CrossVegas and "the show"

CrossVegas and "the show" are over and I am done with going to Vegas. After walking the aisles of the Sands Convention Center, the "vegas" blocks and watching a couple of bike races, I am wiped out. I found nothing at "the show" this year.....that might be a first actually.

Get into Vegas and "the show" around noon on Wednesday and head over to see Sean at the ROL Wheels booth. His booth looks great and there are people milling around checking out the new cross carbons and the redesigned Race SL wheelset. Wander around and see friends that I only see at "the show" is always good. Beer starts rolling out around 3:30p and CrossVegas is still 3 hours away.

Get in a town car at the Venetian and head over to In and Out for some burgers and shakes before heading to the race. Get to the race right as the Womens race is taking off. Once again, Katie and Lynn set the tempo and the field is shattered within 2 laps. We finally find Sean and Stephen and they tell me that Katie has had food poisoning since last weekend. Lynn drops the hammer with 2 to go and solo's for the win.

Get into "the show" on Thursday and Katie is at the ROL booth, she is riding the new ROL Wheels Carbon 38CX wheels this year, and she is all smiles and has both of her bikes with her. I ask her about the race and she kinda laughs and says "Lynn and I just try to make it hard at the beginning and then we can deciede who is going to win" WOW!!! I think we all would love to have that ability to kill everyone right from the gun. Katie is a joy to work with and Mark, her husband, has provided ROL Wheels with much marketing info so we can help Katie with her dream of winning cross worlds this year in Italy.

The Mens race was a battle royal with all the top dogs of US cross and one Christian Huele there to stir the pot. Almost 100 guys at the start. Trebon, Wells, Wicks, Page, Huele, Powers, Baker and Johnson all make the select group and the race is primarily over for everyone else. TJ puts in a huge attack about half way through and has a good gap. That lasts for a couple of laps and Baker makes the move but it is pulled back within half a lap. The course is all grass and it took it's toll. Trebon powers away with about 300 meters to go for the win with Huele getting second. Everyone had a great time and Chris G. put on a great race, even though he had to modify the course after the UCI had approved it.

"The show" sucks. I am sick of seeing the same carbon handlebar with 24 different names on it. But everyone wants carbon, so give them what they want. One cool thing that we did see were the new Lazer helmets, the Genesis Rd model. Probably the best fitting helmet that any of us have ever tried on. We will need to get them next year for the racing season