The Vuelta a España wraps up this weekend, and come Sunday I’m off to The Big Show in Vegas for the first time since 2006.
This will be my 14th Interbike, and my first under the aegis of anyone other than Bicycle Retailer and Industry News. I started out doing medium-heavy lifting for BRAIN, first in Anaheim and then in Vegas, pitching in on straight news coverage for the Show Daily. But as the years passed I gradually scaled back to compiling the Grapevine column and drawing a special Mud Stud strip for the Daily; I also lent a hand with headlines, photo captions and page-proofing, having done plenty of all three in 12 years as a copy editor for various newspapers.
When money got tight my annual trip to Sin City got nixed. It didn’t help that my post-show column was usually a variation on the theme “Interbike sucks,” which must have become tiresome to the publisher, editor, Interbike and the readership. I contributed Show Daily cartoons from a distance for a year or two, and then bean-counting saw the plug pulled on that, too. In a trade magazine comedy is an option, and occasionally more bug than feature.
No worries. I wasn’t enjoying myself, and it was time to take a break.
Now I have the chance to visit the show as a tourist, thanks to the fine folks at Adventure Cyclist magazine, who have yet to see the worst of me. Editor Mike Deme and I will wander the floor of the Sands Expo and Convention Center, looking for bikes to test-ride in 2012, and I should have plenty of spare time to unearth interesting bits of this and that, not being tethered to a Show Daily deadline.
So stay tuned — that low rumbling sound you hear in the distance is the DogMobile warming up for another high-speed run across the desert to Bugsy Siegal’s Fun House.
Mad Blog Media 
Ahh yes, the armpit (or more likely the anus) of the world, Lost Wages, NV. I joke with our Italian friends that they can see everything I dislike about the USA all in one place-greed, no respect for the environment/women/air quality (both indoor and out) …I could go on and on. I still remember a few of them, when we went out to dinner, sitting in the freezing cold eatery sipping from huge barrels of soda pop and ice, shivering in the CycleItalia sweatshirts I’d given them. But hey, it’s where the industry goes and it’s far easier to see ’em all in one place then track ’em down all over Italy, even if it is pretty close to hell! I fly out of the midwest on September 11 (which ought to be fun) spend a few days visiting my father in nearby St. George, UT, then back to ‘Vegas for the show on the 14-15th. I’ll have some post-show bloggery too, mostly centered on the nice industry folks we know.
See ya in hell Patrick!
I want one of those Tee shirts.
The only thing that I saw in vegas that I liked was Tony Bennet.
Bring back the “Toilet Seat Thing Award” and give it to the Velo News owners!
But wouldn’t that mean that they actually have to make something to make fun of? I thought they had that one covered themselves without even trying.
Patrick, I think you need to use Interbike as the opportunity to relive the glory days of the press to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”.
A few examples that you might do: Interview Bruce Gordon about the Golden Toidy award (or his successor if he’s dead); ask John Burke or Tony Lo which bikes in their line target the service sector employees in Las Vegas, and report, verbatim, on their response (bonus points for making them really uncomfortable); get one of those service sector people into the show and ask them for their impressions of the wonderbikes and boutique bikes shown; Ask Mike Sinyard how much the workers in China making his bikes get paid; do the same for any Italian shoe or garment maker; ask any small custom builder about his EPA permit for VOC discharge, whether he has one in particular; do the same for an Italian builder and compare the responses; do the same for Trek and Giant.
You could have some fun and come home from Interbike with some fascinating material.
I think OG would be coming home with a black eye or worse if he indulged in any kind of “investigative reporting” into the dirty little secrets of the bike biz. Our official suppliers Vittoria Shoes and Santini assure us their stuff is 100% Made in Italy. I believe most small, custom frame builders in Italy send their stuff out to be painted, probably because they don’t want to mess around with the pollution permits, etc. I too wish the Toidy awards would come back but the Society of People Who Actually Make Their Own Stuff (or was it shit?) is a VERY small club these days.
Patrick,
Bring me a showgirl(s)! She can flip lap cards at my bike races here next year! You can keep her in your basement between races.
First have a great trip. However you choose to define that.
Second, what bromasi said (medium)
Third, what Jon said. But instead of putting your butt and paycheck in the line wrangle a few if us supporters to accompany you as interns. . We can publish our findings in the comments. I’m available.
Fourth, have a great trip.
What Ben S and Bromasi said: Medium as well! Black!