Road Show at Richardson, Texas
With four Road Shows taking place last weekend, Slowtwitch staffers were deployed throughout the country for stops in California, Connecticut and Texas. On Friday, I hopped in the car and made the 200-mile drive from North Houston to Richardson, an affluent superb of Dallas, Texas, most widely known as home to Telecom Corridor. After three hours of passing through the rolling countryside, the final 45 minute push was a constant reissuing of marching orders spitting out from my smartphone GPS attempting to navigate me away from Dallas rush hour traffic and towards Richardson’s Bike Mart via the fastest route. No mistaking the behemoth shop though and the first phrase that popped into my head upon seeing the building was “Everything's Bigger in Texas.”
All photos © Lars Finanger
Sharing a wall with Richardson’s was RunOn! and they opened their doors bright and early on Saturday morning for the first activity of the day, a group run.
Runners were escorted from RunOn! on a 4.9-mile loop by a few ElliptiGo riders. The route went around the campus of University of Texas – Dallas.
Adidas, Asics, Hoka One One and New Balance were all on hand to provide demo shoes for runners to use on the group run. Richardson Bike Mart staffer, Doug Jones, a multiple-time IRONMAN Hawaii competitor, waits for a few runners to lace up.
Hoka One One is always a popular demo shoe choice at these Road Shows and came fully armed with Vanquish 2.
nuun was on hand offering samples which were popular with runners and cyclists.
Our gracious hosts teamed up with Corner Bakery who provided an seemingly endless offering of muffins and oatmeal for attendees.
Starting at 9am dozens of cyclists used Richardson’s Bike Mart as their launch point for a variety of ride options based on desired pace and mileage. Indeed, a microphone was needed to get the attention with so many cyclists on hand.
Julie and Mike Johnson started their trainer ride early and stayed throughout the day as the duo were fundraising for Team in Training and an upcoming circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe. Mike intentionally stopped his trainer ride at 99-miles, so his first 100-miler could be done around Lake Tahoe as part of the event.
A SRAM Red ETAP session in full swing. Platform pedals allowed riders to test ETAP around the expansive parking lot.
Pioneer turned heads a few months ago when they introduced an inexpensive way for cyclists to get into the power meter market with a sub $600 single-leg crank based unit. However, their dual-leg unit remains the most popular offering from the reputable car and speaker electronic company.
Richardson is a relatively short drive away from Cobb Cycling’s global headquarters in Tyler, Texas and being close to home base meant two saddle specialists, Seth Rider and William Ritter, were on hand assisting riders with saddle solutions.
A rider checks out two of the three power options (chainring and pedal) PowerTap had on hand.
These two colorful gentlemen turned many heads at the expo. The 85-year old man on the left, the oldest finisher to complete the famous Hotter'N Hell 100 ride in nearby Wichita Falls, was delighted to share with the Cervelo rep his S2, the first carbon bike he’d ever owned.
Doug Looney attended on behalf of Castelli and Pioneer and is seen here discussing power meters with an attendee.
Theresa Francesconi (far left) was instrumental in getting this event off the ground and Ken “Woody” Smith (center) is the General Manager at Bike Mart. Both seen here sharing a laugh with HED’s Andy Tetmeyer.
Richardson’s Service Center stayed on their toes and made many customers happy throughout the day with the attentive and diligent work of over a dozen mechanics on the floor.
A color coordinated wall inside Bike Mart makes the perfect home for the Wisconsin-based Saris bike racks.
Mitchell runs the register on a busy Saturday.
Raffle prizes included a CycleOps Fluid Trainer, a dozen BG Bike Fit certificates by the Bike Mart staff, Castelli saddlebags, embrocations and creams, Cervelo t-shirts and hats.
Andy from HED Cycling travelled from Minneapolis to Dallas with his coupler cross bike and upon packing up their booth at days end took off for a ride of his own.
