2018 Interbike – Day 3
The 3rd day of 2018 Interbike is always a little calmer. I have already taken tons of pictures so I can slow down and actually talk with vendors rather than rushing around like a mad man.
I spent most of the day taking b-roll for videos.
I ran into Dan Empfield, the owner of Slowtwitch. We got to reminisce about the old days of triathlon. We are talking way back to 1989 when I raced in the Bud Light Series. For those that don’t know, Slowtwitch has one of the best rated triathlon forums on the web. If you have a question about triathlon or anything geeky about bikes, you can usually find answers there. Beyond the forum, Slowtwitch has articles, reviews and tons of info on swimming, biking and running.
I also ran into Boyd Johnson of Boyd Cycling. One interesting discussion we had pertained to his 650B gravel wheels known as the Jocassee Gravel 650b. When using a 650b X 47mm tire you have the same outside tire diameter as a 700c road tire. This means gravel bike junkies can run the 650b gravel wheels with 47mm tires for off road riding, and swap to 700c road wheels for road group rides and nothing changes with the geometry or gear ration on the bike.
So why 650b? The wheels allow you to run bigger tires, which equates to better traction and actually makes the bike faster when riding gravel, yet keeps the geometry the same. Pretty Cool.
A little side note. Boyd actually hung out at my brother Steve’s beer company in Virginia called Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company.
Interbike isn’t just about bike gear and gadgets, it is also about beer, food and good conversations. A brewing company called Rouleur created a cool concoction named Interbike American Pale Ale. They also had a Boneshakeur New Zealand Pilsner.
One super interesting booth I came upon was a photographer named Todd Van Fleet who takes photos of antique bikes in amazing locations.
Funny thing is, I actually had taken a few pictures of my own antique bikes a few years back, so I have a a lot of appreciation for what Todd has done. If you are interested, I have a website called AntiqueOutings.com, but I really haven’t written much in quite some time.
Sadly all my Schwinn mikes are gone. We sold them this year to make room for other toys we own.
On the food front, I got a chance to eat at the Prime Time Grill. The food was great, they had a selection of barbecue chicken, pork, sausages and burgers. The grill is actually a bunch of grills housed in an 18 wheeler. I don’t think I have seen something like this before.
