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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 love September. The temps actually start dropping in the evenings making for very nice late-morning rides. And that means that 5AM ride times are long gone… enter lunch rides and after work rides all winter long…

This morning I hit up Wild Horse, it’s been nearly a year since I spun through Wild Horse territory. This time I rode the trail on the singlespeed. It was my tenth singlespeed ride since I converted. I definitely see a singlespeed 29er in my future.

Out in the Goldfield Mountains this morning for my second exploratory ride. I had a decent camera this time and managed to get a few teasers.

I am very impressed with this remote trail system. There’s a little bit of everything…If you can manage the maze of jeep roads out there you’ll find some doubletrack and virtually virgin singletrack tucked away. I heard the motos and quads out there but didn’t see a soul on the singletrack. If you like adventure and have a hankering for some fresh new trail, the Goldfields await you.

I’ve got enough gps track to make a mountain bikers’ map of one section of the area. I’ll be posting that soon…or maybe not… holiday weekend and not a soul on the trail with me? Might be fun to keep it that way for a while :)

So little riding time with all the rain….I’ve made a few notable updates. First, I’ve added an interactive Google Map to the Phoenix Trail Index.

The map shows the locations for most of the riding areas in Phoenix. Click on the green biker and you’ll get a link to my trail page or blog entry about the trail. It’s a work in progress, and I expect to add more to in the future.

View Larger Map

I also updated the Lost Goldmine trail page with new maps of the East and West sections of the trail plus a complete map of the MTB loop portion just south of Lost Goldmine East.

All the rain this week inspired me to update the Weather page with new radar graphics. Check them out, they are so cool. You can follow the Monsoons in “near” real-time.

And lastly, I added the add this button on all individual posts. It’s at the top of the post and the bottom for your convenience in bookmarking.

Happy Labor Day weekend. Get out and ride!

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.

A gorgeous morning on the Lost Goldmine MTB Loop.

If you like bugs for breakfast!

The first few weren’t bad, but the last few dozen or so were a bit much. The Monsoons last night pushed out the heat, but brought in humidity and bugs. They hit my body like a hail storm, a constant peppering throughout the trail. Sticking to my wet skin then squirming as they struggle to fly free.

Aside from the bug action, the trails were just a few hours away from perfect. Just a bit soft in only a few spots. Tomorrow will be bwetter.