With my third year of Interbike behind me, the thing that’s still the most fun about attending the tradeshow is the people I get to meet and talk with.

First up, my coffee break with Gary Fisher was so surreal. He is such a down-to-earth guy that just loves bikes… especially 29ers. Along with 29ers we discussed 7-gear vs 9-gear bikes, riding in Europe, electric and hydralic shifters, etc etc. A couple days later he came up to me in the media center and wanted to know what I’d seen so far. Pretty cool.

I also got to catch up with both Marla Streb and Shonny Vanlandingham of the Luna Chix team. Both are super cool and it looks like I’ll be working together with the Luna team on a super-secret project pretty soon.

Also at the Luna booth I got to meet Mark, Marla’s significant other, along with their baby Nicoya. Such a beautiful baby with a head full of hair! After meeting Mark I turned around and met Robert Gregorio aka “Bicycle Bob”, one of the 2006 mountain bike hall of fame inductees. He’s a great guy and will be on a future episode of the podcast.

I was also introduced to two of the riders for the Fisher team, Nat Ross and Willow Koerber. Nat was a super cool guy who just loves to ride. And yes, Willow was cuter in person then online. For some reason I didn’t get a picture with Nat, but I did get two with Willow. You can see my priorities!

Allright… there are more people to talk about but that’s it for this post. More Interbike 2006 wrapup still ahead…