Randomness

Just some random things going on in the cycling world....

Already told you that Lance Armstrong is Twittering. You can follow him here. You don't need an account to do so either.

But....he's got a friend of his to sign up, too. Mr. Taylor Phinney. You can follow him here. According to the tweets, Taylor was in Austin for the Ride for the Roses this weekend and his friend Lance convinced him to Twitter. That's kind of cool.

You can see some photos of the start of the Ride for the Roses weekend on the LiveStrong Blog.

Interbike East was held last week (while I was out of town...bummer) in Providence. Both Rich at Interbike Times and Tim at Masi have write ups and photos for your viewing pleasure.

Where is Everyone?

Seems like the blog's been quiet for about a week. Why? Just about everyone at Kryptonite was at Interbike - the big industry trade show. I was there this year to attend one and speak on another social media panel, as well as do a live Spokesmen show. It was a great time seeing some old friends.

There's so much to see there, but here are just a few of the things that I came across.

All the Spokesmen in one place!

Tim "Masiguy"Jackson, Tim Grahl, Richard "Fritz" Masoner, Carlton Reid, David Bernstein

Karen and Don catch up with Chipps Chippendale

Jelly Belly had a cool motorcycle in their booth. And, free Jelly Bellies.

The pros were there, too. Lance in the Oakley booth.

George Hincapie was at the show, too.

But, the never-ending lines were for Tyler Hamilton newly crowned national champ!

Karen and Gustavo welcomed David Bowman from Outdoor Gear Canada to the booth

Karen was a busy lady. She also talked with Megan Tompkins from Bicycle Retailer

Oh yea, there were bikes, too...like this Masi

And the Felt Bikes

And this way cool bike!

Interbike is also about dear friends. Here are three of mine all in one place!

Russ Denny, Tim Jackson, Christian Klempp

iceBike - Day 1

I'm over in the UK this week attending a trade show at Madison, our UK distributor. Don's here with me and we are joining our European Sales Manager, Paul Graveson at the stand/booth. Paul's been with us about 7 months now and you will be learning more about him in the coming weeks.

Madison puts on a fantastic show under the tents at their warehouse. Yesterday was the start of the show with dealers from all over like Barry from Firth Cycles and dealers from Oxford, Bristol and loads of other places. It was also press day where I got to see some of my friends in the UK media like Chipps and some of the guys from Future Publishing. It was great fun for me because this show is less hectic than Eurobike or Interbike so I got to spend some quality time catching up with them. I really enjoy that.

Off to get ready for Day 2 where I'll get to see fellow Spokesman Carlton Reid today! I'm very excited about that. Maybe it will even be sunny again today. Yes, it was sunny yesterday! Really. I'm not kidding.

East Coast Demo?

Last week, I read on the Bicycle Retailer site that Interbike is contemplating an East Coast Demo. For those outside the industry, Interbike is the bike trade show that is held every fall in Vegas. You've heard me talk about it enough here recently, but for any new readers, I like to clarify. But I digress...

Anyway, I didn't think much about this whole East Coast Demo until read it again today at Bike Europe (trade publication for..duh...Europe). Well, that got me to thinking and we all know that is a bad idea....

They are thinking of doing this demo time so that retailers on the East Coast that maybe can't make it to Interbike (it can be friggin' expensive) can have a chance to see the new bikes. Sounds good for the dealers for sure! They are even talking about having a consumer day. Imagine all the bike nuts that would line up to ride the brand spankin' new bikes that won't even be out until spring. I envision some riding buddies getting up early, making the trip down to Providence and spending a morning riding bikes like little kids on Christmas morning with a new bike. Cool image, huh? It will be a fun, fun, fun day for them. So far, so good...bring it on, right?

