest Italian smiles] courtesy of Fi’zi:k Booth D2179. All Day, both days.
• Free massages for women demoing Giant bikes. Giant for Women tent. All Day, both days.
• Group rides with Chris Van Dine, Aaron Chase and Tinker Juarez. Cyclocross Clinic with Cross Champion Tim Johnson. 3 p.m. Day Two – Tuesday. Booth D3309.

 

Interbike:

• The Awesome Dudes Printing guys will print Interbike T-shirts off their screen press track bike, which was created as part of Fuji’s Rolling Canvas Art Collective. Fuji Booth 1825. See schedule for times.
• BMX Olympians Mike Day and Jill Kintner sign autographs in USA Cycling’s Booth 6225. See schedule for times.
• Canari Cyclewear will have two graphic designers doing free jersey design. No obligation to order. Booths 1381 and 1581. [Ed: sorely needed service in the bike club community...]
• Guess how many Dahons fit in a Toyota Prius. A Prius will be at the booth stuffed with Dahon Curve D3 bikes. Guess correctly and win a Dahon Mu XXV. Drawing will be Friday morning. Booth 3541.
• “Do You Have a Dream of Starting an Inner City Cycling Team in Your Town?” clinic at b.i.k.e. Booth L4.
• Meet Giant team riders Olympian Adam Craig and Singlespeed World Champion Carl Decker. Mountain Flyer Magazine/Secret Agent Publishing, LLC Booth 403.

Not on any schedule:

Possible very large press conference on Thursday morning. Details to come.

Well, it’s official: we’ve formally announced plans for an OutDoor Demo on the East Coast in Providence, Rhode Island this coming October. Details are still forthcoming, but the basics are that it will be held at Roger Williams Park just south of downtown Providence.

The press release says just about all there is to say at this point, but I just wanted to add a few thoughts. It’s also a great excuse for a blog post…

As a former New Englander myself (Southern Connecticut native with 6 years spent in Worcester-Boston areas), I’m really glad that we have an event that will provide an opportunity to showcase some of the awesome regional bike culture that exists back east. I’m sure that there will be a bunch of great ideas for peripheral events during that week of the Demo. I’ve already heard talk of a cross race.

One event that you’ll read about in the press release that will not be happening – at least this first year – is a consumer demo day. The possibility of a consumer day at any of the Interbike events always generates alot of excitement and discussion, but we really feel that we need to fully serve the needs of the industry first before we try to open things up to the end users of all this great gear that we showcase. Key ingredients of this decision were both formal and informal surveys of manufacturers and retailers that did not give us a strong consensus that a consumer day was important or demanded at this point. Given the enormous additional logistical and infrastructure needs that having a consumer day would place on us and exhibitors to implement successfully, we decided to get through the first year as a trade-only event.

David Bernstein’s most recent edition of The Spokesmen industry podcast had an interesting discussion of the possibility of an ODD East just before the holidays. At that point it was just a small news item in BR&IN that mentioned that we were looking into the possibility. It’s fun to listen to them talk about Interbike and the stuff we’re doing.  They bounced around the pros and cons as they each saw them from their points of view in the industry.

The main thing to remember in all this is that our goal with this new event is to serve the needs of the East coast retailers by having an event in the OutDoor Demo mold as close to their backyards as possible. Vegas is really a suburb of Southern California so a shop can just fill a car full of staffers to drive to Interbike pretty easily. We hope that ODD East will make it easier for Northeast and Mid-Atlantic shops to give their staffs the same opportunities to see, ride, network and learn at an Interbike event.

So this was pretty cool. We got our copies of the latest Bicycle Retailer (the first post-Interbike issue) at the end of last week and look who’s on the cover? It’s Interbike’s marketing manager hosting the Tour of Lake Mead ride at the OutDoor Demo. I’ll admit it: even though it should be old hat at this point, I still get a little excited when I’m quoted in the media. This is the photo they ended up using.

And there’s a funny story that goes along with it. Pull up a chair. Well, it won’t be that long a story.

So I hosted the Lake Mead ride this year. I made sure that my schedule would allow me to ride it this year since I missed last year’s edition. Lance here couldn’t make it this year (he was at the turn around at the lake handing out water, though) so he asked me to welcome everyone, say a few words and give out a few safety instructions about the road closures. I can handle that.

I roll down the hill to the start area and Lauren, Interbike’s Demo operations coordinator, hands me a megaphone and races off to handle other pressing tasks (no shortage of those at ODD). A police officer walks over and gives me some instructions about the roads and what they’ll be doing. We still have some time until the official start and people are still coasting down the hill from the demo area with their borrowed demo bikes, so we wait. I notice Lennard Zinn from VeloNews lined up on the front row so I roll my Masi 3VC over to him to say ‘hi’ and chat about his upcoming appearance in the Media Center and his custom long cranks (by his calculations I should be on 209’s, but that’s another post topic…).

