So, after a long drive: Penticton, BC (that’s in Canada) to Boise, ID on Monday (~550miles), and then to St. George, UT on Tuesday (~670miles), we ended up in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning for Interbike. I had a good swim in the Henderson Aquatics Center, which boasts an awesome, outdoor 50m x 25yd pool (I got to experience both while in Vegas) with saltwater chlorination; saltwater pools use the chlorine that is in salt (NaCl – that Cl is Chlorine) to keep them clean. It’s a complex system that I don’t really understand, but I do know it’s much nicer to swim in. So after my wednesday swim, the Interbike whirlwind began. My apologies to those people I had hoped to see but didn’t and also to those people who I saw, but for less time than I wanted. There was a lot of cool stuff, a lot of meh stuff, the occassional bit of totally crazy stuff, and generally an overwhelming amount of bike stuff, surprise, surprise.
Back into good training routine tomorrow after the craziness of Vegas, but I’ll be posting my thoughts on the show on Slowtwitch in the upcoming week. Some initial thoughts:
- Carbon is still king. Every year, more and more things get made out of carbon
- Innovation is alive and well, and usually occurs in the most unexpected places. Again, small companies often had the biggest surprises. And I think there are some really great small products that can make a big difference for people. There were a few, very few, items where I said, “I would totally pay for that.” eSoles was that for me last year. This years, is going to be a surprise, I think. It certainly surprised me.
- Some bike companies still just don’t get it. I’m sorry (not really) if I rolled my eyes at you when you told me one of the many falsehoods of fit for timed races (aka fitting someone on a bike with aerobars, aka “tri/tt bike” fit) usually prefaced with the phrase “I’m sure you already know this…” What I know is that you don’t know what you are talking about.
- Vegas is awesome, though a bit overwhelming at times.
I’m especially happy to be settled in at the GTC, where my new Benriner mandoline was waitinf for me, as well as a copy of the new and revised 75th anniversary edition of Joy of Cooking (special for you, Paulo), and also a copy of the Thai cooking bible Cracking The Coconut. I also got some new and secret stuff that I’ll be testing and reviewing for Slowtwitch. And also some good leads on stuff that I will be testing.
Jordan Rapp 