Philly Bike Expo

This past weekend the planets aligned and the result was a bunch of bike geeks descended upon Philadelphia. I got to go and mingle with folks I've only read about in magazines and just soaked up bike geekdom. It was the whole weekend, with seminars, trade show, competitions, flea market and assorted other activities.

so, where to start?


Well, I chatted with Mike Flanigan from A.N.T. bikes for a little while, nothing much really just talked about bikes, amazing though, his bikes have always caught my eye as much as his general philosophy about bikes and biking.

Then I walked around the trade show floor admiring all of the framebuilders that were there. Really beautiful bikes were on display as well as lots of other handmade bags, clothes, alcohols. So I wandered and talked and sampled. Then outside for some fresh air and lo and behold there were cool kids on bikes doing tricks, so I pretended I was a photographer and snapped some photos.


Off to the seminars after the tricksters, where I listened to the Exec. Dir. of the bicycle coalition of greater philadelphia (BCOGP ? Am I back in Haiti?) area speak. It was amazing, Philadelphia is doing it, we are improving, actually more so than any other city, really! It almost brought tears to my eyes watching someone get excited about our little crappy city, that I care for deeply. We're getting better and there are smart people doing it. Like that.

Then I stayed in my seat for the next speaker, Bike Snob. The room filled, there were people everywhere and rightly so B.S. was really funny and a total smart-alek (sp?), I laughed a bunch as did the whole room.

That's pretty much it, I did hang out for the post trade show fashion show. Not too bad, I was mostly tempted there because of the Root and Snap that was being poured for free. Good stuff. Overall I had a good time, went back on Sunday for the bike flea market and bought some goodies, like a new light and some chain lube. Exciting. Hopefully it happens again next year.