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From Interbike Outdoor Demo Day Two

I loved this bike. It was my last ride of the Outdoor Demo. I couldn’t have finished the day on a better bike. I ripped the RIP 9 down Girl Scout with the VholdR helmet cam taking it all in. This was probably my sixth or seventh time down Girl Scout, but my first on a 29er.

Talk about rolling through anything. The lower section of Girl Scout has the most tech and riding the RIP 9 was like Moses parting the red sea. It was fast, tight, responsive. Probably the first time on a 29er where I couldn’t feel that slightly odd, this bike feels weird, 29er thing. It all felt smooth.

I didn’t think I’d be a fan of a 29 inch trail bike, I figured 29ers should be reserved for singlespeed hardtails. But the 4 and a half inches of plushness the CVA™ suspension system dishes out sure flattens the hills and makes for a sweet ride.

Guitar Ted’s take on trends in the 29er world including the Niner R.I.P. 9

I got my sweet Interbike video back from VholdR today. I demoed their helmet cam and they sent the footage on a CD to me. Pretty slick of them. More about how cool VholdR is later…for now here one segment of the footage on Girl Scout trail, riding a niner R.I.P. 9.

After landing the little jump watch me as I spin the cranks looking for my chain… it wasn’t until a few turns down the trail I realized the chain broke clean off! I fetched it on my buddy’s Diamond Back Sortie then we were down the rest of the trail… more video to come.

This is awesome footage shot with the VholdR helmet cam. While this isn’t my buddy or me in the vid, we did ride this trail. I’m not ashamed to say I did walk a few spots, but I rode plenty of them too.

My best photo of the Press Conference this morning… pretty much sums up the whirlwind of media all vying for a shot of the Livestrong superhero.

From Interbike Lance Press Conference

Greg sure tried to steal the show with his snide remarks. Lance just shut him down. I was sitting across the isle from LeMond in the front row. Tension. It was wierd. Very cool to be in such a large group of media today.

Lance Armstrong Returns - Press Conf Las Vegas from CYCLEFILM on Vimeo.

Superhumanmag.com video of press conference

BikeRadar report

Bicycle.net audio

From Lance Armstrong at CrossVegas

Went to my first clyclocross race last night. I have to say it was awesome. Even if Lance Armstrong wasn’t racing, it would have been a very cool sport to watch. Those dudes ride so fast, even on 3 inches of grass!

So I know now how it feels to be paparazzi. I pretty much stalked Lance last night (along with a few thousand other people). With so many course laps I shot some nice footage. I’m now back at the Sands waiting for the press conference at 9 this morning.

Cyclefilm highlight reel. As Lance exits at the end of the vid, he rides right by me and you can see me for a split second.

Lance Armstrong Returns - Las Vegas Cyclocross from CYCLEFILM on Vimeo.

Butch at SuperHumanMag.com shot awesome footage of the cyclocross. Check it out. He also shot Lance at the Leadville, and Snowmass.

Favorite shots of the day…

Fatty and Kenny. Two cool dudes.

From Interbike 2008 Showroom

Dave Wiens and I talking Leadville…

From Interbike 2008 Showroom

Tyler Hamilton. So cool even though he’s sweating it up signing autographs.

The Outdoor Demo should last longer than two days. Now I’m not complaining or anything…but two days is not enough to ride even a small fraction of the bikes. Today I rode a couple of singlespeeds in the morning while the trails were empty and my legs were fresh. The Haro Beasley SS with Mary bars, and a Spot Brand Belt Drive. Both fun bikes, but one shined just a little brighter than the other.

Then we headed up the mountain with a Giant Trance and the Titus El Guapo. The shuttle broke down halfway up the mountain, we had to hop on the second shuttle coming down. We knew with only one shuttle running the lines woould be long, so we took our time on the Caldera loop. Caldera is awesone fast XC singletrack. The Trance handled perfect on Caldera.

The last ride of the day was on an RIP Niner. What a sweet bike. I demoed a VholdR helmet cam with this bike and took her down Girl Scout. More fun than I can explain on this big wheel. I got some sweet air of my favorite jump then a couple of turns and a dozen ghost shifts later I realized I literally lost the entire chain on the jump. I rode my buddies Diamond Back Sortie up to the jump and found the chain on the trail.

A great day today. Thanks again to GU and Power Bar for keeping us hydrated and fueled. Tomorrow is the first day on the showroom floor at the Sands.

Day one at the Outdoor Demo was amazing. Here’s a few of the photos of the day. I’ll be posting reviews of the bikes we rode later. For now, I can’t decide which bike I fell in love with more today, the Pivot Mach 5 or the redesigned Santa Cruz Nomad. I got the most saddle time on the Pivot, I couldn’t let it go. It was fast, responsive, plush but not gushy. The geometry fit me perfect.

The Nomad was pure fun on a bike. We also rode the Cannondale Moto Carbon 2, Turner 5 Spot, Marin Trail, Ellsworth Evolve, Kona Dawg Delux. We hit the XC trails from the top, Skyline, Boy Scout, Girl Scout and East Leg. We ventured in to a DH trail down the face and saw some amazing riders. We walked a couple tech spots over our heads, but had a blast riding burly singletrack.

More to come tomorrow. Fatty will be at the Outdoor Demo, maybe I can score a shirt.

I can’t believe that it’s Interbike time again… My badge came in the mail this week. Less than a month away and I’m counting the days. The Outdoor Demo is the best place in the world to be. Thousands of bikes, power bars and gels, along with endless trail, turn Bootleg Canyon into a mountain biker’s dream world.

As working media I get to go ride and review all the gear I want. Which is awesome to say the least. As an independent blogger, I have no agenda, no sponsors to please, no one paying me to say anything. I ride whatever I feel like and write about the gear that I enjoy most. I’ll be there with my long time riding buddy and fellow blogger Rico Suave. Between the two of us we should be able to give plenty of the 2009 models a shake.

Last year we rode, Trek, Titus, Santa Cruz, Specialized, Rocky Mountain, and Ellsworth. This year I’ve got my sights set on riding singlespeeds and 29ers.

Here’s our video from Interbike 2007.