Good riddance.
Interbike cancelled for 2019
- Thread starter jonKranked
- Start date
it's still sad....
On to Sedona!!!
On to Sedona!!!
Not to get political, but what do tariffs have to do with a trade show?
Well, this was like 25 years ago. She is probably different these days. She was a white girl, college aged, that socialized exclusively with the Hopi. Lived in the rim country - Mogolon to Sedona, up oak creek, and in Flag. I was a young crustacean majoring in Mech. Engineering at Flag. My room mate freshman year was a Hopi name Paul.
Looking back on all of it, it was probably the best couple of days I had in my college experience. Room mate and I had hung out with his girl and his best friend Daryl. Had a big van with miniblinds and the whole bit, and we had dropped down from Flag and hung out in Sedona. We had found the vortex and nominally headed back to campus. We weren't all the way back north to flag, but north out of the canyons and on the relative flat. Daryl spontaneously exited the highway and we went north and west. Ended up on dirt fire roads, ranch roads, whatever. Sun was going to be up for maybe another 1/2 hour, and he put in his Offspring CD and started rocking out while he drove. It was like he was trying to warm the rubber in nascar, and the van was fish tailing side to side, one rear wheel or the other would come up occasionally. Took some horrific hits to the suspension at washouts, etc.
About sundown we were in the pines, but in a big clearing, you could see the peaks. It was warm, incredibly clear. We gathered up a shit ton of firewood, and made a big fire. Out of nowhere, cars and Hopi started to appear. It was a big assembly for a seemingly random spot in the forest. 50 60 people maybe. All Hopi, college aged, and Sharlene. When She and her friends showed up, there was a murmur in the party that went through the crowd, sort of like a wave at the football stadium, except auditory, everyone saying the same thing in turn. I didn't understand the language, but I got the gist of it when the crowd parted, and an embarrassed white girl got pushed to the front. Paul dragged me over and introduced us.
I mumbled something and went with her to hang out with her and her friends. The Indians started a tribal type pipe going around, and we all started drinking canned bear. I was chatting, having the time of my life, and could see Paul grinning at me occasionally from the other side of the fire. A while later as the party started breaking up, Sharlene grabbed me by the hand and pulled me along behind her, sort of to the other side of the clearing, and plopped me down on a blanket.
She fished out a small pipe from her things and made me smoke some of it. I think she may have mixed some cactus with her herb if you take my drift Doc.
It tasted funny, and she asked me what I knew about physics. I said, quite a bit, but it wasn't my major. She said, Oh, I think Einstein was hot. And that she would like a DeLorean.
Hence the warning Doc.
Anyway, I don't remember too much from that point, I started having really strange visual and auditory hallucinations. My brain was sort of paying attention to my body, but not entirely. I do remember her doing stuff to me, and liking it a lot. I woke up alone the next morning in the clearing. I was naked, but my clothes were neatly folded at the end of the blanket. My roommates gary fisher was laying a few feet away with my backpack, and couple water bottles, and some candy bars.
I had no idea where I was, except in a general sense from looking at the mountains. I started riding for campus, changed my major to theoretical math, married a girl from Mass, and the rest is history.
Whatever Sharlene is up to these days, may god and the kachinas bless her, but watch out for that pipe Doc.
Looking back on all of it, it was probably the best couple of days I had in my college experience. Room mate and I had hung out with his girl and his best friend Daryl. Had a big van with miniblinds and the whole bit, and we had dropped down from Flag and hung out in Sedona. We had found the vortex and nominally headed back to campus. We weren't all the way back north to flag, but north out of the canyons and on the relative flat. Daryl spontaneously exited the highway and we went north and west. Ended up on dirt fire roads, ranch roads, whatever. Sun was going to be up for maybe another 1/2 hour, and he put in his Offspring CD and started rocking out while he drove. It was like he was trying to warm the rubber in nascar, and the van was fish tailing side to side, one rear wheel or the other would come up occasionally. Took some horrific hits to the suspension at washouts, etc.
About sundown we were in the pines, but in a big clearing, you could see the peaks. It was warm, incredibly clear. We gathered up a shit ton of firewood, and made a big fire. Out of nowhere, cars and Hopi started to appear. It was a big assembly for a seemingly random spot in the forest. 50 60 people maybe. All Hopi, college aged, and Sharlene. When She and her friends showed up, there was a murmur in the party that went through the crowd, sort of like a wave at the football stadium, except auditory, everyone saying the same thing in turn. I didn't understand the language, but I got the gist of it when the crowd parted, and an embarrassed white girl got pushed to the front. Paul dragged me over and introduced us.
