Back from Portland

Wow. That about describes it.

Just returned from two days in Portland for NAHBS. I went down with the Bike Friday boys, but mostly went my own way to soak in the hours (and hours) or seminars but on by the frame building elite. Below is a general recap of my experience, though most of wasn't in the exhibit hall.

Friday-

Industry only day. Got there early to help with finishing touches on the booth.

Lesson 1) Don't expect there to be free indoor parking just because you read it on the internet. The poor volunteers looked swamped before we even started, so I just locked my bike up out front. Between about $10,000 worth of custom bicycles...

Lesson 2) If there is an option to buy your ticket early, do so. I walked in, went to the head of the line, and was in the hall before the CC machines were even buzzing.

I spent the early part of the day meeting some builders I have wanted to see, including Steve Garro (and Denise) of Coconino, Eric Baar of Ground Up and Sam Whittingham of Naked. These guys all build really clean, purpose driven machines. Sam received quite a bit of attention for his fancy show bike, but even that had a lot of cool utility built in to the shiny bits. Most of the rest of the day was spent filling my head with useful images and info.

Saturday-

Consumer (fan?) day.

Wowzers. I woke up a about 7 to see a sunny day and knew we were all in for something. I got there early, crammed my bike on a rack and took a picture of the full bike rack- a half hour before the doors even opened. I planned to walk the floor Saturday and mix some social catching-up with non-industry friends and a few late seminars. It was amazing watching the crowd of fans flood in the door then break on each row of the convention center. From 10am on the place was packed. There was a short stint during the lunch hour when they actually had to close out about 200 people when the hall hit fire capacity!

Honestly, Saturday was a bit of a blur. I had done most of my gawking Friday, so I spent lots of time making laps running into people. I was fortunate enough to find friends from college, bike school, my Seattle years, etc.

By Saturday afternoon I was starting to hit my "to many people in to small of a space" wall, and caught a ride home with my wife and some friends. NAHBS was an amazing show, but I needed to get back to the bikes. I added a few pictures of the sprint bike I worked on Sunday.

See you in Indianapolis next year?