Expo'ed

Well, I can say that I went to the Southeast Bike Expo. Some goals were met, little was achieved, and fun was had.

Photos were not taken (by me). Fortunately Chris and Mark were not so lazy.

When Chris and I got there, we made the rounds and shot the shit with familiar faces known to shoot shit often.

Pro Gold's own Dick Bruceman

Eventually we went by the Niner tent, and talked to Mike Stanley.

While there, we picked up our first test rigs; a small RIP9 for me and a large'esque AIR9 RDO for Chris.

He got to be the second rider in the Southeast to throw a leg over this bad boy, and since he was riding a bazillion dollar carbon bike, we headed over the chunky granite on the other side of the park.

We were joined by Mark from The Cycle Path and we rode bikes like people do at these things.

What did I think of the bike? It was like riding between two pillows.



Once we got back, we did some more chitty chatting and then looked over the empty racks trying to find another bike to ride. We ended up on sorta matching his and his Origin 8 rigid carbon bikes from J&B.

More hunky dory riding well past our limited nutrition intake was had with Shane Schreihart, and the only thing we really took away from the ride was that hubs that don't have decent engagement suck balls.

Andy from New River Bike letting me taste some West Virginia recovery drink.

From there it was a a painful quest for beer in the name of Niner and NoTubes. After a few failed attempts to snag decent beer, we were finally successful in the acquiring of 30 good beers and 30 almost beers. It took us so long to get the beer that by the time we got back, everyone had cleared out. So there we were, sitting on a table at the Niner tent with 60 beers.

The NoTubes guys came by while on their night ride, and told us they were going to keep riding for awhile. Something about shite weather in PA and being happy to ride bikes on clean/dry trails. Eventually Andrea showed up and soon thereafter, Watts. A few beers were drank while sitting in the cold, Watts left, and we soon realized we were "the party."

So we took the beers (the good ones) back to the hotel and did our best to put a dent in the remaining beers, although I think they put a dent in me.

Awake and dented, we went back over to the Expo in the morning and talked to Jason from Foundry for a bit before heading home.

Seriously, I thought I was gonna ride a bunch of bikes and cover 50 miles?

Pfffttt....

If I were asked, and I will be, the Southeast Bike Expo was a success. Hundreds of bikes were constantly going out and the weather and trails were perfect. If you missed it, I'm pretty sure it will be back next year.