And then there are the industry companies in New England who will be pretty stoked to do a big event in their backyard. We don't have bikes for you to ride, but they talk about seminars and clinics and networking opportunities all of which we could possibly partake in. Getting to hang out with some dealers for the day is always a good time. And, we'd actually get to ride some bikes, too! We don't get to do that in the desert because it's always time to put up the booth and finalize last minute details before the doors of the trade show open. So, we'd get to be those kids in the candy store, too, for a couple of days.

Still....all good, right? Then I started to wonder about the bike companies. Not Seven Cycles or even IF (this is in their backyard, too). I started to think of Giant and KHS and Haro and Masi -- all located in Cali. They are all pretty drained after spending a week in Vegas - few days in the desert and a few days in the convention. This all on the heels of a pretty event-packed summer, I'd think. They'd have to almost go straight from Vegas to Rhode Island. Are they up for that? I know that the point of all this is to get your bike into the hands of the buyers - the more buyers that see your products, the more chance that they will like the product and buy it. I get that. Guess I just understand the fatigue side of it, too. And, let's not forget the expense. Maybe some of these companies have big, huge marketing budgets (I'm pretty sure a few have gigantic ones compared to ours), but maybe not. Shlepping multiple bikes and gear cross country isn't cheap.

And then I start to think....how many retailers don't go to Vegas from New England and the Mid-Atlantic States (because this would draw people from NY, NJ and PA, at least)? Would it be a lot of overlap? Some, I know, but most? Don't know. Or, would they choose not to go to Vegas next year just because of this opportunity and miss all the other companies that they'd want to see - small companies that can't afford to go to both - or even have the opportunity to be at both. Remember, you don't ride locks.....or bags....or lights....we can go and hang out and ride those shiny bikes, too, but would there be other spaces for us? Not really...ok, we can do a seminar, but would that show all the new products? Don't know - haven't thought that far yet, folks, just spinning thoughts here. And it's not about us, we're right here so we'll represent just fine, thanks...it's smaller companies that don't have those budgets to do Interbike and Providence - even to come and network.

Let's not forget Mother Nature...Oct 16th in New England? You could have that dirty four letter word...snow. No, I'm not a snow person - get over it - hate it. I certainly wouldn't want to be out in it for three days....although I know some people who would love to ride in those conditions.

I'm rambling. But, what do you think? Will New England dealers forego Interbike for Demo Time in Little Rhody? Will the big bike companies want to do both demo areas? Will they have the man/woman power and budgets to do both?

It's still all tentative and Interbike is sending, or has sent surveys, to dealers. We'll all know around Feb. 1st, which is the date to have exhibitor materials and pricing info by then. Interesting....let's hear what you think.

Bob Roll visits Velo Pasadena

by Don Shipman, Western Regional Manager



At the Interbike trade show in September, Bob Roll worked in the Kryptonite booth with us each morning. In the booth, Kryptonite retailers could enter to win a personal store visit by Bob himself, and on the last day of the show we drew from the fishbowl to see who the lucky winner was.

This year's winner was Hrach Gevrikyan at Velo Pasadena in Pasadena, California. Hrach and his wife Nevrik have run their high end Pro Shop since 1988 and were thrilled at winning. Hrach selected Sunday, November 4th and organized a "ride with Bob" VIP ride for his best customers, invited some vendors like Time & Specialized to demo their bikes, hired a DJ and a guy to BBQ and the party was on!

The sun rose Sunday on a perfect day. I was to pick Bob up at the hotel and arrived early - but Bob was ready to go! As we drove to the shop he asked how many people were expected and I said well.............we though there would be about 30 on the ride but that there were already about 80 when I left a half hour ago. Bob seemed worried, "80?" he asked. "80, but that was a half our ago".

We snuck in the back of the store where Hrach had full use of a large parking lot - the lot was jammed full of bikes and people - it was a sea of color. We wasted no time and made our way though the crowd to get fitted on a couple of spankin new Time bikes.

