Interbike

My first poster!

As the race season is winding down, it starts to become that time of year where we start looking towards next seasons new products hitting the shelves. The best place to find the latest and greatest new products, along with the vast majority of the cycling industry, happens to be at the Interbike tradeshow located in the desert wasteland that is Las Vegas. Interbike 2011 was actually my first time at Interbike and I had no idea what to expect.

I wasn't able to attend the dirt demo for the first few days. I decided to fly out early Thursday morning. I was working late on Wednesday as we are working mandatory overtime. I had to get from Everett to Sea-Tac late at night. Normally this involves a trip through Seattle down I-5 and pay for parking. Alternatively, if you happen to work at a company that maintains aircraft and is delivering one to the airport you are departing from, you can get a nine minute flight straight to your terminal. Getting to go on a flight at work is almost a badge of honor for us, so being able to take one that was also utilitarian was awesome.

Private flight!

The pilots were really nice and even let me ride in the cockpit in the jump seat. I am not a huge fan of flying, but being able to look out the front window of the airplane while flying over Seattle and seeing the lights at night was a sight very few people get to experience.

The view is much better that this photo shows.

This started my trip on a great note. After riding in the cockpit, it's hard to know you have to go sit in coach. However, I managed to sleep the whole way to Vegas. I awoke to beautiful sunny tempuratures and headed to the tradeshow. After finiding my way through the maze of cycling eye candy, I arrived at the Raleigh America booth. Raleigh is the parent company of Diamondback, and they had a combined booth at the show. The booth looked amazing and was packed all weekend with bike shops and media personel.

New DH prototype on display!

The 2012 Knucklebox Frames on display along with the Utah trip video.

The end of the first night started with Billy and I heading to a dinner with Kali Protectives. I had been to Vegas before, but this was a little different experience. Starting the night with steak and lobster was hard to beat. I want to send a huge thank you to Brad and the rest of the Kali crew. Their new product is amazing and I can't wait to get some riding time on it.

Pure nightclub VIP area overlooking the Strip.

From their we headed to a party at Pure nightclub at Caesars Palace. Go-Pro had a VIP area reserved on the second level was impressive to see along with overlooking the middle of the strip. From their our party ended up at the Wynn for the Contour party which was the best part of the night. Such a good atmosphere there along with running into a huge crew.

Anytime your night involves Cedric and a Limo, it gets a little hazy.

The rest of the night gets a little hazy from this point on, but I ended up back at my room at Treasure Island to get a few hours of sleep before the final day of the tradeshow.

Friday morning wasn't as painful as it probably should have been. A few liters of water, a good brekfest, and some coffee can make a person feel pretty good. I walked across the street to the Sands Convention Center and began my journey for the day. Casey and Scott from the NW Cup series were unable to attend the show and asked if I could do some promotion for them. I spent most of the day talking to potential sponsors of the series and my own sponsors as well. I'm really excited about my program for next season and the NW cup should be in good hands as well.

2011 was good, 2012 will be great!

As soon as the bell rang at the end of the day, the booths started being torn apart. I gathered all of my belongings and headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. Raleigh was having a big dinner to celebrate a great show. We met up at a sushi restauraunt and sat down for an experience. I like sushi, but I was blown away by the meal that was put before me. The meal consisted of amazing sushi, along with Kobe beef cooked on a hot stone at the table, plus crab legs and other stuff I'm sure I can't pronounce. That was the best meal I think I've ever had in my life.

Sorry for the bad photos. Camera phone photos don't work very well in low light.

From there we were told to get dressed up for a night on the town. Everyone was waiting in front of Treasure Island when a stretch hummer pulled up. Sitting in a stretched hummer, blasting Black Sabbath, cruising down the strip wasn't on my bucket list, but I am adding it now that it happened. The limo pulled up to the Mandalay Bay and we were ushered to the top floor. There was a little private club up there that overlooked the strip with one of the most amazing view I've ever seen. A DJ was playing music while go-go dancers were doing their thing throughout the club.

Best view of Vegas!

The night ended with a stop at Mcdonalds and a short trip the the Casino. I turned three dollars into ninety dollars before losing it all. I need to learn when to stop. Net total only losing three dollars in Vegas is considered a win! 