Someone finally gives me the word that it’s time to go, so I fire up the megaphone. I don’t think that I’ve ever actually used a megaphone before and I couldn’t seem to find a button or trigger on this one. At this point everyone lined up for the ride is now looking at me. I finally figure out how to work the thing and I say my words. For the life of me I couldn’t tell you what it was I said. I sort of slip into an out-of-body mode in these un-prepared public speaking situations. Good thing it was just a group of 300 bikers – part of our extended family, right?

My monologue finished, I turn around to hand the megaphone off to someone. With my head spinning back and forth, I realize there’s no one within 15 feet of me and no one who’s there from the IB team. I must have looked dumb as my head spun back and forth around looking for someone who could help me out. Riders are starting to clip in and are getting antsy to start the ride. The nearest familiar face I see is James from Cycling.TV from the photo above. He had placed himself into the back of a station wagon to film the ride. I clumsily stumble over to him with one foot clipped in and megaphone in one hand and begin to toss it toward him.

As if that wouldn’t interrupt his cinematography duties enough, it turns out that the wriststrap is still on my wrist as I toss it and that said strap is attached to the megaphone via the battery compartment. With riders giving up on me and rolling off the line, the battery lid stays attached to my wrist as the megaphone heads toward James and his expensive camera. Unrestrained, the batteries decide to jump ship at this point and head toward the asphalt where they roll away in all directions trying to escape 300 bikers headed their way.

Confirming that they are, in fact, members of the family, riders laughed at me scrambling for batteries from the saddle of my bike (thanks, guys). James missed capturing some of the start as he caught the megaphone, but I guess he also missed catching my fumbling, so it’s all good.

The ride was awesome in the end – even though I got dropped by the lead group on descent near the start.  If you haven’t seen it already, Carlton Reid of BikeBiz UK shot a video of the ride. He overlaid names of some industry people he came across on the ride so you can see us all in our natural habitat (on a bike). That’s something you don’t usually get a chance to see.

Back to the latest issue of BR&IN, I’m also in another shot inside on the photo gallery page. Here’s the shot below. Left to right, that’s me, Uwe Weissflog (our European agent), Carlton Reid and Ross Kerber of the Boston Globe with beautiful Lake Mead in the background.

I’m available for autographs at the next industry event (BLC?).

All photos were taken by Gary Newkirk. 

Wow. I love Interbike. Yeah, yeah. I’m paid to say that. But it’s true. I’ve met so many great bike people in these 2 days of OutDoor Demo (not “Dirt” Demo anymore, guys) that I just met and that I’ve known for a while. There’s just a great vibe, energy and passion at Bootleg Canyon. Bike people = good people.

Trying to keep up the daily posts during the show. Just some quick snippets from my perspective as I walked the show with the guys from Cycling.TV filming highlights and interviews with product managers and athletes.

I brought my camera on the Tour of Lake Mead ride this morning, but was so busy trying to hang on to the lead group that I couldn’t use until the turnaround/rest spot (here you see 2 riders in front of the Mavic neutral support vehicle that looked after us today. That’s Lake Meda in the backgorund). 298 riders participated. I have to admit that I was dropped on the 6 mile descent from Bootleg Canyon to Lake Mead park. I could blame the compact drive crank on my Masi 3v, but, no, it was all me. Oh, and Wayne Stetina of Shimano and Max Lelli, ‘97 Corestates winner driving at the front. Thanks, guys!

I didn’t catch their names, but the staff from Fizik were one of the big hits that the Demo this year. Not only were they handing out refreshing Italian gelato, but they did it in style. They wore ice cream shop uniforms and had 50’s-era Italian tunes playing in the background. They were all smiles and good humor. Awesome job, Fizik! Hey, just realized that I never got a gelato for myself…

This is the great legend, Ned Overend, telling us about Specialized’s new bikes for Interbike.com. On the right is James form Cycling.TV. Ned is all signed up to race the Industry Cup on Thursday night. We’ll also be interviewing him in the Media Center for Good Morning Interbike that will be streamed out live over the internet starting Wednesday morning at 8:30am (Pacific time). Ned and John Tomac will be on GMI on Thursday morning.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Queen of the OutDoor Demo. Without Lauren, ODD doesn’t happen. She’s in charge of the whole shebang on site. You may hear from me and your account reps most of the time, but Lauren and her team make it all happen. And she does it all with a smile. Super job Lauren!

Back indoors at the Sands, setup was starting to wrap up for most exhibitors. I was excited to see that Colnago had their Roman temple booth that I’ve seen in photos from the European shows. Now, is that column Doric, Ionic or Corinthian. I’m guessing Doric.

This is Matt from Cycling.TV in the control room of the Media Center during setup. While walking around the Demo these 2 days, we ran into so many retailers that watch and are fans of CTV. I even had a guy photograph cameraman James as he filmed someone to take home to show his friends.

Visit our Media Center Live page for live video and archived clips from the show starting Wednesday morning at 8:30am (Pacific).