I mumbled something and went with her to hang out with her and her friends. The Indians started a tribal type pipe going around, and we all started drinking canned bear. I was chatting, having the time of my life, and could see Paul grinning at me occasionally from the other side of the fire. A while later as the party started breaking up, Sharlene grabbed me by the hand and pulled me along behind her, sort of to the other side of the clearing, and plopped me down on a blanket.
She fished out a small pipe from her things and made me smoke some of it. I think she may have mixed some cactus with her herb if you take my drift Doc.
It tasted funny, and she asked me what I knew about physics. I said, quite a bit, but it wasn't my major. She said, Oh, I think Einstein was hot. And that she would like a DeLorean.
Hence the warning Doc.
Anyway, I don't remember too much from that point, I started having really strange visual and auditory hallucinations. My brain was sort of paying attention to my body, but not entirely. I do remember her doing stuff to me, and liking it a lot. I woke up alone the next morning in the clearing. I was naked, but my clothes were neatly folded at the end of the blanket. My roommates gary fisher was laying a few feet away with my backpack, and couple water bottles, and some candy bars.
I had no idea where I was, except in a general sense from looking at the mountains. I started riding for campus, changed my major to theoretical math, married a girl from Mass, and the rest is history.
Whatever Sharlene is up to these days, may god and the kachinas bless her, but watch out for that pipe Doc.
We need more stories like this! Everyone has at least one. As for Sharlene, bet you dollars to donuts she is an executive at Morgan Stanley or something like that.
the mike levy / cam zink comments in the pb thread are pretty funny. such mike levy hatred.
import tariffs on material that are impacting the bike industry. MAGA or some such nonsense
Funny shit, but totally makes sense. Kinda a strange area up here in Flag, and Sedona is straight-up full of wierdos. Went to a alleged "Freak Show" in the forest, kinda similar to the Lobster's tale. Got there and it ended up being a hippie drum circle with a bunch of hippies bitching bout the man and sharing a jug of some kind of cider beverage. Got the hell out as fast as possible. As far as sedona goes, best riding in the country, just avoid the fat tire fest at all costs. Nothing but lame tourists racing to stand in line and finger banging the latest fat and plus sized bikes while sitting on vortexes...
Another ride, got down to Sedona right at sunset, was unloading the truck and off in another side of the parking lot was a van parked with a big blanket spread out facing the sunset. Guy was banging a wooden spoon against a frying pan and quietly chanting as the sun was going down. My buddy who is a local 's dog jumped out and was barking at the hippie like crazy. Finally we call her off, guy stay's the course, banging the pan. The minute the sun went down past the cliffs, he packed his shit and left. Totally bizarre, but typical. I don't think I have ever laughed that hard.
Reminds me of the scene from Brother Where Art thou.
Whatever it was must have been strong to get you to change form ME to theoretical math. I might need that to continue into the multiverse
I didn't know there was a tariff on trade show incompetency. Oh ya, there is, going out of business.
What about Sea Otter?
Are you talking about the mtb fest in March? I heard it was a good time and worth setting up some bikes for tourists to finger bang.
Plus, getting out of Indy in the winter
Any other weekend, I'd say go for it. The idea of waiting in like to demo a bike is lame.
But I want people to ride my bikes. Going to a place where a lot of people go to try bikes on awesome trails makes sense.
We, the industry, need this. Or things like this. While Interbike was done horribly wrong, it still served important goals.
I'd agree with most of that.
Except maybe it's death was necessary for something better to replace it.
In Denver
Lame. I was looking forward to thrashing some shiny new bikes at N* next year.
The correct way to do it is get the shitty bikes that no one wants and then bag on them in your review because they are shitty.
One hell of a thread derail... 
I'll miss interbike, as I love me a good industry schmooze-fest, but the writing's been on the wall for years.
I'll miss interbike, as I love me a good industry schmooze-fest, but the writing's been on the wall for years.
Nope, it's pretty much perfect
Momentary distraction from Lobster’s novel, Interbike’s death had exactly zero to do with Trump’s Taxes, err, tariffs. That show has been dying since before he was in DC.
