One busy week

We are back from Interbike and I'm still recovering. Funny how exhausting walking around at a trade show can be. After 2 days I was more sore then if I had raced.

The outdoor demo was pretty fun, even though I didn't get to ride as much as I wanted to. Scott and I arrived in Vegas late Monday, and headed out to meet Mike and Jeremy from Velo City at the outdoor demo first thing Tuesday morning. The lines were pretty long and the trails super crowded but I had fun and was able to test out some 29'ers, which was a blast. I am definitely starting to like the "big wheels!"

Here I am leaving Scott in the dust...ha, ha!

I was happy to run into my old teammate Krista. She had an awesome season this year!
Then it was time for the Indoor Demo. I spent 2 days meeting with sponsors etc., and got to see a lot of cool new product for 2010. Unfortunately I never got to walk the entire floor, so I didn't get to see everything. Boo!!!

Here I am with the owner of Kenda, Jimmy. I'm going to be riding on Kenda tires next year and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love them!!!

My new car sponsor for next year. They even put my lucky race number on the side. How thoughtful of them :-)

Our friend Joe (Salsa Cycles) raced the Great Divide on this bike!!!

Nite Rider developed a new program that allows you to individually program your lights. Very, very awesome!

We stopped by the Hydrapak booth to check out product for next year....I always race with their paks for endurance races and they have my back for next year. Get it? Ha ha!

Hanging out with Sonya and Namrita at the Ergon booth....
Overall I had a really great time. I'm lucky to have some really great sponsors/friends and it was nice being able to hang out with them. The next couple of weeks are going to be very, very busy as I finalize my program for next year. I have a lot of following up and deciding to do, trust me!

Unfortunately we ran out of time and had to wake up super early on Friday to fly back to Michigan. Waking up at 3:30 a.m. to catch our flight wrecked me for the whole day. I barely was able to function and spent the day in a flying daze. The only good thing about the early morning was that I fell asleep before the plane even took off. Scott didn't have to deal with my normally "neurotic about flying" self!

Saturday was another bright and early day, but for a different reason. My friends and I volunteered at a walk/race for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and it was emotionally overwhelming.

Here I am making sure that everyone got their caffeine buzz going before the race/walk! I took this job very seriously, trust me!
My friends were awesome cheering for everyone! I think they should start coming to all of my races :-)
We had to stand at the finish line with roses to present to survivors as they crossed the finish line...
Initially we were told to be very positive and cheerful but I had a hard time saying anything at all because any time I opened my mouth I wanted to start sobbing. It was both inspiring and overwhelming to stand in a wave of 5,000 breast cancer survivors and their families. The crowd was so diverse and I saw it all. Women in wheelchairs, friends and family members walking for people they had lost, and lots and lots of survivors. The best t-shirt that I saw was on a little boy who crossed the finish line. It said, "save my future wife's boobs."

After that I went back to bed for a million gazillion hours and I'm just starting to feel normal again. The crazy thing is that my week isn't even over. Tomorrow I'm doing a local XC race. It's just for training, but it will be very interesting to see how my legs feel after Interbike. I'm hoping for the best!