Flying High At Interbike 2014 (from Fly 6)
Having just come back to Perth from Germany and spending a few days with our families before heading off again, we wondered how our bodies were going to cope with all the time zone changes. This time, we were off to Interbike, the massive annual cycling industry convention in Las Vegas.
After checking in to our accommodation at the new Delano Hotel (part of Mandalay Bay), we went to the event centre to check out the status of our booth. It was substantially bigger than what we had at Eurobike, which allowed us to have four ‘half bikes’ for our display and more room for folks to check out a Fly6 without feeling hemmed in. The booth was not set up yet, so we went back to catch up with work and did that until the show started a few days later.
What we noticed about Interbike when comparing it to Eurobike was two main things: size and vibe. Eurobike by comparison was around 4-5 times bigger and had a totally different atmosphere. Interbike seemed much more ‘business like’ whereas, at Eurobike, it seemed more fun, relaxed and well, European!
Needless to say that when the doors opened on Day 1, we were flat out from the start. Loads of people who supported us on Kickstarter popped in to say hi and wished us well. We had quite a few media appointments set up so a steady stream of editors, writers, bloggers, etc. spent some time with us talking about Fly6.
On the first morning, we also had Craig Hummer and the Universal Sports Network media crew make camp in our booth for an interview with me. Talk about a deer in the spotlights! Craig thought Fly6 was a fantastic concept, and I think it showed during the interview (that should air in a few weeks time).
Kingsley & I had very few quiet moments. When we had the time, we took off to visit another booth leaving our very helpful and capable hostess, McCall, to man (or woman) the booth. Arriving back 10 minutes later, McCall showed us the award Outside Magazine had bestowed upon Fly6 – the highly coveted Gear of the Show Award.
We were stunned to say the least! This award was one of five given out for Interbike by Outside Magazine amongst nearly 1,300 exhibitors. Getting this award for the accessory category was very humbling and very exciting.
