bikeseattle.org

Well, this year’s expo was as good as it ever is. I rode in on Saturday (did the valet parking of course), and wandered around for a couple of hours. I was intending to listen to Joe Friel at 12:45, but it turned out he was on at 1:45, so I had an extra hour to kill.

Aside from doing a full pass of all booths I do have a few things that I make sure not to miss.

Such as some light browsing of gear from a few of the local shops who have booths setup. If you’re looking for stuff, this is as good of a place to look for a deal as any.

I always try to do a pass through the photography competition, just to see what people have done. This year had a great turnout and quite a few interesting shots.

I was also able to find the Apple Century ride guys and told them that I already signed up online for this year (I did so because I couldn’t find them at the expo last year, which the guy assured me they were indeed there). This is one of my favorite rides (perhaps because I grew up there), but if you haven’t tried it you should. This years route isn’t as scenic as the “Chelan Loop”, but should be fun nonetheless. They’re cool because you can score a cold, crisp apple from them.

I also saw a cross bike with carbon rims and carbon spokes, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s a good idea.

I’ll confess that I found myself (for the second year now) admiring the De Salvo frames.

Here are a few highlights from my perspective.

Marymoor Velodrome Association

I was talking to one of the guys at the booth and I was able to get a sneak peek (as would you have if you dropped by) of the items up for auction. They’ve got quite a good spread of stuff, one item of particular note is the computrainer.

The MVA’s Annual Track to the Future Auction will be on April 1 at the UW Center for Urban Horticulture. More info on the auction at http://velodrome.org

Simbree
Simbree creates “energy food” in the form of bites and bars. They had samples of the three different kind of bars/bites they have, and they were all quite tasty. One of them especially, however I can’t quite remember which one. One of the maple ones. These are worth a try if you’re into this sort of thing, and they’re much better than the Powerbar bites.

Here’s a listing of local distributors.

Fluidride
The best part of the expo was watching these guys doing their thing. Matter of fact, I was just watching them as I was waiting for Friel to come on. They were just practicing, not even doing a show.

Imagine a few 2×4’s, some strapped pallets and a ramp, and these guys were taking rather specialzed bikes and doing all kinds of balancing and jumping types of tricks. Very entertaining for sure. I love watching people who are masters of their art.