For starters, Vegas was fun for the most.  My feet still hate me, but I feel recharged and all geeked-out after seeing (and riding) some of the goodness laid out before me.  Five days in Vegas is too much, IMHO.  How do people live there???  I'm sure they'd say the same about Seattle if they ever came up for a few days.  Since we arrived just a little too late for the first day of Outdoor Demo, I didn't get to ride nearly as many bikes as I had hoped to...but the ones that I did were good ones for sure.

Diamondback Sortie 3 - Excellent sub-30lb xc bike.  We called it the Mission Lite - as it's a 4" travel version of their 6" all-mountain gem.  It rode just like a Mission, except it climbs even better and still handled the techy sections of trail like a champ.  It's more of an all-day epic xc bike, but could easily shine at sport-level racing.

Commencal Supreme DH - This is one of those "don't worry about about what to do, the bike will take care of it" bikes.  I think it took me the whole of about 15 seconds to feel at home on it.  From there it got even better.  Once we got to the faster, jumpier section of the trails, the bike unveiled another side to it.  It felt stuck to the ground the faster I went, but it also jumped like a rabbit on steroids.  I wish I had more than my full-face and knee pads on at that point - I'm sure it would have hit some of the bigger gaps rather smoothly.  Adjustable head-angle and wheel-base are a nice touch, too.  Bottom line - this bike owns and I'd sell my body for one.

Santa Cruz V-10 - Not much to say here, really.  This is a straight-up dh rig...period.  The techier it gets, the better this bike performs.  I was rolling some lines on this bike that I would never have done my bike...and loving it!  While I wasn't able to jump this one as easily, I'm sure I'd be able to after several rides on it.  Like the Commencal, I'd save a lot of pennies to own one.

So, this time last week I was ready to go home but still had another 24hrs of trade show to endure...and I do mean endure.  I only drank on the first night there, but somehow never got to bed before 2am the entire week.  Vegas, baby!

Now that I'm back, I just got my fork back from the factory and it's in tip-top shape.  WOO-HOO!!!  At the same time, I just discovered that my frame it dust.  We were changing out the pivot-bearings to find that the main pivot is somewhat ovalized.  D'OH!!!  I guess the bright side of it is that it held up for just over 2yrs and, most importantly, this past year.  It has been one of the most exciting years of my life as far as riding bikes goes.  I've seen people doing things and people have seen me doing things that none of us would ever have imagined we'd be doing.  It's hasn't been pretty at times, but it's been pretty sick most of the time.  I guess I'll be selling my freshly warrantied fork, my rarely used stereo and a thing here or there to get a Diamondback Mission so I have something to roll in the mud with over the winter.  It helps we're a dealer at our shop, so I can get one for under a grand.  Long-term, I have my eyes set on a Kona Stab Deluxe.  It will definitely do the job I plan on doing.  Again, it also helps my shop carries - you guessed it...Kona!  IN THE MEANTIME...I at least have my disc brake/riser bar-equipped cyclocross bike to roll around on, so I won't totally forget how to ride a bike or get all out of shape.

I'LL BE BACK...AND SO WILL THE BRAP