On Sunday before coming to Vegas I did a great mountain bike ride in Tempe, AZ. There are Great trails in South Mountain Park. It was close to a hundred degrees outside and I cooked myself pretty good. At one point during the ride I found a 2 foot by 3 foot piece of shade near a bush to rest in as I was getting kind of dizzy. I consulted the map and figured I should find a way to some pavement and back to the rental house. I still feel sick when I’m in the hot sun for too long so I must have really done myself in a bit. Fortunately I didn’t become a statistic. Because of the mini-epic ride and the fact that I took a Tylenol PM, I slept great that night. I haven’t slept properly in about 4 weeks. Getting a cold and cough and being on the road has screwed up my sleep habits.
On Monday Ben, Keith, and I drove six hours to Las Vegas. I rode the whole way in the rental car while Keith drove through the desert. I never once had to enter the truck. Monday night was some dinner with the boys and a little Vegas sightseeing.
Tuesday dawned and Keith and I saddled up to the breakfast bar at our hotel (The “new” Frontier. Not the best place but okay). Our only itinerary that day was to check out the dirt demo and a group dinner with some friends and sponsors.
Joining us for the dirt demo was Peter Reid (for you tri-geeks you know who he is). In addition I called my former boss and good friend Kenny from Placid Planet Bicycles in Lake Placid, NY, and we all checked out some cool bikes to ride on the awesome trails of Boulder City, NV. The bike industry is rather small so it was good to see some folks from the various bike companies and catch up. In case you are wondering Shane, I did ride a carbon Rush. Sweet bike. I liked a Kona King too. I might consider the King since the Rush is a bit pricey for what I need. Riding bikes with your “Bros” is a great time no matter where you are. Thanks Kenny, Keith, Ben, and Pete.
Tuesday night we had dinner plans at Betistas. This is an Italian restaurant in Vegas in which we had a great time last year so we had reservations for a bunch of us again. It has its own old school Vegas character without even trying to be kitschy. And don't forget Gordy the accordian player! How old is that guy? Gordy is hot tonight! Once again good times, good times!
Finally, Wednesday had arrived, day one of the trade show. The cast of Team Sports characters had all arrived safely and we planned our day during another high calorie breakfast buffet. The crew was Tom Schuler (boss man, jack of all trades related to relations), Jim Williams (director of Colavita/ Cooking Light), Ben Harper (Manager of Timex), Eric Jellum (Mechanic for Targetraining and now Colavita/Sutter Home), Keith Meyer (Timex Event Marketing) and me (Doug Berner, Mechanic, Technical Director, Driver, Colavita/Cooking Light and Timex yadda, yadda, yadda). At breakfast I felt like we had our work cut out for us. After our first appointment at 9:30 with Shimano, everything during the whole day just clicked. All of our sponsors for the various teams want to be on board again and some certain needs of ours were easily figured out with no problems at all. I’ve never seen this process work so smoothly. I was amazed it went so well. I’m am excited for our road teams. We (meaning everyone at Team Sports) has created great working relationships with our sponsors so coming in to the bike show it has been easy to continue those relationships and build upon them. I’m especially excited with our deal with Shimano (some new TT wheels! Yes!) and Blue bicycles (awesome bikes with custom team stuff). Man oh man! Great work to us Team Sports staff. Heck yeah!
Wednesday night was the annual party hosted by Sinclair Imports. In true Vegas style it was held at the Voo Doo Lounge, which is on top of the Rio Casino (51 stories up). Got to see some folks I know. One of my fellow mechanic pals is heading to the men’s T-mobile Team. The team has 6 mechanics. We are used to taking care of 8 bikes by ourselves so I wonder if the job will be easier or not. Besides the typical bike geeks at the party, there were a few celebrities there also. I stood in line for the men’s room with Phil Ligget. Mario Chippolini was interesting to watch since every lady in the place wanted to meet this Italian stallion. Bumped into Magnus Backsted. Literally since it was so crowded. He nodded as if to say sorry.
Earlier in the day Tom introduced me to Greg Lemond. I grew up watching him become the first American to win the Tour de France. To be introduced to Greg Lemond as “one of the best mechanics” was pretty cool. Wow!
Thursday afternoon as I left the bike show, I couldn’t find my way out of the Venetian. Everything is planned to keep a person inside in Vegas. It took a half hour to find my way to the exit I needed. At that point, I was glad to be leaving Vegas for Park City, Utah within the hour.
Park City was our destination for Keith and Brooke’s wedding. Driving into Park City was beautiful. It finally felt like autumn since the mountains are awash in golden color from the leaves changing. There was even a little snow on top of the mountain from a snowfall the week before. Friday evening was a burrito barbecue at Brooke’s Aunt’s house. Got to meet both sides of the family. Saturday was the big day. They picked a spot in Mill Creek Canyon for the ceremony and sit down lunch. It was a lovely wedding enjoyed by all. They even drove away in the TIMEX truck with the horn blaring for full effect.
[ Am I that tall? Me, Keith, and Tom]
[Yes, I'm holding Brooke's flowers. Katie is Brooke's sister and said she wanted photos for her work cubicle]
Even though I wasn’t feeling well, I decided to try a little mountain biking. A good ride but short since I felt like crap. I’m not sure, but I think the cumulative effect of my all my travels has worn me down. I got another cold while in Park City and with the altitude it feels even worse. TIRED, TIRED, TIRED! I need to take care of myself better, mostly in the nutrition department. That is my short-term goal.
Monday morning Ben and I are heading back to Milwaukee. I’m looking forward to getting back and doing some office work before we head to Hawaii. Hopefully I’ll be able to relax a bit too. I find that hard to do sometimes so send some reminders to me since I don’t listen to my own advice.
Cheers
2 comments:
Life is good, eh? Glad to see you are having so much fun in your travels.
miss you,
strapp
Doug,
Sounds like you need to take some rest, so that you'll be ready for all of us next year. You should have stopped by when you were down here. Give me a shout.
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