Montreal BTAC/ Expo Cycle- 2009

So another great tradeshow has come and gone- the 2009 edition of the BTAC/ Expo Cycle in Montreal, Canada. The Montreal show is considerably smaller than Interbike or Eurobike, but then again Canada only has roughly 33 million people, versus the over 300 million in the US... so it's forgivable.

I've gone to the show several times over the past 5 years I've been with Masi to support our distributor there- Norco. Norco IS the 800lb gorilla of Canadian cycling- they have a huge line of bikes of their own and distribute nearly every product any consumer or retailer could possibly ever want. As a shameless plug for my friends up north, their Axiom line of accessories is simply top-notch and is some amazing stuff. I highly recommend it and personally endorse it!

Anyway... the folks at Norco and many of their suppliers are good friends of mine, either newly or from several years. Needless to say, it's never hard to get me to go to Montreal to support them and meet with their retailers. Plus, being the mega-bike-nerd that I am, I love being around bikes and bike people.

As I expected, traffic at the show did appear to be down from previous years- though I have no real data to prove that. The traffic in the booth was good, but the overall number of people walking the show did seem to be fewer than previous years. The Masi section of the booth was in prime real estate, so the bikes got great visibility and I had some outstanding conversations with people. I've been to shows in the past, when the economy was bad, and all retailers would talk about was how bad things were and how they were scared for their businesses... which makes for a long and very depressing show. However, this year, dealers were surprisingly upbeat. Sure, they are feeling the pinch of the economy- except for the ones having their best years ever and there were a few- but they felt very optimistic about the coming year. Many expressed having more inventory than they wanted to for this time of year, but they were confident the product would move and then they would have room for more new stuff. In the end, they were expressing a belief in a recovery- though they openly stated that they felt the US economy had been hurt much worse than the Canadian economy, so recovery was likely easier for them.

All that said, the response to the new bikes was exceptionally good. Many folks came back by the booth several times to look at bikes multiple times or to bring other members of their shop by to see bikes. I had more than one retailer say, "that's the best bike of the show, right there"... and that was said about more than one model. Needless to say, as always, that makes my heart skip when I hear stuff like that. We do work very, very hard to create the bikes in our line. It is no superfluous exaggeration to state that a little piece of us goes into each bike. In some cases, it's a really big piece. Having shops say glowing things is great and fills me with great pride, but one of the best things is when they take pictures of the bikes... especially when they use their phone to save the picture. One young shop kid took a picture and gleefully proclaimed that it was replacing the picture of his girlfriend as the wallpaper on his phone! THAT'S the stuff that really makes me feel pretty good... maybe not so much for his girlfriend though.

I have to give the usual thanks to all the folks at Norco- I don't even know where to begin so I'll just thank everybody. Rather than omitting somebody in a list- as I always do- I'll just leave it as a big thanks to all. As always, my friends, it was great to see you all and I sincerely enjoy and appreciate your kindness and friendship.

It was also great to make new friends like Taylor from Burley and Sonya from Ergon, as well as see great friends like Kendall from Ritchey, Chris (Smithers) from Lazer and Karl from Thule- to name a few. It is the people, much more so than the product- which is saying a lot- that I love the most about the work I do to pay the bills (well, most of the bills anyway). I may not be wealthy, but I can sincerely say that I am rich.

Over the course of my 5 day visit, I was able to get out and ride 3 times through the magnificent city that is Montreal. I love to experience a city via bike and I have been blessed to be able to ride in Montreal on multiple occasions. The city is raucous and hectic with some crazy traffic and drivers sometimes, but it all seems to work out. I've managed to avoid many close calls in Montreal and it always leaves me feeling a little bummed that I couldn't ride more. I love to ride on wide open roads in the country, but I live in the city and riding in the city is a part of who I am, so I am used to it and I have grown comfortable with the spastic poetry that is urban cycling. It may not be pretty in the usual sense, but there is something to it that fills me with a lot of joy and peace. Sure, I'd rather be miles from cars and stop lights, but since I can't always do that, I've grown to live with and appreciate the energy and flow of honking horns, brake lights and absentminded drivers. It's less Miles Davis and more Ornette Coleman, but it's a music of its own. I really enjoyed those few rides and seeing the city from angles I would never get otherwise. It's been said many times by people with far better skills than I, but seeing a city from a bicycle gives you a perspective that is somehow better and supremely more enjoyable.

After 5 days, it was time to come home and finish preparations for Interbike in Las Vegas... I leave on Sunday to drive out for set-up for Dirt Demo at Bootleg Canyon before heading into the city for the show itself. Montreal serves as the perfect "warm up" before the big event in Vegas and after my trip to Australia in July, I am pumped up and ready for a great show and excited to see what the US retailer feedback is like for the new bikes and the state of the US bike market.

