No longer an InterBike virgin

In my August 16^th post “Getting my Geek on”, I mentioned going to InterBike in Vegas. Well the show was last week and I can honestly say it was fantastic!!! A bit overwhelming, but fantastic.

The trip there made me think I should just sit at the black jack table and bet it all. Everything was going my way. It started when American Taxi ran out of cabs so they sent me a beautiful big town car. Once at the airport, I was able to secure an exit row seat at no charge, only catch it was a middle seat. When booking online they wanted $64!! Heck no to that.

Security was a breeze and I was pretty early, so I got my Garrett popcorn fix. Now why can’t that have an ultra-small size? Even the small is too much of a good thing. Off to the gate I went where two women in their 70s decided I’d be their new BFF. Have to say they were a hoot and kept me entertained until boarding time. I had a feeling they’d be getting into a lot more trouble than I would in Vegas.

As I boarded the plane and reached my row, the man in the exit isle seat smiled and asked if I wouldn’t mind switching with him. Are you kidding me? Give up a middle seat, heck yeah!! For some reason this guy wanted to sit next to his wife, which was fine by me. So now I have an exit row, isle seat to Vegas baby!!! Would wishing for a bump to 1^st class be too much to ask?

There was a glitch right as they were about to close the cabin doors. Seems a woman took tranquilizers prior to boarding and passed out. The nice Jewish doctor behind me (can’t script this), put on his rubber gloves and escorted her off the plane. Doors closed, wheels up and off to Vegas.

When we landed, there was a comment on my Facebook post that my friend Kai from Milwaukee would be in Vegas at another conference. Bonus, we’d get to see each other!!

Since I was on my own dime, I decided to take a Super Shuttle to the hotel. To my delight my 2 elderly BFFs where on the “party bus”. A couple of men boarded and I quickly struck up a conversation with one of them who looked like a cyclist. He indeed was going to InterBike and when asked which company he worked for, I almost hit the floor. I was trying to get a meeting with his company’s VP but our schedules were too busy. But sure enough his VP was sitting next to him and we conducted our meeting on the bus. It was Kismet.

At the hotel waiting in a long line to check in, I get a text from John Marsh the publisher/editor of RoadBikeRider.com. We had never met and the text was “where are you?” Ends up he’s in line right next to me. He assumed there weren’t too many 6’ tall curly red heads checking into a Vegas hotel but thought it was safer to check first.

I was at InterBike on a press pass, so the first evening was spent at the Press Preview event. There John and I got our first bit of schwag, a nice Thule backpack. I would need it as well as my half empty suitcase to bring home all the stuff we got. We wandered from booth to booth seeing what was new and what products would be good to review in the coming issues of RBR.

The next morning we attended the industry breakfast at 730am before heading to the show. I had meetings lined up most of the day so I knew it would be an exhausting 9 hours on my feet. The show was so huge that I felt like I was continuously lost and walking in circles. Even with the InterBike Mobile App, it was hard to find the booth you were looking for. I needed a turn by turn cue sheet. Maybe marked up in pink and blue highlighter by Cindy K. (inside joke)

Some of the key vendors I met with the first day included Pearl Izumi, Polar, Topeak, COBI, Garmin, Muc-Off, PrimalWear, Polar Bottles, Smith, Lazer (who was just bought by Shimano), Zevlin, Catrike, 2xu, Coeur Sports, SockGuy, Shebeast, Giordana, SealSkinz, Bolle and countless others.

By the end of the first day, the show was winding down and I was pretty tired and still overwhelmed. Then I get a text from John, “Happy hour at the BMC booth.” Somehow I was able to find it pretty quick and we enjoyed a beer as we debriefed about our day. But my day wasn’t over. Had to go catch a bus to see Cross Vegas, the UCI Cyclocross World Cup season opener. I’m not a big fan of bike racing but cyclocross is so much fun. Plus they had the Clif Bar umbrella boys. It’s cyclocross’ version of Thunder Down Under. Really buff guys in just cycling bibs. Eye candy for the women. 

Clif Bar Umbrella Boys - Some nice eye candy

I did get to catch up with Kai and her husband Andrew at the race. Seems Andrew knew all the pros and kept pointing out top riders. I admit, I was clueless since I don’t follow cross racing. But when he spotted Katie Compton, Kai wanted a picture with her. I thought I was taking the picture of Kai and Katie for her Facebook page “For the Love of Her Bike.” But then all of a sudden Kai is telling Katie who I am and that I write this blog for women, yadda yadda yadda. Like Katie could care less. I just wanted to climb in a hole. But Katie was extremely kind, pretended to be interested, and posed with us.

Kai, Katie Compton and Me

We were then treated to one of the most exciting women’s pro (or men’s) races ever. So worth being up for almost 21 hours!!!

These three played cat and mouse up until the finish line

The final day at InterBike for me was only a half day. I waited forever for the umbrella boys to come to my room and sit on my suitcase so I could close it. So much product and literature to take home. Can’t wait to start reviewing many of the items we saw. Breakfast was at a vendor’s suite, Showers Pass, so we could learn about their new line. I had never heard of them but they make some high end windproof, waterproof and breathable jackets among other items. I now have one of their jackets to product test. After breakfast on to Garneau, Kask, Zoic, 7Mesh, Tifosi, Stages, and VisiJax to name a few.

The trip home was a bit rocky. Vegas had 30mph winds so a very bumpy flight. But I can’t complain, it was a great trip, met with a lot of companies and saw a lot of cool new products. Now I have my work cut out for me testing and reviewing scores of items from helmets to jackets to eyewear. It will be like Christmas the next few months as samples start being delivered.

Sad to say I never had time to gamble but my luck was through the roof. Maybe next time.

My InterBike article for RBR just posted today. Check it out and see what was new.