Headed out to Las Vegas for Interbike 2004 at an ungodly early time on Wednesday morning. Sitting on the shuttle from long-term parking while it goes around and around the parking lot almost takes longer than the flight. I understand the reasons why the shuttle should be full before it makes its run, but what a waste of time at 5 in the morning! so I arrived early and headed in to register. Same story every year, I request press credentials well ahead of time and every year they can’t find my name in the list. In fact, they mail me the application card ahead of time - Oh well... I always end up with it, anyway.

OK, so who did I see the first day? Tyler Hamilton was signing autographs at two different sponsor booths, and the lines were so long, it was incredible. I walked up and gave him a hug, and said, “Luv ya, guy, I believe you.” He reached into a bag and gave me a handful of buttons that say, “ Tyler- I believe you.” Well, I’m telling you, everybody here at Interbike wants these buttons. Tyler has tons of support here.

Then I saw Bobby Julich signing away at an autograph session, and Frankie Andreu with a pen in one hand and a cell phone in the other. Bob Roll was there with a full beard, looking like a survivalist mountain man. We did the furry cheek kiss-kiss thing to test how soft his bead was. I got a couple of fuzzy pics of his fuzzy beard and bright orange camouflage cap.

I ran into Robbie Ventura, who told me his last race is in Florida this Saturday. He is a great guy and great racer - I’m sorry to see him leave the team and retire, but he has a lot of great future plans.

And then I ran into George Hincapie, who looked absolutely GQ - tall, slim and handsome in a black sports jacket and tres chic jeans. He gave me a hug and told me that the baby is due in 3-5 weeks and that Melanie is doing fine. He will get his Beyond the Podium award this afternoon.
Then I saw Phil Liggett - or rather I heard his voice as I went flying out of the Press Center, and I turned around real quick. He said, “Well, then, you are just going to go right on by me without saying hello?” What a really nice man he is - so genuine and he has so much grace and class.

I forgot to take my Speedlight yesterday for my Nikon, so it was not a great photo day. It is difficult to get shots here, anyway, because of the crowds. Somebody always steps in front if you, and you have to snap the shot so quickly that is composition is usually pretty crappy. It just ends up like a bunch of snapshots, which, I guess is better than nothing. Sort of... I’ll try to get some shots up in the gallery tonight.