A Day at Interbike in Booth 1055

Thursday, Sept. 24

Traditionally, Wednesday and Thursday of Interbike are the busiest days of this three day trade show. By mid-day on Friday, everyone is pretty much done. This year was no different. Wednesday was a full day, but Thursday was really the BIG one for us at Nineteen. We were fully booked with meetings - typically on the hour and at the half hour as well. Dan Rishworth, the owner of Nineteen, and I split about 20 scheduled appointments for the day. But as you can tell, lots of people do just drop by on the fly.

Here's how the day unfolded:

7:30 am - Breakfast Buffet at Harrah's our hotel on the Strip. We talk strategy for the day and review who we met with yesterday and any new developments. I like to have a bigger breakfast, as their is rarely time for lunch and dinner is a long way off!

8:40 - Walk over to the Sands Exhibition Hall, vacuum the booth carpet and get things set up for the day.

9:00 - Show opens and we start in with our first meetings of the day.

9:30 - First presentation has gone well, but I am now freezing cold in the Sands Exhibition Hall( AC is always on high in here it seems). Have brought an undershirt - so I go and put it on. Better now.

10:00am - 12noon - More meetings and appointments.

12:30pm Former Top Canadian Pro Women Jill Savege drops by to say, "Hello". It was good to catch up with her quickly. She leaves wondering where her Fiance Jordan Rapp is

12:45 pm Slowtwitch Programmer, Pro Triathlete and recent Ironman Canada Champ Jordan Rapp checks in at the Nineteen booth. I give him a quick run-down on the line. But then he has to go as he is wondering where his Fiance Jill Savege is!

1:30 - Head over to the concession area to get a quick bite to eat on-the-fly between appointments and give a wave to Steve Harad in the Kestrel booth. Line-up for food too long. Swing by the Gu booth on way back and grab some Chomps. That will have to do for "Lunch".

1:45 - I have a quick chat with the folks next to us on the floor, Beljum Budder - It's a chammy cream and body lube for endurance sports. Nice people. Great product!

1:55 - It's now getting warm in the Hall. Contemplate taking under-shirt off.

2:00pm - Tri-It from Calgary, one of our best customers has their appointment. They have brought all 11 staff members and I give them a 20 minute PK session on the Nineteen line.

2:30pm - Carrying on with the meetings

3:40pm - I grab a quick tete-a-tete with Dean Jackson my counter-part from Blue-Seventy off to the side of our booth. All good. We have some friendly competition in this business but surprisingly some mutual challenges and it's good to know we are on the same page.

4:00pm More meetings and appointments, this time with some good new prospects for Nineteen. Always good news.

4:15pm - It's round about this time of the day that my lower back starts to act-up a bit. I remind myself mentally that after this presentation, I need to do a bit of a stretching routine for the back.

4:30pm - Stretch lower back out. Now much better.


4:35 Pro Triathlete and all around nice guy Jonathon Caron checks in to say, "Bonjour" and he quickly gives me the inside scoop on training with Brett Sutton and the TBB team. Now I know!

4:45- North American Sports CEO and Tri Race Managment Guru Graham Fraser stops by to give me the low-down on the Centurion Series. An interesting and exciting development for road riding and racing.

4:50pm -On a quick trip for a bathroom break and a drink of water, I run into a few of the Cervelo Sales Reps I know. Cervelo does not have a booth at the show this year, but they are throwing a Party tonight. We agree to catch up at the party.

6:00 -Show over for the day. Quickly review all appointments and make some notes.

6:15pm - Walk over to the Cervelo Party which is being held in a private room at Lavo a very nice restaurant inside the lobby of the Palazzo Hotel. I am handed a Heineken as I walk through the door!

6:30pm - 8:00pm Cervelo Party in full swing. Many key people in the road and tri business are there - to numerous to list. Try and, "work the room", as they say, as best as I can - still enjoyable though. VP of Sales Tom Fowler and Co-Founder Phil White give some speeches and introduce the Cervelo Test Team riders there.

8:15pm - Cervelo Party wraps up and it's decision time. Take the bus out to Mandalay Bay to watch the USA Crit Finals or head out for dinner? We choose dinner with a good friend and customer, Ian Fraser, from Cycle Logik In Ottawa, and a few other folks from Cervelo.

8:45pm - Sit down for Dinner at Aqua - a very nice seafood restaurant with an obvious water theme. I have the grilled Mahi Mahi which is outstanding. Talk over dinner is interesting, rambling and varied. Check my Cervelo Test Team musette schwag bag from the Cervelo party and note the goodies in there - a signed Test Team Jersey is one thing.

11:00pm Dinner is done and we walk back to Harrah's. There is talk of heading out for a night-cap as we stroll through the casino area of the Venetian, but I am done and am ready for bed.

11:30pm - In bed and fall asleep quickly ready for another day.