Back outside, a ride leader announced the route - were going to do about a 20 mile loop out around the Rose Bowl. Bob "clicks in" and were off through the quiet streets of Pasadena. I dropped back to count and was astonished - there were about 150 people on this ride! The peloton was about the same size as what you see in the "Tour Day France" - and the amazing part was that wile the pace was brisk the pack stayed together, mostly because as we snaked our way through the tree canopied streets of Pasadena Hrach was working the peloton to keep it together - he dropped back and pulled some back to the peloton, was calling out to others and checking on people, going to the front, dropping to the back and just working hard at 20MPH! Some wanted to go faster, some slower but Hrach just wanted everyone to ride together and have fun.

As we rounded the Rose Bowl and started the mild descent back to the shop the pace relaxed some. People were going to the front to ride with Bob and chat with him a bit. The fun and relaxed pace slowed as we rounded the final turn onto Colorado Blvd. (yep, the same one as the Tournament of Roses Parade) and arrived back at the shop. The BBQ was smokin, the DJ was spinning and the demo bikes were ready to go.

Bob changed and worked the crowd some before settling under the tent to sign Kryptonite posters, shake hands and take pictures.

As the crowd of roughly 300 finally subsided Hrach, brought out an old program from the 1982 Coors Classic and Bob and Hrach shared war stories about racing together back in the day. When Bob left I heard him invite Hrach to come hang out with him at the "Tour of Cali" in February.

A special thanks to Hrach and his wife Nevrik for their warm, welcoming hospitality. We only get Bob to the store - the rest is up to the retailer and Velo Pasadena know how to throw a party!

Meet Bob Roll Sunday

Each of the last few years at Interbike we've held a drawing for dealers that attend the show. There are a few prizes, but the grand prize is a visit to their shop by Bob Roll. Each of the last three years it's been "An Evening with Bob Roll" where he'll come in and share stories about his riding days, his fellow competitors and team mates, the Tour Day France and the state of cycling today. He always arrives to packed shops wherever he goes.

This year we changed it up a little bit as part of our whole Feel Free to Stop campaign. This year the grand prize is that Bob will go to the winning shop and ride with the owner and a few of his/her close friends and then go back to the shop and hang out for a little bit. As we mentioned, a very good customer of ours won the event at the show in September. Well it's this weekend!

Yes, Bob will be visiting Velo Pasadena this Sunday morning! It seems as though owners Nevrik and Hrach have taken their prize to the next level and created quite an event for their customers, too. They really care about their customers because not only will Bob be there but there will be food, music, demos, test rides, raffle prizes (hint..think locks, Bob Roll shirts...) and, did I mention...Bob Roll!

The festivities will start around 11am so if you are close to Pasadena, c'mon over and meet Bob - he'll be with our regional manager, Don Shipman, so it's a Kryptonite twofer. Bob and Don will be there until around 1-ish so get on over there and say "hi". And, while you are at it, thank Nevrik and Hrach for making us feel so welcome. Have a great time!

Bob Roll's Interbike Experience, 2007

by Bob Roll


As expected, the 2007 Interbike extravaganza lived up to its pre-event hype and was a great event, thoroughly enjoyable to all. For me, step #1 is extracting myself from the airport and arriving at the hotel without incident. Coming from a small town in the mountains to the megalopolous that is Las Vegas is always a shock to the system. The melee at the airport never ceases to amaze me. Las Vegas, for some reason, remains a powerful attraction to zombies from all over the world.

Consequently, getting from the airport to the room is one of the most substantial challenges of Interbike. Thanks to Donna Tocci my journeys have been smooth and without incident. The place of habitation is the Venetian Hotel and Casino. The casino part is what makes it more difficult than it needs to be. Although at the Venetian, at least, you can check in without wading through an ocean of slot machines. Not the case, however, when you navigate to your room. Everybody has to pass through the casino in an effort, I presume, to pry peoples’ hard earned cash out of their wallet. For religious reasons I do not gamble and consequently my trips to Vegas have been much more enjoyable. The room, as always, was fantastic.