Sorry for the infrequent posts lately- I'm trying to get back into the swing of things with this crazy workload and travel schedule... hopefully more regular posting will materialize soon.

Here are a few pics to wrap things up;

The Masi section of the booth... where all the magic happens!

Yep, that's me! Part of an old display poster from a previous Norco/ Masi booth a few years ago. Pretty funny...

Sunset from atop Mont Royal on the first night of the show. My good friend Paul Burnett and I got out for a very short spin just at sunset. The view was spectacular, as always.

Paul looking over the city- it was a great view, for sure.


It's probably best that I am a little out of focus- the flab is harder to identify that way.


Yep, I forgot to bring a water bottle with the bike and had to resort to regular bottled drink bottles... but the view is still great!


The view in the daylight- it was a super warm and clear day on Saturday. The view of the city is always so incredible. Down in the distance is the Olympic Stadium from the Montreal Olympics of 1976... which it is rumored was only recently finally paid off.


A family of raccoons- not sure if they spoke French or not- was mooching snacks off the tourists at the lookout point. They looked well fed...


The Olympic Stadium up close- I got to ride by it during my long, getting lost, journey through the city. It is pretty cool up close and looks very modern even more than 20 years after it was built.

My faithful steed at rest along one of the wonderful views along the Saint Lawrence river- the bike trail along the river is gorgeous.

Tim
(PS- yes, I ate nearly my entire weight in poutine and Montreal bbq... )

Montreal 2009

At 4:30 tomorrow morning, I'll be sleepily wandering through the airport looking for my gate so I can fly to Montreal for the BTAC/ ExpoCycle show for another year. The bike is in its case and the suitcase is packed.

I'm looking forward to returning to the wonderful city of Montreal and hopefully getting to ride my bike with some of its many great people. The ride up the great Mont is fantastic. Hopefully this year the cold rain will stay away and I can actually get a ride in!

Time to get ready for bed and an early, early start to the day!

Tim

Montreal BTAC/ Expo Cycle

It was two years ago that I was last in Montrea for the BTAC/ Expo Cycle show and a lot has changed since then. At that time, we were still "struggling" to hit our stride at Masi- in the last phases of the redevelopment and strengthening of the brand. Last year, Masi was absent from the show and now the line is radically different from what was last seen there in Montreal... for the better.

I love to fly- as you can see, the accommodations were quite spacious and roomy.

This was easily the longest Customs line I've ever stood in! It was at least an hour, if not 1.5hrs for me to get through the line... and it only got longer while I was standing there. By the time I got through, the entire "corral" was full of people.

I thought it was just us Americans who were scared of foreigners crossing our borders...

The Montreal show is smaller, when compared to Interbike in Vegas and Eurobike in Germany, but it is still a significant show. For me, the smaller physical size of the show itself did not change how busy I was in the booth speaking to retailers- it was slightly less chaotic than Vegas, but still very busy for the 3 days.


Feedback to the bikes was awesome. The overwhelming response was very positive and I am confident my good friends at Norco will have quite the year with the bikes.

There were SO many beuatiful bikes and widgets to look at, but I sadly had very little time to see much more than the inside of my own booth. BUT... that's good news.

I'll be back later with more pictures- it's time to be Daddy now!

Tim

Montreal is a beautiful place.

The picture says it all- the view from my hotel window on the morning of my departure (when the rains finally cleared).


That's all for tonight; still feel like hell, so I'm making it an early night. I'll be back again later- I promise- and with more photos to share.

Tim

Home now...

Got home a little while ago. Still can't fall asleep yet, as my internal clock is totally confused.

The flight from Washington Dulles was pretty uneventful and I got lucky to have a bulkhead seat behind 1st class, so even though I had the window seat I had lots of leg room. The highlight of the flight was watching an electrical storm as we flew over New Mexico/ Arizona- watching the lightning flash and travel through the clouds was amazing. Between the clouds though, it was equally impressive to see the light of the huge moon shining on the water beneath us. Sometimes the earth is such an amazingly beautiful place.

My right leg took a pretty good beating on the flight, even with the Skins tights- but I shudder to think what they would have been like without them. I am hoping it is just from all the travel and the standing and walking... if not, then it could mean more/ worse clotting issues than originally thought.



Here's my leg at least 30 minutes after taking the sock off my foot... and it's still totally swollen. To quote my doctor- "not good."