This guy was passed out next to us at Mcdonalds. He didn't move the entire time we were there. 

Being back in Seattle is a treat. I am probabaly the only one who was happy to come home to some rain. The trails really need it and I've never been a fan of warm tempuratures anyways. I head to North Carolina on Wednesday for National Champs! I'll have another update when I get home!

-KT

Random Update - Surfing on the Coast, New Tires, Kachees Ridge, and a Neck Helmet

Ruth and I on the Oregon Coast

The light at the end of the tunnel is slowly appearing! There are only a handful of races left this season and we're in the home stretch. Don't get me wrong, I love racing, but after being on the road almost every weekend, all summer long, it is nice to know you will have a few days at home to rest and relax.

Abbey Road?

I skipped the Mt. Spokane round of the All Gravity Series to head to the Oregon coast with my wife and her family. 4 days of relaxing on the beach does wonders to rejuvenate someone. We went on some fun hikes, Rode horses on the beach, and went surfing. The only sad part was that it had to end.

Ruth, Me, and Austin sitting on the porch of our rental house.

I arrived back in Issaquah to find another box from Kenda had arrived for me. This time it was the DH tires! I mounted up a 2.5 Nexcavator in the new 42 durometer compound to the front of my DH bike and put a 2.5 Excavator Stick-E (50 durometer) in the rear and headed to Exit 27 to try it all out. The conditions right now are really dry and blown out, but the tires hooked up well. They felt predictable and held their edge on corners much more than the Nevegals I've run in the past. I'm excited to get some rain again and test them in proper northwest conditions.

New shoes! I've been really impressed with these tires, I'll give a more thorough review once it gets wet.

Last weekend, Jill Kintner called me and asked if I wanted to go hit up Kachees ridge in Easton Washington. I've heard that it is a fun all-mountain shuttled ride and was excited to go. Her fiance, World Cup racer Bryn Atkinson, broke his femur earlier this year and was relegated to shuttle driver. Bryn said the road was really fun to drive and actually seemed the most excited out of any of us to be there! He is back walking again and hopefully will be back on the bike soon. Travis Erickson, Jill and I rode the first lap and ran into a bunch of other riders for the second lap. It was a great day of riding and I was blown away by the scenery.

Bryn walking again!

The view from the top of Kachees is amazing. You have an amazing overlook of Mt Rainier and the surrounding mountains, along with looking down at Lake Kachees. The ride is an all-mountain ride that has a few really technical decents, one hike a bike and some really fun flowy trail following a creek for a few miles. I was loving the trail, but on our second lap, I clipped a rock with my rear end and ripped my derrailur off the bike. fortunatley the trail flows pretty well, so with a little scootering, I was able to coast to the last downhill and rip it back to the car. I need to get out and do more rides like this. Riding new trails is always fun!

I forgot my camera in the truck, so these are the only two photos I have. Jill should have some more on her phone. If I can get them, I will post them.

In safety news, I decided at the beginning of this year that I was going to run a Leatt brace this season. A Leatt brace is a neck brace designed to keep your neck from snapping in the event of a big crash. Diamondback helped get me set up with one and I'm glad I will be wearing one now.

Will Smith in "Wild Wild West" sporting the original Leatt brace.

At the Mt Spokane race that I skipped, a friend of mine and all around good guy, John Henry had a nasty crash and ended up breaking his neck and back. Fortunatly he can still walk and has complete movement. He was fortunatly wearing a Leatt brace and it probably saved his life.

Get well soon John!

In the interest of fashion however, I decided that I didn't want the basic stock color. Rob Crump had told me he dyed his and it looked great. I decided I would give it a go and try to make it not white. I decided to make it red to match the Diamondback team colors, as the the plastic parts are already white and black.

Step 1. Buy Dye.

Step 2. Cook pads in tomato soup.

Step 3. Profit!

I also just booked my tickets to National Champs at the end of the month. The rest of this month is filling up quickly. World Champs are this weekend, my parents are visiting next weekend, then Interbike, National Champs, and Silveroxx. After all of that, only the Moscow race will remain to finish the season!

Sam hill runs a Leatt, so it must be fast!

See you at the next ride.

-KT