FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

stuff out of the way. Sean Hargraves had made it to town and we decided to get some dinner that night. It was that Italian place in Ceasar’s Palace. Great food I must say. After a quick trip to the Mac store and Macy’s I got back to the hotel and called it a day because the next morning the Lake Mead road ride was on the program.

The alarm clock went off at 05:30am on Tuesday. Pfew, pretty early. I noticed that there were no spoons on the hotel room so eating the cereal was a bit of a struggle. It was the only breakfast I had so I made sure I ate it all. At 06:15am I made it to the Sands Convention center. I had picked up my pass the night before but I needed a wristband to get on the bus towards the Outdoor Demo. I’m not much of a roadie but I’ve done this ride before and it was a lot of fun. Sean Hargraves had brought his own bike and was meeting me in Bootleg Canyon where Trek set me up with a fantastic Madone (thanks). They threw on some flat pedals for the ride. I must have been the only rider who wasn’t clipped in. The 24 mile ride was exhausting but fullfilling. Instead of eating and drinking I finally did something active. Sean and I borrowed some Trek fullies as well and did a trip down the mountain. We were done at noon and it was 40 degrees again, time for the pool.

After a bit of relaxing and updates to the FATBMX site Paul and Andy returned from their trip in time for the SNAFU dinner at the Stratosphere Skybar. Man, it was amazing. The best food and the best view in town. Scott and Mark from Sidewall and Brad and Todd from Vital joined McGoo and his host Gaby + husband for some drinks and excellent steak (at $ 59,= USD per steak you’d hope it was good). Great night for sure. Instead of cabs we grabbed a limo together and were dropped off near the Mardi Gras. It had been a long day but it was awesome to put so much into it. Thanks McGoo/Snafu!

Wednesday was the first day of the show. I managed to check the complete north side of the show before landing in the BMX Zone. In general I’d say that there was plenty of BMX around. Missing from previous years were FELT and Mongoose/GT but tons of brands showed their new stuff at the Sands. After the show we headed back to the hotel for a jaccuzi session. We got dressed, chilled in the room for a little bit, and passed out at 9pm. That wasn’t scheduled but it felt good the next morning. Day two was the day of the Rail Jam and Nora Cup. You’ll get to read about that in other FATBMX updates. Day three (Friday) was the last day of the Interbike show. It’s a survival of the fittest on that day. Everyone who runs a stand is counting the minutes that they can pack up and get the hell out of there. In fact, we did the same. Andy had left in the morning and Paul and I packed our bags later that night for an early departure to fly back home.

We made it to the airport at 5am on Saturday to catch our 7am flight. But our flight was delayed until 9am. Damn, it would have been good to get those extra 2 hours of sleep. We had to pay $ 55,= USD for an extra bag this time which sucked indeed. Let’s not start about the service (or lack thereof) from the US Airways crew. Flying was never fun, but it has become a drag, especially with this company, when you’re sitting in the back in the bus. The onboard WiFi that I had hoped for wasn’t around this time. I’m knackered now but have a full day ahead of me. Check the updates from the 10 days in California in the upcoming days. We’ve still go plenty to show you.

-BdJ