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Showing posts from September, 2010

Someone read my mind

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This is the greatest catalog I've ever had the pleasure to carry home from a trade show. Thank you SBS, thank you.

Vegas (baby)

Another Interbike is in the books.  It was my first show in a couple of years, and it probably will be my last for the foreseeable future.  The thinkers have decided to move the bike show back to Anaheim CA for the next 3 years.  I did my first couple of shows in Anaheim.  I'm in no hurry to return. I don't know what the thinking really was behind this move.  I do know that there has been plenty of whining about the show being in Vegas.  Not family friendly they say.  You are there for a trade show, are you not?  Dirty, loud, obnoxious and smoky.  Not the right city for a industry that trades in good health.  Maybe so.  Las Vegas is all of those things, and probably a couple more.  I know this.  There isn't another city in the world with as much entertainment, and really fine dining within walking distance of your hotel.  There is one thing stuck in my craw.  The people that have screamed the loudest about the "waste, and excess of Las Vegas" are the very same

It has to be true

I've worked in retail for a long time.  There are always stories about crazy, or funny things customers would say.  I was thinking about one the other day, and I thought I would share. A guy, and his wife come into the store.  They are looking at a particular bike, and we start to discuss the features.  The conversation turns, as it usually does, to the other colors available.  This particular bike was only available in the color we had, which was black.  This customer was not a stranger to us, so I said "You can have any color you want, as long as it's black".  He paused, gave me a quizzical look, and then laughed.  I was, of course, recalling Henry Ford, but felt like I had to explain myself.  "You know, just like Henry Ford" I said.  The man laughed again, and then his wife exclaimed "That's why he ain't President anymore". It's a true story. Ride on.

The first taste of freedom

I wrote a radio ad several years ago that talked about your first bike. It's a transformational thing when you stop and think about it. For me it was my first taste of freedom. Traveling, under my own power, anywhere I wanted to go (as long as I didn't leave my block). Since then I've had several cars, and motorcycles but none give me the feeling I get when I ride a bicycle. What was your first bike? Do you remember? - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A dance in the dirt

Labor day is just around the corner.  Summer is almost in the rear view mirror.  Cyclocross season is here!  I love cyclocross, I really do.  For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, let me explain.  Cyclocross is done on what looks like a road bike, but there are sections of grass and dirt trails.  There are steep sections that you sometimes have to run up while pushing, or carrying your bike.  There are obstacles that require you to dismount, run over said obstacle, and then remount.  What's not to love about that?  It takes finesse, bike handling and a tremendous amount of fitness to do all of that well. Cycling elders tell us that in the "old days" European pros would modify an old road bike to accept wider, somewhat knobbier tires so they could continue to train in the winter.  Those were hard men. Cyclocross is small.  It's growing here in the US, but it's still small.  People do this because they like it.  There are no glossy mag