Bicycles and Vegas?

Of all the things that I can imagine when I think of Las Vegas, cycling isn't one of them. Sensory overload of cars, limo's. trams and people make riding a bike more than just dangerous...but suicidal. But I wasn't in Vegas to ride----I was there to view all the latest and greatest inventions the bike industry had to offer. And to see folks I haven't seen in too, too many months. Just running into random customers, vendors and racers that I used to see on a regular basis was "priceless". (Of course, Mike may not agree with the priceless part...cause Vegas ain't cheap!)

I ended up flying with the President (?) of the Bianchi/Grand Performance cycling team! How lucky was that? When we arrived in Vegas I called Dave & Kathy (my generous hosts for the next few days), and Dave said, "Hey we're at the Bellagio---meet us there". I said, "Are you sure it's the Bellagio? I thought we were meeting at the Venetian". "Yup...meet us at the Bellagio" So I changed my transportation and joined Bob from Bianchi/Grand Performance and headed to the Bellagio. Soon as I got off the shuttle, Dave calls, "Ooops...we're at the Venetian". After about a 2 mile walk with my heavy bags, (sigh) I saw my dear friends and made Dave carry my bags the rest of the way. (-:

We shared a nice little timeshare, right next to Interbike. Interbike takes the "overload" to a new level. Any and every manufacturer, dealer, advocacy group, race team, and cycling celebrity makes an appearance in the showroom! It's amazing. Running into folks from my California past was great fun. Having drinks with Phil Liggett, Tim Grady and Jim Ochowitz was a treat indeed!

You could spend a week walking up and down the aisles of booths, and still not see everything on offer for the upcoming season. Meeting Eddie Merckx (and of course I had my sharpie pen!) made my trip a success. And a very nice and interesting thing to note is that in spite of all the people and booths, there were so many people and friends I knew----cycling is such a small world, even on the grandest of scales!

I arrived back in Minneapolis around 11:30pm, and it was midnight before I got to my car almost...not so bad. I then had a three hour drive back to Marshall. I don't imagine I'll be doing that again anytime soon. Being so far away from the airport is hard. The wind has been steady at 20+ MPH since I got home. At least it isn't snowing....

Mike was sick the whole time I was gone and today is the first day he feels good enough to ride....so we skipped racing this weekend. Given that I haven't had a day off, it's a good day to catch up on jobs around the house, and get some cycling in my legs.

(Photo of Joni w the infamous Phil Liggett missing here....)