DEMO DAY - BMC STYLE

Wow what a long hard day! I'm very surprised how tired I was after 8 hrs of setting up bikes for peeps to demo ride. The morning started with a heavy fog and a phone call from B telling me he was running 30 minutes late and he wanted to make sure I was there waiting for the BMC driver. The driver arrived on time and needed some coffee so we jumped into moto-van and proceeded to McD's for a cup of joe.

For the short time we talked John seemed to be an alright guy. As we drove he told me about the previous day in Asheville, NC and how the demo over there didn't go as planned. Apparently someone didn't get the permits needed so that the bike shop over there could host such an event at Bent Creek and the forest ranger un-kindly RAN them out of the park. Well, that sucks! I assured him there was no chance of that happening at ETSU.

We sat everything up, unloaded bikes and got ready for our first customers of the day. Our first two demo's were for high school kids that had not ridden on actual trails but did ride "in the neighborhood". We got them adjusted on bikes and took them across the street onto the short track course. Wow! These kids eyes lit up and the boy couldn't stop talking! The quite girl really came to life and started talking to me asking me alot of questions. We could not had anymore riders show and I wouldn't have cared because these two HS kids made my day. Their parents wanted to know if there was any youth groups in MTB around so I told her that D-Wayne and I were fixing to get a High School MTB league started soon and the parents were so excited. I filled them in on how to start a MTB club in their HS and to contact me if they needed any help. We also told them about the local MTB club and the annual IMBA "take a kid MTB'ing day" that they hosted but that was the only thing they offered for the youth in the area. Those kids made my day and I hope we get this high school racing started soon!

After about a 2 hour slow period things took off about 11am. It was arses and elbows from then until 4pm when the rain shower visited us. The rain sadly put an end to the show. Good news is we broke the record, so far, for the most bikes demo'd John said. "Dam skippy" I said!



This setup is just freaking amazing!

We didn't even put everything out that we could have. There was tons of pop that we could have set out to make the whole parking lot look like a BMC factory racing lot.

The Lambersons' showed and rode the wheels of the bikes! Thanks for coming guys!

Of course Moto-Van was there but was upstaged by a big Mercedes Sprinter van & trailer...

Mr. Kinninck conversing with B about which bike to take out....

They shoved me into Dave's backpack for shits and giggles but I almost wrangled myself loose before the photo shot...

Dam right there was cake......dam right I ate some!

Here is the van driver/rep, John, he's quite a ham when the camera points at him!

Melissa just finished her ride and stole all my extra clothes. She rode a carbon Fourstroke and has the bug. I caught her eating cake too.............

This is just a badass photo period.............

If you'll look closely you'll see John "hamming" it up for the camera.... AGAIN!

I'm talking to a couple of our customers that showed up today.....

Yes, the Mercedes beats Moto-Van. I hope it isn't mad at me now.......

Simply just a killer set-up. The sprinter holds about 20 bikes itself & the trailer holds over 40. It has some really cool storage compartments and yes I want one now..... le sigh. I got a couple of great ideas on how to re-organize our ETSU trailer too.

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day and the riders are very lucky to have Brian at Hampton Trails and BMC bring bikes right to a trail head so that you could actually "demo" ride a bike instead of a shop's parking lot. Thank you BMC and Brian for letting me be a part of this fun event and help provide plenty of smiles to my fellow local riders. The food, drinks and cake were awesome too.

Another great event from THE BEST shop in the area, Hampton Trails Bicycle Shop... we rock!

LAter G........................

Just A Little Bit More....

Well this morning I finished final #4 online and it was "nice and easy lemon squeezy" piece a cake. Wednesday is my last final and definitely the hardest.....Math. 33 questions and then out the door, glad the professor gave us a study guide for the test! After that? riding and working! I'm in need of something part-time 'til school starts in the fall my ETSU gig only pays during fall and summer semesters. All this seems weird sometimes though. Back to living like a college kid although my mind never got out of elementary school (I will always be a big kid), scraping by, living in an attic (sweet attic though) and looking for minuscule jobs to keep my habit supplied (biking habit!). All in all it makes me appreciate things more, I'm thankful for God, Austin, my family & friends, being able to go back to school to get a better education and that I can ride a bike almost anytime I like. Over the last many months one word keeps coming up in almost everything I see or do......perspective. It's different for everyone ya know.

With the small night owl race coming up Capt. Dingo is wanting to do a pre-ride, I'm down! I like the fact that Capt. Dingo is starting to stick too. I stole the phrase from my westward buddy Joshua when he used it once so I guess I owe him a royalty or something, hey Josh want another "little debbie cake?"

On a riding note: I was able to get back on the bike after 10 days off, YES 10 DAYS NO RIDING! studying was my priority, I have straight A's this semester and I'm trying to keep them! My previous posts I jibbered about short track and Thursdays ride with the JCCC. Sunday I hit the ETSU trails for a proper perspective on all the trail work that Ben and a few others have done the last couple of months. I'm going to be perfectly honest here, the trail work that Ben & crew did was absolutely fabulous following every rule that IMBA has for sustainable trails, awesome hard work! It's not for the weak at heart though, it's VERY technical on the 4X side with alot of switchbacks that were used because of limited space, sorta like sardines in a can. I would not recommend any beginners ride on that section at all. That side used to flow very fast but now it reminds me of rock city at Warriors, it will definitely make you step your game up. Good job Ben!

Today I hit Elizabethton looking for sponsors for Pedalfest. After today I go to the T-shirt peeps and give them the final artwork with sponsors. I have about 5 so far but I really need 10 to pull this off successfully. On a promoter note I'm really starting to like this. I may start to do some smaller promoting events in the future. It has opened my eyes though, I see the big events and why they charge so much as being greedy in my eyes, GoneRiding as one example, these peeps make a living as promoters. Shoot the MSG CX series has tons of riders, the best venues, the best competition, the best people and they manage to keep the entries fees in check so why can't everyone else. A friend of mine made a public statement that it ticked him off to see people with $$expensive$$ bikes complain about expensive entry fees, I can see his point. Although if promoters delivered a product that was comparable to what they charge..... if you went to a restaurant and didn't like the food or service you wouldn't go back right. $50 to race one event is outrageous in my opinion unless you're racing at a NATIONAL level. Just sayin'! If the promoters are advertising feeding the folks my suggestion is DON'T! Most folks actually like having a few kegs available more than watered down sketti. I don't know anyone that races that does not show up without bringing something to eat for "after the race". Well that's my rant for the day, sorry. NTMBA meeting tonight and I have parts to deliver as well.



LAter G....................................