Well another fall is here which means another Interbike Trade Show. For those of you who don't know, Interbike is the bicycle industry's preview for all the new stuff that will be out for the coming year and it takes place in Las Vegas. Manufacturers from all over the world attend to try to get the all the shops to buy their crap...and a lot of it really is crap. on to the story...

the leader of our revolution, none other than Todd From Albe's was in attendance at Interbike 2003 and, just like last year, he saw things from a different point of view than most people (like he usually does) and here are his highlights...and lowlights.

first things first, Todd starts Sunday off on the wrong foot and nearly misses his flight. he shows up after every other passenger has been seated and there are two people standing at the door of the plane and they ask him, "e;are you Mr. Fromalbes?"e; he shows them the appropriate ID then gets on the plane where he is greeted by sneers and groans. once in "e;sin city"e; he heads straight to the trade show knowing that most of the stuff has nothing to do with BMX so he can see what needs to be seen, meet up with old friends then get out and hit the strip. after the show wrapped on day one everyone headed straight to the famous country bar,Gilley's, for the Odyssey video premier. the video is about 90% done and did not disappoint. it's even got a couple flatland parts, Chase Gouin and Martii Koupa, but those are amazing enough to entertain even the most hardcore street trolls. talk of everyone taking turns on the mechanical bull quiets when everyone realizes that there is just one bartender and he doesn't seem too happy about serving drinks to dirty young guys so he starts moving slow enough to require a fifteen minute wait for a drink. BMX'ers start leaving quickly and the aging bumpkins couldn't be happier. the party moves to The Hard Rock and many drinks are consumed. Todd is repeatedly told by Jay Miron to stop paying Ride Magazine for Albe's ads then drags Todd over to where Brad McDonald, publisher of Ride, is standing and instructs Todd to yell at him. Todd does so because if he doesn't he knows Jay will kick both their asses...he later apologizes to Brad. the night wears on and riders start dropping so the real men head to this crusty little punk bar called the Double Down. Todd and his crew show up and are greeted by drunken riders but nothing goes down so they call it a night and head back to the hotel so as to be well rested knowing tomorrow brings the NORA awards and a whole new party.

Monday, Todd goes to the trade show for a bit, long enough to have Dave Freimuth and Chad Degroot tell him that they want Albe's to be the exclusive mail order outlet for their new Baco products. Todd agrees and they decide to talk in detail about the deal laterbut are never together..and sober at the same time again. but the deal is done just the same. shortly after this business goes down Todd runs into Ryan Sher. they share a few laughs somehow Todd finds himself getting Flow from Ryan's new clothing company, F-TOWN. heck yeah, Todd goes to the show a simple loser but leaves a sponsored loser. today he actually checks out all the new goods: Odyssey 13t freewheels, Orchid shoes, Shadow Conspiracy chains and a bunch of other stuff that probably won't be out till spring. plans are made and it's on to the NORA CUP award ceremony. while at the event Jimmy Levan makes sure that he and Todd are still fiends in spite of the Metal Bikes deal with the devil, Todd assures them they are and merely minutes later Rob-O has almost the exact same conversation with him. business is business and friendship is another issue. Todd, Jimmy and Rob-Oall kiss and make nice with one another. the show is weak,all the rider of the year awards went to the same exact people as last year, the host club was very lame and when the last trophy was handed out most took Neil Wood's advice and headed back to the infamous Double Down where the crowd was fun, the DJ good and the drinks cheap. soon after walking in the night becomes a blur. Todd once again drinks his weight in beer ( if Bob from Staff were here he would be quick to point out that Todd doesn't weigh much since he is a rather small fellow...yes, Bob, we know, Todd and Flip are both tiny) bulleted points include:

* Ruben Alcantara introduces Todd to the owner of Fly Bikes. then the more he drinks the more he introduces him...over and over and over.

* Todd repeatedly uses the ladies room and can't figure out till much later why he keeps having girls walk in on him while he's "e;going"e;.

* Chris Stevenson, S&M big shot and the guy dressed as Rick Thorne in all the S&M ads, gets physically thrown out, sneaks back in a minute later and then has his girlfriend strap her bra to Todd's head. (Todd has already destroyed that photo)

* BMX legend Scott Towne, Etnies hot shot Don Brown and Todd manage to offend a couple Las Vegas working girls...and that's not easy so you can only imagine the sort of things that were said. (share a smoke, make a joke, grasp and reach for a leg of hope...whatever that means...ask Towne)

Tuesday, last day at the trade show. Todd show's up to shake the appropriate hands and say all the "e;good byes"e;. Scott Stevenson tells him that he wants to steal all of his non-BMX t-shirts, Kink tells him they have found a 20"e; Freebird in white. the one and only white 20"e; so Todd scores it for his pal Flip and ships it to the shop directly from the show, Jay Miron yells "e;1500"e; at him one more time, and the show wraps for another year. later Todd makes friends with a pretty French girl, they have dinner and a drink then he retires early so as not to miss his flight Wednesday. he later will find out that Towne's rental car, a Chevy Cavalier, was stolen from the parking garage of the Venetian, one of the best hotels in the city. a disturbing yet funny ending to a disturbing yet funny 4 days. till next year, keep the pedal to the metal.

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