The first order of business at the trade show was to serve coffee to the thirsty masses at the Kryptonite booth. Then, it was time to be the judge at a video contest sponsored by Shimano and presided over by such luminaries as Phil Liggett, Kozo Shimano and, of course, Donna Tocci.

From there I had a signing at the Hi-Torque booth and after that was a reunion with my teammates from my racing days on 7-Eleven at the Tourneau Watch store sponsored by Bicycling Magazine. All of which was a fundraiser for the Davis Phinney Foundation. What a fantastic honor and great pleasure to be reunited with some real legends of American cycling. On the panel was Tom Schuler, Chris Carmichael, Alex Stieda, Ron Kiefel and, of course, Davis Phinney. The assembled throng were regaled with the tales of our efforts in Europe. A lovely time was had by all. Thereafter was, just like the old days, a team dinner where much wine was drank at Spago.

Day 1 was supposed to include the annual Sinclair extravaganza, where I have imbibed dramatically in years past. But this year I was too exhausted to attend - so much for Day 1!

Day 2 began early again at the Kryptonite booth with coffee for an even larger assemblage of attendees. Repositioning myself at the front of the booth rather than the storage unit in the middle inexplicably seemed to draw more people. The rest of the day included, but was not limited to, a speaking engagement at the Wounded Warrior Project press conference and a book signing at Velonews.

Directly after the book signing was six hours of live TV courtesy of the World Criterium Championships held at the Mandalay Bay parking lot. The professional men’s race was an exciting and very competitive high stakes, great race. It was a real pleasure to commentate on.

The women’s race was won by Laura Van Gilder but it was the Industry Cup race that provided the most crashes and thrills. Such luminaries participated as Steve Bauer and Mario Cipollini. The rest of the field was made up of supposed employees of the cycling industry, which is a pretty broad requirement. There were so many crashes it was difficult to know the beginning and the end of field. Also, the variety in fitness levels made the pack impossible to differentiate from the stragglers. Add oil on the streets and two days, at least, of heavy drinking and you have a recipe for hilarity.

I am sure the next day at the show there were many employees nursing their wounds. Six hours of live television is not easy but having a crash to commentate on about every half a minute makes the time fly. Generally, my job is as a commentator on cycling events and it was nice to be able to apply my trade at the bike show. However, being able to meet the people at the Kryptonite booth is the main attraction for me going and remains an event that I look forward to throughout the racing season.

I’m looking forward to next year’s races and have enjoyed a fantastic relationship with Kryptonite and look forward to all of our promotions in the future. So, everybody go out and buy some locks!

The trip home was uneventful, which is my favorite kind of trip. My liver has shrunk back down to normal size and I’m looking forward to ’08.

Hiking, Climbing and Camping My Way to Interbike

by Eric Anastasia, Eastern Regional Manager

This was the fourth year that I boarded a plane in route to Las Vegas for Interbike (international bike tradeshow). The conventional way of traveling to Interbike for me is to board the plane at Boston’s Logan Airport and disembark in “Sin City” Las Vegas, Nevada.

This year was different. I did leave from Boston but I landed in Denver, Colorado, then traveled out to Vail to link up with a good friend of mine. He had planned a little journey for us; well over a thousand driving miles, 2 State Parks, 5 National Parks and countless miles of hiking all in 4 days. One of the days we hiked over 11 miles in under 6 hours, a little less then half of those miles where done in a river. The remainder was a 1400’ vertical hike with steep zig-zags though the mountain. (Zion N.P.)

The River

The Summit

I could go on and on about the incredible sights we saw but I will give it to you simple.

Arched National Park

Capitol Reef National Park

Goblin Valley State Park

Bryce Canyon National Park

Zion National Park

And finally, Red Rocks

This was by far the best Interbike I ever experienced. We already started talking about next year's trip and the route we are going to take.

