Interbike 2009 - Day One

Okay, another long day.

We attended a bunch of tech seminars. Well, if two is a bunch, we went to two. We got seminar-ed out at that point. I promise that I'll cover them more completely, one with so much information that it'll take a good few posts to cover.

We stood in line for a few autographs. We got autographed out at that point. That may warrant a post, probably not.

And we did get to see a few things. I took few pictures, trying to get an overall view of things, but again, a few things popped, and those will get posts later.

Finally tuckered out, we headed back to the room. We wanted to get a ride in before it got dark, and we had to get the bikes ready.

I had to install the stem I brought with me, a nice 130mm jobber from my local LBS, initially meant for the tandem's 31.8mm bar, now a perfect sub for the shorty on the borrowed Cervelo.

I also had to install the pedals.

Um. The pedals.

I looked in the first rolly suitcase thing. No pedals.

The second. No pedals.

The carry on.

No pedals.

Bang, over to the laptop. "Bicycle Shops, Las Vegas".

Kevin walked over. "You should look for Look dealers."

Right.

Go to Look's site. Find dealers.

Jot down some directions.

Off we go. Sun blinding us, can barely see. A few miles into our drive, the shop isn't there.

We turn in at the next parking lot. I call the shop. No answer.

Of course, they're all at Interbike.

Crap.

Kevin looks up.

"Hey, there's the shop. Uh.. it doesn't look open."

We start looking for another shop. Kevin starts.

"Hey, someone's in there."

We asked if we can come in, the guy let us. The door's hydraulics are a lot tougher than I thought, and I really wrenched my bad shoulder. I sagged in pain, rallied, and pressed on. I walked into the shop.

He has Keos, but he didn't know about the prices and stuff. As I'd guessed, the rest of the shop was at Interbike, along with the cash register.

We bought a pair of nice black Keos. We thanked him profusely and prepared to leave.

I noticed that there was a really cool home-made looking 20" wheeled recumbent bike. It looked too long, the drivetrain too compact, and the frame too home-made.

It screamed landspeed record bike.

Sure enough, our friendly host verified that, yes, it was indeed a LSR bike, sans fairing.

He looked at us, thought for a sec.

"Guys, come over here. Lemme show you something."

We walked over to another room.

"The fairing?", I guessed.

"No... let me show you."

We walked into a room dripping with rims, a center workbench with a wheel truing stand.

"You know prowheelbuilder.com?"

Hell, yeah. I even have it bookmarked. But I held back a bit.

"Yeah."

"Well, this is it!"

I looked around. Wow. It's like seeing the machinations behind the Wizard. Suddenly the sleek aero bikes, the one-off LSR bike, those all seemed kind of, well, normal. But to see a site that I have bookmarked in my browser... well, that was something.

We left him to build wheels (he had 10 to do) and went back to the hotel. In the parking garage I put on the new pedals, installed the stem. My shoulder really bugged me. It felt like I'd undone two weeks of healing.

But I managed. The bike came together nicely. Checked the brakes, and tried to throw my leg over the saddle. Turned the bike around, tried to get the other leg over.

No dice.

I had to tilt the bike down and step over it.

Score.

I pedaled the bike, the first time I'd ridden outside since August 11th, the first time I rolled under my own pedal power. The bike felt nice, the longer stem fitting me nicely, the lower saddle height (to avoid too much leg angle) secure. After rolling past 8 or 10 rows of parking spaces I u-turned and rode back to the car.

All set.

We hurried back to the room for an 8 o'clock appointment, Kevin's call to his family. He seemed strangely complacent about the calls he had to make, though, when someone knocked on the door.

Who? Who even knows which hotel we're in?

Kevin opened it and a tuxedo clad guy walked in, holding a tray.

And on the tray...

Aw. Happy Birthday!

I figured it was from Kevin, because, well, he's the one that's here. But it was from the missus. I guess she and he had conspired to surprise me here on my birthday.

So, to them both, thanks :)