Interbike 2008

I got an opportunity to attend Interbike this year thanks to my cousin. Interbike in the bike industry trade show that is the biggest in the world. First 2 days are an outdoor demo at Bootleg Canyon west of Vegas. The next 3 days are the show at the Sands Convention Hall on the Vegas strip.

We arrived at the demo day at 830am just before they opened. We were the first guys on a couple bikes on the mountain bike course. WOW, is all I can say. There were probably a couple hundred booths and most of them had the "top-of-the-line" bikes to demo. You name the company, they were probably there. I figure I tried about ~$100,000 worth of bikes those 2 days.

Bootleg canyon is known for it's great mountain biking. The desert trails were great. They even had a shuttle truck to the very top of the hill. I rode mostly 29ers since I've never tried one and I've heard great things about their handling. Started with some hardtails (thinking I'd use one in the future for racing), but I talked myself out of that and went back to the full suspension. Very nice rides.

I actually spent most of my time riding road bikes. I'm in the market for one in 2009 and my mountain bike skills were lacking since I don't get a chance to ride mine in PDX that much. They had a 1.5 mile road loop to try them out. These were the high dollar bikes - awesome bikes that I couldn't afford. Even if I could, I probably wouldn't buy one since I'd just cry if I damaged it.


Wednesday was the first day at the show in the convention center. It was my only day since I had to fly back on Thursday for the OSU-USC game (glad I did that - what a game). The show was very overwhelming. ~1300 total booths. We did alot of browsing for free goodies and cool things for sale. Some booths will sell things, but not many. My great purchase was a pair of Shimano custom fit road shoes and mountain bike shoes - had to get both since the price was fanatasic.

Wednesday night was Cross Vegas. It was rumored that Mr Lance Armstrong was going to show up. I was alittle skeptical when I saw an email that he was in New York for a press conference that morning. But sure enough, Mr Jet-Setter was there. What a great venue to see him since he passes you about 30 times on zig-zap 2 mile loop for 60 minutes. He did well, but of course couldn't beat all the top guys that train for this specific event. Ryan Trebon from Bend OR won. I got to talk to him a few weeks ago when I registered him for a cross race that my team put on in PDX. There were 3 guys with Oregon roots that finished well.

I talked to a few guys that regularly attend the show since they are in the industry, and of course if you go every year it becomes "work". However, for a first timer - WOW, what an amazing experience - like a kid in a candy shop.

The following slide show shows most of the bikes I rode, a photo of Christian Vande Velde (5th place in Tour de France) and me, and Lance at CrossVegas.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.