Interbike Wrap-Up - Inside Our Booth in Photos

Ok, so here's the last batch of photos from Interbike. As I mentioned, I'd try to do a little different spin on Interbike at times - life from inside a booth. Here are some more things I saw from inside our booth....

Karen and Craig take a short break to smile for the camera before getting back to talking with customers. Our booth was jammed pretty much from the get-go right up until Friday afternoon when it was very sloooowww...so slow all around that I heard booths coming down by 4ish (the show is open until 6pm).

Simon and Lisa from Colin Lewis Cycles in the UK were greeted by our in-transition European/South American Sales Manager, Gustavo. They won a trip to Interbike through a Kryptonite contest held this past winter. It was great having them with us. Last I heard they were headed for some sight seeing and shopping....hope they had fun on the rest of their trip.

Bob Roll chats with and signs a poster for one of our customers. Bob joined us in the morning both Wednesday and Thursday and was, as usual, a crowd favorite!

Craig and Eric serve up some coffee to the folks that stopped by to see Bob. They did a great job! Sandy, too, but I learned during this show that Sandy is about as comfortable in front of the camera as I am.

Chris and Cyndie from Cool Breeze Cyclery stopped by to say 'hello' to Bob. It was so much fun meeting them in person!

Eric Hawkins, owner of Park Tool, also stopped by to greet Bobke. The Park Tool booth is right near ours at Interbike, which is great because we've known those guys forever and they are always fun to hang out with.


Through the power of the internet and the telephone, I've "known" Mark Alker from Singletrack Magazine for years. We are even Facebook friends and connect on MySpace. However, since I think he is never allowed out of the office for some reason, I've never met him in person....until Interbike! It was great meeting him in person. From what I can gather, Mark's first trip to Vegas was a full experience....he needed the coffee we were serving, big time!

Century Cycles in Ohio won "An Evening with Bob Roll" during our Interbike contest a few years ago. Scott, the owner, came by to say a quick hello and drop his card in to win a ride with Bob this year.

Craig checks out a funky bike that made its way to the booth.

One of our favorite visitors to the booth every year is Marilyn Price from Trips for Kids. She was telling Karen here about all the new chapters she's opening. Bravo!!

Tim Grahl stopped by for a bit at the show and showed us that he's all in tune with our new Justice League padlocks. By the way, he was telling me some amazing things about the growth of his Commute By Bike site. Check it out!

Our friend Eric from Pedro's stopped by on Friday at just the right time. We asked him to pick the winners for our 'Win a Ride with Bob' contest and he did a great job. And the winners are....

Nevrik and Hrach from Velo Pasadena are the grand prize winners! Bob's going to be visiting their shop the first week of November. We are very happy they won since they are such great customers.

Christian (MN), Kevin/Squid (NY) and Billy (CA) are way loyal Kryptonite customers. Each has been a bike messenger for more years than they'd probably want me to tell you about and have become friends over the years. Ok, I just met Billy, but he was hanging with Kevin so it's all good. I know they don't go anywhere with their bikes without a Kryptonite lock. Congrats to Kevin on opening is own messenger company recently.

Lucky gal, version 2. The best part of any job, for me, has always been the people I meet along the way. I've been truly lucky in this job to meet some wonderful folks. Some I am fortunate enough to see more than once a year, some I only see at Interbike and some only come to the show every other year or so. This was a special year...the gang's just about all here (John seemed to be missing during this photo, but he was there, too).

And that's Interbike for another year. I think that Bob may have his own wrap-up later this week, but his will be very different from any of ours and I'm sure it will include a mention of the 7-Eleven team reunion. Stay tuned for that.

Now, on to the fall...

Lake Mead Ride Video

I've been to Interbike 8 times now...and 6 of those I've come home sick. This year is no exception. I've got a red nose, watery eyes and the sniffles. People in the office are avoiding me like crazy....which could be a good thing. I'll get lots done between sneezes.

So, I wasn't feeling that chipper to write this morning. Thank goodness for friends and their creativity!

Carlton Reid sent this link to me this morning. It's a fun video of the 24-mile industry ride to Lake Mead that happened before the indoor portion of Interbike started this year. You'll see the Masiguy, David Bernstein, Rich Kelly and the Boston Globe's Ross Kerber (I told you he was a bike guy!).

Enjoy!

Boston Globe Talks Simply Cycling

There are more photos and commentary from the Interbike show, but I'm weeding through emails this morning....tons tend to pile up when you are out for a week, even when you peek at them half way through the week....

But, I didn't want y'all to miss a couple of articles in today's Boston Globe, which you can view online. The Globe sent out business reporter, Ross Kerber, whom I've known for years. He's a good, fair reporter who just happens to be a total bike person. I'm not sure he considered headed to Vegas for Dirt Demo and the first day of the show 'work', but we won't tell his bosses that.

Anyway, he spent some time at Dirt Demo trying bikes and then walked around the show. His article, "Simple Cycling" is a great one and worth the read. Also worth the read is his second article, "Finding Profit in the Practical". Gee, I wonder who you'll find in that piece... give it a read, too.