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...

Interbike - Outside Our Booth

After a heck of a week with a cold, I am finally able to breathe. If you couldn't guess, breathing is not over-rated. I credit the semi-fast turn around to my new found gem - Puffs w/Vicks. I had never seen them before and after a little investigating found out they are new. If you get a cold....go directly to the store and get some. Now...I wonder if they make things for coughs....

But, I digress.....although I spent a lot of time in our booth at Interbike I did get out a couple of times to visit some friends and see some of the sights. Got to the Thule booth to say 'hey' to Karl and Tripp, met a very nice lady at the Larabar booth (if you haven't tried them do it today...they are just too, too good and good for you), got to the Masi/Haro booth a couple of times (how could I not), met new friends at the Shimano booth (as you can see) and found these interesting items along the way.....



Yes, you see a bus in that photo. A real bus that the folks at Clif Bar drive around the country. It was a cool thing to see. I guess they were also doing smoothies or shakes during the show, too, but I got there too late for that (note to self for next year....go on day 1).


A guy rode by our booth on this one of the days of the show but I didn't get the camera out in time. The next day I found it hanging out in this booth. This is just FUN!



Then I found our friend Chris at the Earth, Wind and Rider booth. Check out this wool polo shirt. Chris took a trip around the country this summer and hung out at some messenger events and found that they are playing street polo now. These shirts are just sweeeet....there are 6 total with different colors and numbers that are distinctive to the cities they represent. The numbers are...get this...the area codes (brilliant!) and the colors have something to do with the city...Boston's red because of the Red Sox (ha)...New York is yellow for the taxi cabs, or in my mind for the New York Lock...Oakland is silver to match the Raiders and so forth. Way cool.

My last stop before I packed up and left the show was to visit a long-time friend of mine, Dave Murphy, over at the Sugoi booth. He showed me some absolutely kickin' new items for 2008. He's been with the company for about a year and a half now and I can see his touch pretty much everywhere. There was just too much goodness to take photos of everything, but check out this women's jersey.....it has a cupcake design on it and in the pocket??? The recipe to make cupcakes. How fun is that?! Look for it next spring.

That's it for now...one more Interbike post from me to come...after all, we did have some great things happen IN our booth, too.....

Happy Weekend all!

Dave Zabriskie's Calling YOU out!

Have ever watched the Tour Day France and thought, "I can take him". Ok, me either....but maybe you've watched a race at some point and thought, "I can hang with him." Tomorrow's your chance if you live in or near the state of Utah.

As part of the Bikes for Kids Utah, current USA Time Trial Champion, Dave Zabriskie will race YOU, big talker. Yup, that's right. Bring your trash talkin' and give it a go. For $75, which goes to this great organization, you can race Dave on a USA Cycling sanctioned time trial course. Is there a catch? No...except that it is up Salt Lake's Traverse Ridge (that to me says "mountain").

Dave's ready. Are you?!

If that's a stretch for you...'cause it is for me....you can participate in Bikes for Kids Utah on Saturday with Dave, too. There's a 5K family ride and a 50K with Dave and a metric century at 100K. Hopefully, it will be a nice fall day for a ride. Go on out and join 'em. I've only been in contact with Dave once...he visited our booth at Interbike in '06 (no not to see me...to say 'hey' to Bob Roll). He seemed very, very nice - I'm sure he'll be fun to ride with.

So, what is Bikes for Kids Utah? You can read all about them here, but basically they are an organization that started last year to provide "disadvantaged children with free bicycles as an inexpensive and fun way to get to school and as a hobby that helps them exercise as well as learn responsibility and safety."

The organization teaches them about bike safety, rules of the road and the importance of regular exercise. Last year they gave away....are you ready for this....they gave away 1,000 bikes! They are aiming to do so again this year. Amazing.

Kryptonite has been a proud supporter of this event the last two years. Seriously - kids, bikes and safety...it's a great thing for all involved.

