Dicky Does Vegas: Part Two
Originally posted on September 18, 2011 at 23:09 pm
Read Part One of Team Dicky’s exploits at Interbike here.
By Rich Dillen
I had to be up early for my day two of Interbike to take part in a Ride for Reading book delivery. Aboard my borrowed Pivot Cycles 429, I joined a group of riders heading to the Peterson Elementary School in Las Vegas loaded down with donated books for the students. It was an awesome experience to ride into the crowd of children cheering and high fiving the passing riders, and I’m pretty sure the it will be the most rewarding memory I have from Vegas. After the ride was over, I sat on a large cooler with Dejay Birtch and enjoyed a nice Tecate breakfast in the overflow parking lot.
I took it easy for awhile back in the room, and caught up with the real world just killing time before my next novel exploit. I wanted to experience as much of Interbike as I could, so I was going to try the free lunch for the “working media.” I joined my fellow members of the press in a small box located in the center of the hall that was something like a cross between an aquarium and a cage match enclosure adorned with a small amount of lawn furniture and a couple couches. The line grew inside our feeding pen to the point that it was like a tape worm on display in a Plexiglas shoe box.
Being that there was about one seat for every twelve media persons inside the press biodome, I chose to take my lunch to a dark corner and eat my hard earned meal on the floor. This is the glamorous life indeed.
I managed to finish walking the entire floor before the evening’s… errrrr, afternoon’s festivities began. I even made it down to the Land of Misfit Toys down in the basement, and I must say some of the more “interesting” items at Interbike were down there, and the exhibitors seemed more than happy to have some company. Electric bikes were flying around the basement and all manner of bike-like devices were whirling about inside a tiny corral. I would have spent more time down there if I could have, but the tapping of kegs could not be ignored any longer.
Back upstairs it was tequila, beer, “booth personalities, tight pants, iPhones taking iPictures, and more beer. The lights got turned down at 6 p.m., and the security guards told everybody to leave NOW. From there
the quest for afterbike happiness began, as bike people were forced out into the real world to mingle with Vegas folk and other conventioneers at local establishments.
I’ve been told that everything kinda shuts down on the last day pretty early, so I’m gonna try to look at a few little things I passed by too quickly on my quest to “see it all.” After that, I’m gonna go outside and see Vegas that isn’t inside the walls, since I don’t plan on coming back. I had a great time out here, and I’m glad I came to see this whole mess for myself before I’m dead, but I’m pretty sure once was enough.
BAD IDEA RACING
Keep reading
It doesn’t end here, we’ve got a lot more coverage of Interbike 2011, including demo rides.