Just got done with Day One of the 2007 OutDoor Demo. While I won’t be able to out blog the rest of you guys out there, I wanted to make the effort to at least post a few things this week. Maybe with a little bit of my perspective of the goings on. Here’re a few photos from setup day on Sunday and day one today. As always, I just love Interbike time. It’s alot of work to get here, but this week makes it all worthwhile.

This first shot is the Sands Expo Center hall where Interbike takes place that I took on Saturday afternoon after I checked into my room. It’s sort of the “calm before the storm.” Just a few people rolling out some carpeting and electrical. It’s amazing to see such a big room all empty and quiet. Over the next 3 days, a complete village of bike companies will be built here and come to life on Wednesday morning.

Over at the OutDoor Demo on Sunday morning, I notice that the Canadians from Norco beat all other exhibitors to Bootleg Canyon. Way to go, eh!

Santa Cruz arrives at the Demo in their always way cool streamliner bus. Later on we would be helping right their huge tent that got blown over in the wind onto the bus.

Here are Trek’s flags blowing furiously in the strong wind that blew over the Santa Cruz tent. It’s been keeping us all cooler than usual in the desert.

Finally got to see the belt drive that’s bee all the rage since show season started. Haven’t ridden it yet, but the Spot Brand/Chris King bike looks very clean.

Day one of the Demo, I spotted these very cool custom yellow hooded SRAM brake levers. With Mavic, you can never get enough yellow, huh?

Here’s me, Carlton Reid and our European rep (and “Mr. European Bike Industry”), Uwe Weissflog. I had just run into Calrton at the VIP tent for the first time ever. The three of us will be riding the Tour of Lake Mead rid on Tuesday morning. Should be an awesome ride and a chance to loosen up the legs before the Industry Cup race on Thursday.

Gotta hit the sack now. Look for lots of great video that I shot today with ethe guys from Cycling.TV at Interbike.com starting tomorrow. Got some really good stuff.
.

The whole team is on the way to Vegas. I’ll be there Saturday afternoon. 5:30am Sunday we head out to Bootleg Canyon to literally pound stakes into the ground for a few hours for parking signs and to get ready for exhibitors to start arriving that morning to set up their own displays.

When the line of rigs and trucks start coming up the access road to the Demo, the gathering begins. I can’t wait.

Hope to see you all in Vegas!

Courtesy of our good friends at Pyramid Beer, we’re pleased to invite all OutDoor Demo attendees and exhibitors to attend the Hammerfest Hour party.

On Monday from 4 – 6pm, cool off with a cold brew after a busy day at the Demo. Relax and catch up with your friends and peers and relive the rides of the day. Trade opinions and reviews on all the gear and bikes you put through the ringer earlier in the day.
And remember, the last shuttle back to the Sands leaves at 6:30pm sharp. Go back to your hotel and rest up for Tuesday morning’s Tour of Lake Mead ride. That’s right: get a ride in while you’re at Interbike! Call your favorite exhibitor to arrange a ride for the 4th annual edition of this ride out to beautiful Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

With the greater flexibility we have out in the desert of Boulder City, we have been able to work with our caterers and food service providers to make organic food options available for the first time at the OutDoor Demo. It’s another small move among the many that we are taking to improve on the environmental performance of the industry’s tradeshow.

If you’re out at the Demo and hungry, check out the organic options. I haven’t seen the menu, but I hear that the choices are really good. I’m looking forward to trying them and helping to encourage the organic food industry and eating healthier at the same time.

Along with the new food, the eating utensils and dishes it will be served on will be made of biodegradable materials as will the garbage bags that they will be disposed in.

Every little bit counts, right?

Continuing with the greening of Interbike, I’m really happy to announce a partnership that could be the start of something big. The VIP tent at the OutDoor Demo will be powered and cooled by solar and wind energy, courtesy of the guys at Eco-Pioneer.

Lance and I met Scott Gibson of Eco-Pioneer back in July of this year at Pedro’s Fest in Massachusetts. He had his self-designed eco tent set up with solar and wind energy equipment that powered a large screen tv showing live Tour de France coverage out in the middle of a farm field in the Berkshire mountains.

My thoughts instantly jumped forward a few months to our OutDoor Demo. With all the sun and nearly constant wind we get in Boulder City, it seemed like a perfect place to generate some green energy. He had a tent that he was cooling with renewable energy and we had a tent that needed cooling. We almost instantly put the invitation out to Scott right there at Pedro’s (after the end of the day’s stage coverage, of course). It took some planning on Scott’s part to make it happen, but we are super excited to have him with us.

What Eco-Pioneer will be doing is powering their swamp cooler system (perfect for the dry desert climate) with their system of solar panels and wind turbines to cool our VIP tent out at the Demo. In the past the tent has been powered by gas-powered generators. Any chance to turn off a gasoline engine is welcome. We use renewable Read more

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