For example, GG has never bought booth space at Interbike because the ROI wasn’t there. Even for a tiny booth, it’s too many $$ all in with travel, lodging, booth space, the unreasonable labor costs to move your shit from the loading dock to your booth, etc.
For less money, you can do things such as a West coast demo tour, a small private media event, etc.
Or, for larger companies, and the trade show booths at that level, for the same or less $$, you can host a much more elaborate private destination media event, a much larger demo tour, take over the internet for a few days via ads, etc.
The trade show ROI is just not there like it was in the 90’s.
Now, back to Lobster’s peyote induced loss of virginity....
For example, GG has never bought booth space at Interbike because the ROI wasn’t there. Even for a tiny booth, it’s too many $$ all in with travel, lodging, booth space, the unreasonable labor costs to move your shit from the loading dock to your booth, etc.
For less money, you can do things such as a West coast demo tour, a small private media event, etc.
Or, for larger companies, and the trade show booths at that level, for the same or less $$, you can host a much more elaborate private destination media event, a much larger demo tour, take over the internet for a few days via ads, etc.
The trade show ROI is just not there like it was in the 90’s.
Now, back to Lobster’s peyote induced loss of virginity....
I've had a handful of other experiences that were as fun for me personally, for example my first date with my wife lasted 48 hours, or before that, taking my employer's smoking hot 20 year old daughter in my boat to Sag Harbor for her 21st birthday, but those experiences just don't have all the same funny story elements to build on.
I'll flesh out the Hopi story a little bit more, then leave the thread to interbike. That Gary Fisher I rode out from the wilderness on was 3 or 4 sizes too small, and I racked my nuts horribly on the stem at one point, and was left in the fetal position in the dirt, but it sealed the deal in addicting me to mountain biking. Shortly after those events, I switched majors and schools to ASU and used most of my student loan one semester to buy a Marin hardtail. I'm on GG these days, so there isn't much room left for improvement. I think there is understated genius to your work, particularly the GGDH.
While we were partying, a couple of the Hopi guys had asked me if I would go with them and do a cactus/sweat lodge ceremony. Of course I was all in on the idea, but one other Hopi guy got really angry and started arguing with them in Native language. They didn't walk back the invite, so I wouldn't lose face, but I had the feeling the angry guy had convinced them. It was gradually explained to me that a handful of the elders were very old fashioned, and that they would feel deeply disrespected by my being at such a ceremony. Of course I would not want to disrespect the elders by putting them in such a situation, so I thanked everyone sincerely for the invitation but said I would decline to go. Once I said that, the angry guy very visibly relaxed. I'm guessing Sharlene took her cue from this interaction.
At one point in the conversation, Sharlene brought up the idea of extreme Deja-vu. Nothing monumental like power ball numbers, but little mundane things. She gave me an example of a dream she had of driving, that she was on the highway, and got passed by a car with a basketball and a mets hat on the rear windshield deck. She said when it happened in "real life" some months later, it blew her away, and she almost went off the road. When she told me that story, something clicked in my little crustacean brain. I had been trying to wrap my mind around Einstein's relativity and had picked up a copy. It basically boils down to "special relativity" and "general relativity" with the special case being a very much simplified and easier to understand case. The preamble to special relativity that starts the book is a thought experiment, with trains and train tracks to let your mind ponder that some things we perceive to be linear, consistent, and understood really are not - things like time and distance in this case. Believe it or not, they are not absolute.
I told Sharlene even though I was a pretty rational math/science type lobster, I didn't automatically disbelieve things like her deja-vu, and with a stick in the dirt, walked her through E's thought experiment with the train. That seemed to work really well, and she started leaning against me more often than not while we were standing around the fire. That thought experiment is well within reach of most of the monkeys here, if you guys want to try it at the bar some night.
I tried to look up my old room mate Paul a few years ago on the internet. I don't know for sure, its remotely possible that there were two guys about the same age with his first and last name from the tiny town on the res he came from, but I found information that he had been arrested, and later killed. I couldn't find any details or reason why. I remembered him vividly, while writing my story here, and felt he was alive again, for a few more minutes at least.
In closing, if you ever get the chance to experience the Hopi on their own terms, they are an amazing and generous people. I miss them.
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