I attended the first morning of the 2010 Rocky Mountain Bicycle Festival in Leadville just the day before the Leadville 100 bike was to take place (Levi won). The 3 day event (Fri-Sun) was smaller than last year’s proceedings, which took place in Denver at the National Western Complex. The weather was just about perfect, with not a cloud in the sky, though it was slightly chilly for the vendors sitting in the shade.
by Brian Mullin http://www.gramslightbikes.com/
Nevertheless, it was entertaining meeting old and new friends, and hanging out at the various booths. There were some custom and boutique frame builders (a few new ones to the show), along with other various vendors.
Bike Companies – Alchemy Bicycle Company, AMPeirce Cycles, Black Sheep Bikes, Boo Bicycles, Cinelli-USA, DEAN, FORM Cycles, Generic Cycles, Kent Eriksen Cycles, Moots, Priority Cycles, Rawland Cycles, Spot Brand Bicycles, Strider Prebikes, Tomac Bikes, Victoria Cycles, Zinn Cycles
Various Vendors – ALINE Systems, Inc. (Orthopedic inserts), Ay Up Lighting Systems, Bear Naked Granola, Cantitoe Road (Connex chains, Caffelatex, etc), Club Ride Apparel, Feedback Sports (bike stand, scales, etc), Green Guru Gear, Hüdz (road brake hoods), King Cage (water bottle cages), etc.
I got to meet Travis Brown and his lovely wife Mary Monroe while I was hanging out at the Tomac booth with its owner Joel Smith. I had an excellent conversation with Mary about trail advocacy, Big Horn Sheep, and of all thing’s horses (really just big skittish dogs)! Mary is the Executive Director for the Trails2000 organization (http://www.trails2000.org/), which does trail building, advocacy, and education.
I hung for a bit with Kent and Katie of Kent Eriksen Cycles (they’re the best), and checked out their uber lightweight road bike, which weighed in at 13.04 lbs! Eriksen makes some pretty sweet titanium bikes, with some very exquisite welding work. They won the ‘Builder of the Year’ at the previous show.
Eriksen also had a very interesting 29er tandem, which I tried to goad them into racing in the Leadville 100. They did not take me up on the offer?
Actually, imho it really sucked compared to Denver last year. The many free beer tasters where not there ! Even several of the vendors admitted that the organizer screwed up. It was about 1/2 the size, nice though they only charged 1/2 the price.
If it is in Leadville again next year I will not waste my time as probably even more vendors will not also.
I tried to downplay the issue, but it was not the same show as was in Denver last year. I hope they move the venue back that way, I had to make a 2+ hour drive just for a half day on Friday (at least I rode Raspberry Gulch in the afternoon). It was a productive trip for me since I got to speak with a few vendors that I will be working with for some reviewing and testing in the near future.