We wish everyone involved tomorrow the time of their life and everyone a crisp, clear fall day to ride on Saturday.

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.

Interbike Day 1

Day 1 of the Interbike show opened with a flourish. I don't think I took a deep breath until about noon - or maybe later.

Highlights:
- seeing good friends! Some I only see once a year, some I haven't seen in a few years and others that I have never met in person until yesterday. I know trade shows are a lot of work, but this truly is the best part. And, if you have more than 2 minutes to catch up with some of these folks, it's truly a great day. Thanks to those friends who found more than a few minutes to catch up.

- having Bob Roll in the booth, of course. Bob is always fun and brings in a great crowd.

- judging the YouTube contest at the Shimano booth. I was in some pretty cool company. Wow!

- actually doing a Spokesmen podcast in the same room with the rest of the crew! I may have sounded like a complete dork, but it was great to be in the same room with David, Carlton, Tim and Tim.

- seeing dragons - yes, dragons...

- attending the 7-Eleven team reunion. What a historic occasion. As John Eustice said, this is really the team that started it all...7-Eleven to Motorola to US Postal to Discovery....and what stories they have of the 'old days'. The pre-event announcement mentioned "Celebrating the Fast Times & Raucous Racing of American Cycling's Original Supergroup". After hearing some of the stories, I have to think it was quite a wild ride (no pun intended).

***The 7-Eleven reunion was a fundraiser for the Davis Phinney Foundation. All donations to the foundation to October will be matched by Bicycling Magazine. You can donate here, just leave the box for the "Victory Lap" checked and Bicycling will match. Bravo, Bicycling!

Ok, got to run to the second day....here are a few photos...




Kryptonite booth (side view)



Oh, look at the front view of our booth...it's the new Masi Soulville ...yes, it's as cool as you think it is....and it looks good on our flamed out parking meter (yes, it's a Dave Perewitz original).



Bob Roll telling stories to some cycling fans at the Kryptonite booth.




I'm a lucky gal....this was the group judging the YouTube contest. (l-r) Dave (Shimano), David (Fredcast/The Spokesmen), Tim Grahl (Crooked Cog), little ole me (!), Bob Roll (y'all know him...), Master of Ceremonies Carlton (BikeBiz), Mr. Kozo Shimano (our gracious host) and Phil Liggett (y'all know him, too).


I wasn't kidding about the dragons....

We're all set up

So...Interbike set up day is behind us...we are ready to go. Or as ready as we will ever be.

Today was a day for all the little things to go wrong - although not many did for us. A shelf missing a peg here....a hook missing there...minor stuff really. The one missing piece is our Masi bike, but that's coming in the morning. I'm super pumped about that. I guess it's been getting a lot of attention out at Dirt Demo - the belle of the ball. Congrats to Masiguy!

Among all the craziness it was a time to see some dear old friends that we don't see often enough. I saw Eric from Park Tool (as he was on his way to take one of their guys to the hospital for stitches after Dirt Demo- eek), Tripp from Thule, Eric from Pedro's and Chris Fallon from Earth, Wind & Rider. All friends from way back that I don't see often enough.

Rich Kelly ran by the booth and actually stopped to say 'hey'. It was great of him to stop for a couple of minutes in his busy day. I can only imagine how busy he really is during this show. Thanks for stopping in, Rich.

Bob Roll's here...haven't seen him or talked to him, but did a mean game of phone tag with him today. We'll see him at the booth tomorrow.

Tomorrow's the day. So many folks that I can't wait to see!

Here are some photos from set up day.

Ok, it's fuzzy, but this gives you an idea of what the spaces between the booths look like the day before the show...all crates as far as you can see.

The view from the top of our booth. Doesn't look like there is room for any customers does it? There will be by tomorrow - all the ladders, boxes and assorted stuff will be outta there.

We're all glad that Chris Fallon stopped by to say 'hello'.