You heard about the show, but the reality is that the important parts of vegas happened outside the show.

This year was a bit different in that we actually made an effort to go to the bike races which were going on, instead of just getting totally wasted and spending a lot of money at the bars.

Wednesday night we showed up and went straight to the cross race. It was a beautiful experience. There were about 10 guys who ended up in the lead group, and the rest of the field was just having a grand old time. There were beers being handed to competitors as they came up the runup, and many of them actually rode a good portion of the race with the beverages in hand. Eventually the spectators tired of the beers, and decided to start giving the racers tips. Many attempts were made to get a hand down the front of a speedsuit with a dollar in hand. Some were even successful. I’d be willing to bet that several of the competitors made back a good part of an entry fee (or at least some beer money) by the end of the race.

After the cross race, the evening concluded with boozing at some bar in TI. Not a bad night.

The next night began with free beer prowling at the show, followed by ‘tequila tasting’ with Voodoo Cycles. Korean food followed (and korean beer) before we made our way over to the Crit, which was in the parking area at Mandalay Bay. Being already wasted, Adam and I decided more beer was in order. So, we went to the gas station across the street from the race and each came back with an 18 rack of beers. We made it back by the start of the Pro crit (which was about 1 hour 15 minutes long) and proceeded to put a good dent in the beers throughout the race.

My goal for the race was to find a friend of mine from high school who was supposedly racing for Abercrombie. I was initially thrown off by the fact that none of the racers had polo shirts or popped collars on their jerseys, but I finally figured out that they were in grey camo jerseys. I picked out Mr. Bennet van der Genugten a couple laps later, and the alcohol mixed with a bit of indiana pride set in. I saw Bennet after the race (he did pretty well, middle of the lead pack), gave him a beer and told him I picked him out about halfway through the race.

His response: “I know exactly when you figured out which one was me, because the rest of the race, all I heard on the final straightaway was GET YOUR ASS MOVING BENNET!”

What can I say, I have a loud voice.

On a side note, I’ll raise my beer tonight to that man, he has several velodrome titles under his belt including the US National Collegiate Individual Omnium Championship a few weeks ago. Dude is fast.

The picture to the left illustrates the scene as we were waiting for a cab at Mandalay Bay.

After the crit, we headed to IMBA bowling, which for some reason (couldn’t have been due to last year. . . ) was crawling with security guards. We chilled for a little while and decided to cruise back over to TI and drink some more. The night ended with stumbling back to the hotel room at about 2am (a relatively early night for vegas). A productive evening by any measure.

I’ve spent the last week recovering, because this weekend is the infamous tour de fat here in flag.

I’ve been working on my legs getting back into shape, and they didn’t feel half bad today up weatherford, but I fear for them tomorrow. I think I’ll get up early to ride, because then I might not feel so bad about the punishment my body is going to receive in the afternoon hours. . .

We’ll see ya’ll there.