Interbike in Las Vegas is a little like a kid going to the candy store. There is so much it is hard to concentrate. All bike industry related companies come to this show with their new products and bike shop owners and media come to see them. The bike shop owners try to decide what to carry at their shops by coming here to see all the new products. We at MarkAllenOnline come to see new products and shake hands with our sponsors and perhaps meet and make some new ones.

We visited Cervelo who had the new P4 for all to see. The picture is above. The water bottle in integrated into the frame. At first glance it looks like a P3 otherwise, but every tube is different than the P3. I hear it will be available in December. Zipp had a new very aero crank set which can save 9 seconds on a 40K TT. It is the fastest in the industry. Polar had their new line of heart rate monitors. We also visited Shimano and Mark got to test the new electronic shifting. It has a battery which scares me. What happens if the battery runs out? I did not ask.

We also looked around for a company to make our uniforms. That was tough. That is still up in the air unfortunately.

One thing that I noticed is that everybody is making everything. That is a big problem for us and for sponsors. Cervelo for example can invest a lot of money into sponsoring a rider. Yet Specialized may sponsor his helmet. But Specialized is also a bike Company. So the rider wins a race and if the news show a head shot all you see if his helmet. Now people may think he rides a Specialized bike. Tricky eh?

We for example like to have the best sponsors for each product. But sometimes these sponsors step on each others toes with other type of product besides the ones that we like. Take for example shoes. Lets say Sidi makes the best shoes. Well Shimano who makes great components also makes shoes. Louis Garneau who make great clothing also makes shoes. Specialized who makes bikes also makes shoes. This creates a little of a chaos for us. The nature of the beast I suppose.

The other thing to keep in mind is how small our industry really is. After a while you get to know everyone. People move around in the industry too. One year you work with Joe for shoes but two years from now he may be in helmets for another company. Don’t burn any bridge is the moral of that story. But people in our tri industry are great really. Very friendly and helpful. It is fun to work with them.

I also heard a little about a change at the Hawaii Ironman in two weeks. There will be an Ironman Demo area. This is in addition to the Ironman Expo. In the past only Ironman sponsors where allowed at the expo. But now with the demo area anyone can come for a fee I am sure. Anyone can come to Kona and show their products. So we will see a lot of the Interbike tri folks at Ironman this year.

Well I got to catch a plane and go back home to Boulder. Just 9 days to Kona for me.