Back. Tired. Buried.

Back from Boulder City, Nevada now. Our trip went very well- our customer was very happy with each of our product presentations, as well as the nice fleet of demo bikes we brought (between all the Haro MTB and Masi road bikes). All in all, reports are that things went well.

The first day there, as mentioned before, was freezing! For a SoCal boy (even though originally from Alabama), 26 degrees is danged cold... especially when you only packed for 50 degree weather! The second and third days were warmer, though still quite cool. But, the good news is that the wind died down a bit as well and made the riding much more enjoyable.

Wednesday provided two different rides- one with our fantastic customer/ host and the other with my fantastic coworkers! And then Thursday served up one more group ride with the fine folks from Sun & Ski.


James Ayres (our Eastern Regional Sales Manager), me (duh) and our good friend and customer TJ (after all these years, I still can't remember if TJ even has a last name or what his official title is- he's just always been TJ to me) standing on the Hoover Dam.


My fat head/ helmet, Jill Hamilton (Haro MTB/ Lifestyle Brand Manager) and the peeking-around-my-shoulder head of Bryan Hayman (our Western Regional Sales Manager) down near Lake Mead.


I didn't really get any good group pictures on Thursday, but I did get this great shot of a chipmunk hanging around at our scenic stop. He looked hungry and not at all bashful.


Here's Bryan getting bikes out and ready to be ridden by some happy guys. Between the Masi bikes and all the Haro MTB bikes, we had around 30 bikes being ridden... and we saw lots and lots of smiles!

Though it was "work", it was also a lot of fun. Getting to ride and talk bikes for a few days is not a bad job... I admit I dig this gig (as if I really need to repeat that). The riding in Boulder City really is quite good. There's hardly a flat spot anywhere- it seems like you are either climbing or descending nearly the entire time- and even though the shoulder is very narrow and roads are heavily trafficked in places (mostly in the construction areas), the riding is still great. The views are incredible as well- the Lake Mead and Hoover Dam areas are really quite beautiful. BUT... Boulder City, and to some degree Henderson, have also really embraced cycling. In fact, there is now a fully separated bike/ pedestrian path that goes 31 miles along the lake and then into and around Boulder City/ Henderson. It is smooth, fast and fun to ride. It's a beautiful place to ride a bike. So much so, I can easily see myself going back for a cycling vacation... and you should too. If I were to organize a team training camp of my own, it would likely be in Boulder City... if you're reading this, Squirrel...

Now the work restarts though... now I have to get our catalog finished for Spring. The copy is all done, but now I have to work with my Product Manager (Wayne Doran) to make sure all the bikes have been photographed by our Photo-God (Pete Demos). Then I have to work with our Catalog-Dog (Rick- the Hispanic Panic- Ortiz) to finish layout and work with Pete some more for some nice action/ lifestyle/ image pics for the catalog as well. All of this has to be done so that we can turn in our catalog layout to the printer by February 19th. Yeah, the February 19th that is only 11 days away... that one. AND our Spring sales Meeting is the first week of March. AND then I head to Taiwan on March 10th. At least all the stress has helped me lose weight and keep it off. That's cool... right?


Yeah, the happy me... the one riding his bike... he'll be back in a while...
(Sorry for the spotty posting as of late... again. I'll be back with more posts, more podcasts and hopefully more video as well.)

Tim