So let me just say that I miss Lyd and Luka back home. I'll deal with the comments from you jackals later, but right now I wish they were here.
The alarm blew up at 6a.m., and Bob immediately rolled over and hit snooze. What do you expect from a grown-ass man with a Mohawk and a black eye from a mosh pit? The snooze button, that's what! We gathered our weary asses and ran to the Hall, paying $20 for coffee and a mufin at the Excalibur wallett draining facility near the exit. We had a quick meeting with Joel Smith about re-upping our contract for 2009. I have met a tremendous number of people in this industry, and as an outsider (I really am..I never have really worked in the bike industry until I moved to Columbus last year) I have seen some crazy people. Joel is one of the nicest, calmest, most accomodating people I have ever met.
We rarely get a chance to talk, but he always treats us as if we just had dinner at his house. Happy with the team, he has AGREED TO KEEP US AS THE SOLE TOMAC MTB TEAM IN NORTH AMERICA! Thanks again to everyone at Tomac cycles for all the great help. You people are seriously crazy if you buy anything else than a Tomac. The support is uneqaulled, and the bikes have been perfect.
This muscle shocker looked great, but the guys who repped this product were mere inches away from an ass-kicking for two days straight. D-bags.
Bert ogling my bike w/out permission. That TYPE X is MINE!
The newly redesigned KOT.
Kenda road brand manager Stefano Lumbaca showing off the new tires..and new booth.
Kenda rolled out a re-vamped KOT today. the larger DH casing showing up with a much improved tie-bar to the soft and otherwise pliable spikes. Road tire brand manager Stefano Lumbaca (still healing from a hand injury suffered at Phase 2 trail in Ohio) showed us the product line, and had some top secret news about road racing for 2009!! SIGMA rolled out their software-included ROX 9.0, already in use in Europe, and it was a show stopper. They also had the coolest schwag of the show...a business card on one side...
and a beer-pint checker on the other...just in case the barkeep tries to hose you on you Amber Ale.
The Amino Vital booth was busy as all hell today, and Vegas Bob once again grabbed all the camera time between the NOMAD booth and A.V. The uber-hotties at NOMAD slapped some stickers on his Mohawk and he went to work.
Remember that Amino ad from a few months ago? They made it into a huge poster of our very own Charles Libolt for the show! That's Ming Tai of MFactor w/Vegas Bob in the background.
The NOMAD crew showing off their favorite team jersey.
Vegas Bob and his new imaginary wife. I could see babies w/ a mohawk and freckles, couldn't you?
Bert and NOMAD super-model Rebekah Mitchell trying to get Bert to stay focused on the product.
MING TAI arrived via McCarren airport around 9a.m., and he spent the day as if in some orgasmotron machine...rubbing Italian bike parts on his underpants, eyes spinning wildly in a cacophony of joy. It was great to see Ming, and he enjoyed his first Interbike a little too much. Bert arrived at the time Ming left, and we walked to Tomac, Kenda, etc. to say hello. Bob went home, too, today..but will be replaced by Colorado team manager Jim Roff! Jimbo arrives tomorrow..can't wait!
After the Hall closed, we all convened on the first ever Arena X bike race! It was an invitation only race that was like a Supercross for 4-Cross guys. Friends James Schwanke and Evilio Suarez both raced against the best, and it was great to watch! Bert and I had to think fast.
Olympian Mary McConnelough and Mike Broderick (7 Cycles) were trapped outside the door with no tickets. Bert and I had come in the pro rider area, and since I had my jersey on..they never asked for our tickets! Thinking fast, we ran to the door and handed them our passes. I haven't seen M&M in a long time...so long in fact that they had NO IDEA that I was in Columbus now and with Lydia. They also had no idea that Lyd was a famous rocker, or that Ara had returned from Armenia.
I called the Fuzz and let them all talk for a while. It was really great to see many of the people I hold so close all together and happy, living their cycling dreams out and enjoying what every day brings them.
Seeing Timari, Tom Wehe, Bert, Jim W., Vegas Bob, Ming, the Sigma peeps, etc. made me feel like I was whole again...even if it only lasts until Saturday. Everyone was amazed that Kenda didn't let Lyd come to the show. They all asked where she was and it was nice to see that everyone misses her as well.
James "Stellar" Keller and Bert sharing an intimate man-moment and a beer at the SIGMA booth after the show closed down. Pickle-smoochers.
It's now 11:45pm, and I am exhausted. Bert's already out, and I am crashing hard. More tomorrow...
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