Nora Cup/Las Vegas trade show wrap up

well, even the shortest trip to Las Vegas can (and will) shave a few days off the average persons life and this one was no different. sure, nothing really wierd happened as in the past few years but what i see as normal can be seen as crazy to others. maybe after i wring out my liver and get my wits back i'll share a few stories of the shady ladies (all on the C&R program honey), late night missions and drunken buffonery, but 'til then you'll get nothing more than a brief re-cap:

Nora Cup: the event was held at a SUPER FANCY night club. how fancy? how about $7.00 for one bottle of beer...this was a big problem for all us crusty BMXers. luckily, the Ride BMX Magazine staff was armed with FREE drink tickets and as their longest continual advertiser (Albe's has been in EVERY issue since they started) they were making sure that i was happy. since the same people have won (read Haro team) for the past three years because the same group of 12 year olds filled out the mail in forms this year the nominees were decided by and voted on by the other pro's. WAY different outcome. the list of bad asses were Cory Martinez-street, Gary Young-ramp, Warwick Stevenson-racing, of course some Japanese dude-flatland and someone won dirt...i think it was Nyquist but with all those Free drink tickets...well, you know.... Van Homan didn't smash anything, Neil Wood didn't bitch about the venue and i think this was because no one could afford enough drinks to get completely cooked. maybe that was the plan. they debuted the "Drop The Hammer" DVD and from the parts i saw (about 90%) i would say it's the best Video that Ride has put out so far...but with parts by all the "Riders of the Year" what else would you expect? taps, turndowns, whips,loops...it's got it all. the S&M DVD premiered,too but it was at a really dirty little dive and it was so small that most of us couldn't squeeze in. what else would you expect from those guys? a good time was had, none the less.
Interbike Show: the majority of the show can be wrapped up in one word:CHOPPER. yeah, that's right... the popularity of the Schwinn StingRay has caused every bike company in the world to try to cash in. in the BMX department you can expect to see a new Shadow cassette hub set, new signature grips from Odyssey along with that kooky looking new stem of theirs, new Primo brakes, an
up-dated Kink light (7075) sprocket and a few dozen other things from various BMX companies so start saving your dough so you can shave a few more ounces.
anyway...you get it. i went to Las Vegas on the company dime, got shmoozed by industry bigwigs, and simply by typing this stupid "report" it makes it a write off. oh, and the reason there are no pictures is because Flip needed the camera to update the website so i bought one of those little disposable "camera-in-a-box" things and some girl took it from me and put it in my beer glass.
p.s. i gotta holla @
John Paul from Faction: are you really alergic to cheese or just freaky broads?
Ryan Sher: my official best friend for October
Rob-o: hooking it up even though he's sponsored by another m.o.
Chris from Kink: you know why
Brad MacDonald (Ride publisher): thanks for the "bro-hug"
Ryan Metro: you're not really a sissy, with how hard you were punching that guy he should have dropped
Lisa From Detroit: you've got a real nice "set up" thanks for letting me get a closer look
Brandi & Devon: see, i remembered your names when i sobered up

that's it kids. like i said at the beginning...when people start telling me what they saw me doing i'll relate the stories.