It's All About The Fit

Shopping for a new wetsuit?

Wetsuit selling season is in full swing. If you are shopping for a new wetsuit be it your first wetsuit or a new one to replace an older one, there are certain things you need to know about buying a wetsuit. It can get very complicated and there is all kinds of choice in the market, but if you keep focused on fit, you should get the most comfortable and fastest wetsuit for you. With wetsuits, fit is everything!

However, before I go any further, I would urge you to, please shop a reputable wetsuit retailer. The good news is that by my calculations, there are between 80 - 100 good places in North America to shop for triathlon wetsuits - both bricks & mortar and on-line retailers. There is a list of Nineteen dealers here on the Nineteen home page. For many new comers to the sport, wetsuits are a dark area that they know little about. Seek out some good retail help. Take your time and shop around. Don't feel pressured to buy a wetsuit because of a great deal. Again, it has to fit you - that is the bottom line.

I'll try not to make this a blatant plug for Nineteen, but the first two points are things that I think we do well, that make it worthwhile having a look at a Nineteen wetsuit this year, if you are shopping for a new suit.

There are three key points you need to consider:

1. You need to find the brand that fits you best. Every brand fits a bit different, so it's important to find the brand that fits you best. Nineteen has been making wetsuits for nine years. Before the company even started making wetsuits, we realized that there was a bit of a problem in the business - not everyone is built and shaped like an ITU racer but at the time many of the suits available were built on the presumption that all triathletes were built this way - the same way. We took a bit of a different approach and skewed our fit so that more than just the short/long and lean can fit into the suits. We were also the first wetsuit company to have women's specific fit. So take the time and investigate how some of the different brands fit.

2. You need to find the right size for you. That's easier said than done. It's challenging when there is a disconnect between the size-chart, what the wetsuit is, and what you are. With Nineteen we have tried to connect all that up to make finding your size much easier. Our size chart is very weight-centric. In that, if you know your weight, and you are not crazy tall or short, for that weight, then that is your size. There are a few minor exceptions to this, but for 90% of people, this works very well.

3. You need to have the wetsuit fitted to you properly. Perhaps the most overlooked, but most important part of wetsuit shopping and performance. Three key points:

A) Make sure the suit is hiked up as far as you can at your waist - it should be like giving yourself a wedgie!!

B) Get the sleeves on and then either on your own, or with someones help, keep working the rubber up your arms an over your shoulders. You should keep doing this until there is loose rubber - enough to pull into a small fist with your hand - between the point of your shoulder and your neck.

C) Get the zipper done up . . . . and oh . . yea. . the zipper goes on thew back! Had to mention that because at least once a year, I get some one coming out of the change room all happy and proud with the zipper on the front!! Last thing - now bend over at your waist like you are doing a formal Japanese bow with the straight upper body. Look back at your groin area. You will see rolls of rubber there. Grab one of those rolls, and start to work it up hand over hand towards your collar bone( top of your chest). Repeat. Keep doing this until all the rolls are gone. Larger breasted women and men with broad chests - make sure you do this and get as much rubber as you can, as high up on your chest as you can.

When trying a suit on dry, it should be comfortably tight in the store, with full arm mobility. It may feel a bit restrictive, but once in the water, it will loosen up.

Full Sleeve or sleevless?

Anyone that knows anything about wetsuits will want to sell you a full sleeve wetsuit. They are not trying to pull a fast one on you - if it's a well fitting full suit, it will be warmer, faster, more comfortable and with fewer neck-rash issues. Most people who buy sleeveless wetsuits are people who have had a bad experience with a ill-fitting full sleeve wetsuit and have vowed to never again wear a full sleeve wetsuit. However they most likely, were in the wrong brand of wetsuit for them, they were in the wrong size or they did not have it fitted properly - or they could have had all three things off!! I have seen that, and it's not pretty!

Larger men and women, with very big arms and broad chests( body builder types), may find sleeveless wetsuits to be a better fit.

What else?

If you live in the northern U.S., or Canada or you travel to races far away from home. It may be a good idea to have a neoprene hood in your kit bag - just in case. Some lakes and sea-side places can have OK water one day and then a wind and current change can have the water temperature drop drastically over night. This happened at Ironman Coeur D'Alene last year with a 10F drop in temperature on race morning! Nineteen does have very nice 3mm swim-hoods on offer this year.

Sometimes temperature can go the other way - get too warm and then wetsuits are not allowed. This happens at 78F for Age-Groupers and 72F for Pros. What then? This is when the new swim or speed skins can be helpful. Nineteen's Frequency SS makes it's debut this season. For a swim skin to really work, it needs to fit tight. I saw many wearing them too loose at Ironman Hawaii last year. When you try on a swim skin you are considering, make sure you wear under it, what you will be wearing in the race. Most people wear what they will wear on the bike. This simplifies things in T1 significantly.

Hopefully this has been helpful