As promised photographic proof that I was working hard in Montreal. For the record, Logan (from Norco) and I lost badly... twice... to a girl who just totally kicked our asses.

More to follow. Gonna try to sleep and elevate my leg.

Night,
Tim

Tired in Montreal...

Montreal has been awesome! The response to the bikes has been incredible. Norco didn't bring in much of the line to Canada last year and is REALLY increasing the commitment this year. The retailers here seemed to be very excited about the brand- liking the models and the colors. It's a great way to get ready for Interbike in a few weeks. It is always great to see the familiar faces of the industry as well as the face of retailers that I remember meeting and speaking to before. Hearing from retailers here who brought in bikes and then had great luck selling them is a fantastic treat for me- it sure goes a long way towards validating the very hard work we do in creating the bikes and rebuilding the brand.

The weather has not been all that great, so I haven't been riding yet. Hopefully tomorrow morning I can get out for a ride along the river. Montreal is such a beautiful city and I always enjoy getting to see it from my saddle. I would post some pictures here, but the hotel wifi is unbelievably slow and unreliable- as it has been since my first stay here 3 years ago. It's a great hotel otherwise- but the wifi signal is always very unreliable.

The downside to the Montreal experience, aside from losing my cell phone in a taxi on the first night, is that my body is really beat to hell by all the walking and standing in the booth. My right leg is extremely sore, as is my back and my neck. I feel like I've been run over by a cement truck... which has me pretty worried about Vegas and Interbike. I may be crippled by the time the show is over in a few weeks. I love what I do for a living... but right now it's taking a heavy toll on me. That said, I do feel as inspired and invigorated as ever! The feedback and support for the bikes and the various things we've been doing has been amazing and I am super happy about where things look to be heading. Success is an intoxicating thing!

Ok, I'm falling apart sitting here in the lobby of the hotel using the better wifi signal, but I'm caling it quits and heading to bed. Pictures will be downloaded and shared... promise.

Tim

Made it!

Made it to Montreal and then proceeded to lose my cell phone in the cab last night. SO I'm phoneless and nobody answers it when I try calling it. I am heartbroken because of the pictures on the phone, more than any other reason. But it is just a phone and though I don't really want to spend the money on another phone, it is just a phone.

So far the show has been really fantastic and I am very pleased with the reception the bikes are receiving. It looks like it is going to be a great year!

The wifi has not been working in the room, but the signal is good and strong here in the lobby... but it's also 1:00 AM. Ugh...

So I am going to bed now... it's another great day ahead tomorrow.

Tim

On the way to Montreal!

Well, after some early morning airport fun, I'm finally at my gate getting ready to board the plane soon. I'll be arriving in beautiful Montreal at 4:25PM- hopefully giving me enough time to get to the hotel and then get my bike built quick enough to go for a short ride in the city to get reacquainted with Montreal. It's been two years since my last trip to Montreal, so I'm looking forward to seeing how much of it I can remember- the bike path along the St. Lawrence river is calling my name!

Sunday the show itself begins. Today is the demo in Bromont. Expo Cycle is a great show and I can't wait to see what it looks like now after two years of growth in the Canadian market. Thing is, I have to admit that I love bike industry tradeshows. Sincerely, I do. The standing and walking are both pretty painful for me right now- the knee, back and arm are really beat-up still, so I feel pretty blown apart by the end of the day now... but seeing all the new bikes and gear is mighty cool! Plus, this is the only time I get to see many of my friends and customers in the business. It ends up being a bit like a reunion... but with bikes.

Anyway... they just announced boarding for my flight... so I gotta go! Maybe I'll be back during my short layover in Denver. If not, you'll hear from me when I get to Montreal!

Tim

It's like dejavu all over again...

Busy. Still.

Leaving for Montreal on Saturday for the Canadian industry tradeshow. Eurobike is this week, but I'm not there... obviously. Looking forward to being back in Montreal- it's been two years since I was there and it is one of my favorite cities I've visited so far. Can't decide if I should take a geared bike or my Speciale Fixed. Have considered taking one of my carbon bikes, but It might be nice to reign myself in and just take the Fixed and stay off the Mont this trip (though the view is unreal). The view along the St. Lawrence river is incredible too and the bike path that runs along the river meanders for many miles without a single stoplight and barely anybody else to contend with. It's pretty much heaven.

Interbike will be directly on the heels of Montreal and somewhere in the middle of all of that, we have to finalize what we're doing for our Spring release bikes (mostly color changes for a few models and a tiny few "enhancements").

Yeah, I know- broken record.

The things we do to keep making more and better bikes for you... you folks are a tough crowd!

Tim