SOAR Blog

David, Maura and I visited Delta 7 Sports in Payson, Utah last Friday. Things are going pretty good for the start-up. They are putting the finishing touches on the first few Arantix IsoTruss mountain bike framesets going out to distributors in the UK and Australia, a dealer here in the U.S. and the first frame to a consumer (a doctor in Texas). The photo to the left is of Tyler Evans, Delta 7’s bicycle program manager, tapeing off one of the frames for its final clear coat.

We met with Delta 7’s executive team to check in on them. They are pretty happy about getting some bikes out the door!

Hopefully, the International Olympic Committee and the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games will be thwarted in their attempts to hide the fact that the air quality in Beijing is NOT conducive to world-class, aerobic sporting events that require high-oxygen intake.

If you’re not up to date on this topic, please check out my post from earlier today on TheBettyFactor.com entitled, “China & the IOC Utilize Spin in an Attempt to Minimize Athletes’ Concerns for the 2008 Games.”

So it’s that fantastically fun time for college basketball fans everywhere: March Madness.

That time of year when the top 64 65 Division I teams in the United States get tapped for a weeks-long, single-elimination tournament to determine the top D-I, B-Ball team in all of collegedom.

And in case you were not sure, understand that March Madness is BIG BUSINESS spelled with two capital Bs!

How big you ask? Rumors and reports on the ‘Net state that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has pegged annual March Madness betting at $2.5 billion. Nevertheless, a recent story from KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas says the FBI has never made such a claim.

Maybe not; but I’m sure there’s a TON of money sitting in office pools all around the country right now.

As for us within the POLITIS universe of agencies, we take a non-gambling (yet still serious) approach to March Madness.

Specifically, the top two March Madness prognosticators in our firms will each win a $25 gift card to a local eatery (provided by the company):

• One for the top “point getter” (we assign escalating points for each win within each round of the tourney; ergo, the most points wins); and
• One for the top predictor of wins (pretty simple: the person who predicts more wins within the entire tournament than everyone else comes out on top).

This year we’ve also instituted what is affectionately known as the Bacon Equation, which means that if one person comes out on top in both categories, the second place finishers in both categories will pick-up $25 gift cards/certificates. [Yes, the Bacon Equation is named after Jonathan "Canadian" Bacon who nailed both categories in 2007.]

So . . . although we’re having fun while not gambling on March Madness, don’t think we’re not into this annual B-Ball lovefest in a big way.

In fact, everyone at SOAR Communications, Politis Communicationsand the other Politis entities takes the competition pretty seriously.

How seriously? Enough so, that although I’m banking on the No. 8-seeded BYU Cougars winning their first round match-up with the No. 9-seeded Texas A&M Aggies (which is nowhere close to being a sure thing), I had no compunction notching a loss for BYU in the second round to the No. 1-seeded UCLA Bruins. Sorry, Cougs!

= = = = = = = = = =

For the record, I have all four No. 1 seeds making the Final Four (North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas and the aforementioned UCLA), with Memphis winning it all.

Go Tigers!

Tuesday on BicycleRetailer.com I read that Dick Burke, founder of Trek Bicycles, died Monday night, March 10, due to complications from heart surgery. It was sad to hear the news. It made me think about what Dick and Trek have accomplished and about what bicycles have done for me.

When I was in high school, my brother Steve was an Italian fanatic who had an Alfa Romeo Spider and a Pogliaghi road bike. I wanted to ride road bikes like him, so I bought a Japanese made Centurion (I couldn’t afford a nice Italian bike). I didn’t ride the Centurion too much. Riding bikes wasn’t the cool thing to do in high school. Continue Reading »

While I doubt I spent even a minute of yesterday pondering my appreciation for Washington’s cherry tree or Lincoln’s walk to return a borrowed book, I did celebrate a day off work with a ski day at Snow Basin (located about 33 miles north of SLC).

Leading up to our day there, I heard mixed reviews about the resort and honestly didn’t know what to expect when we arrived. By the time we were parked and suited up, we were in line for the (heated) gondola by about 10:30 a.m. Once at the top of the mountain, I spent most of the morning warming up with runs like Eas a Long, Bear Hollow, Powder Puff and Little Cat. I am sure by the names alone, you can determine my skill level.

However, after a delicious (yet, ridiculously over-priced) bowl of chili in the lodge, I was ready to expand myself during the afternoon. I began exploring runs like Needle’s Run, Sweet Revenge and Wildcat Bowl. Again the names tell all. With literally no lines between runs and a fairly long run to begin with, I finished the afternoon feeling like I had skied my $51 worth and then some.

My husband and mom spent most of their time combing through several blacks and seemed pleased with the amount of powder. My brother, however, went exploring and ended up hitch hiking his way back to the resort.

For those of you who think Snowbasin is still a hokey, slow-paced mountain for Odgen locals who ski in their jeans, you will be pleasantly surprised by the extensive, well-groomed runs not to mention the beautifully renovated lodge. With a few more visits I hope to be cruisin’ through Last Chance Loop!

Last December David blogged about meeting US Ski Team mogul skier Shelly Robertson. Well, this weekend is the Deer Valley Resort Visa Freestyle Invitational and Shelly is in town.

 When we first met Shelly she was returning home to Reno after taking 7th place in the women’s moguls competition at the 2008 World Cup season opener in Tignes, France. Since then we have traded emails back and forth with a plan to see her ski in person at the Deer Valley event.

After France, her next event was the Nature Valley Freestyle Cup on January 20 in Lake Placid, New York. I’m signed up for the US Ski Team email newsletter (You can sign up in the middle of the page at (www.usskiteam.com), and I saw that she took 5th place, so I sent her a congratulations email. She responded, “I was definitely excited about 5th- skiing really well- just went way too big on the bottom jump and almost over-rotated the backflip.” That statement turned out to be prophetic for her next event.

Continue Reading »

It’s been a busy week for SOAR and Interbike staff. Last weekend, David and Maura attended the Bicycle Leadership Conference (see David’s posts below) and yesterday I went up to the Outdoor Retailer Backcountry Base Camp outdoor demo at the Snowbasin ski resort and walked the exhibit area with Rich Kelly of Interbike fame.

As of a few months ago, Rich’s job has became a lot busier. He now oversees marketing communications for not just Interbike, but also Nielsen’s Outdoor Retailer (OR), Action Sports Retailer (ASR), FlyFishing Retailer and Health+Fitness Business (HFB) trade shows. Rich has been really busy getting ready for last weekend’s BLC, the OR show that started yesterday and the ASR show that starts Thursday. He even had a chance to write a post about his exploits on InterbikeTimes yesterday in Snowbasin lodge.

Similar to Interbike’s OutDoor Demo, the OR Backcountry Base Camp gives retailers a chance to try out upcoming products. There were more than 50 exhibitors there. The majority of the products there were more for backcountry use rather than resort skiing, but Snowbasin was a perfect venue. Retailers could ride the lifts up to try out telemark skis and boots, head up into the hills on snowshoes or cross country skis and even slide down the hill on sleds.

I don’t know how Rich finds the time to blog, but he does. As I‘m writing this the indoor portion of the show is going on and I need to get over there (It’s at the Salt Lake City Convention Center, about 5 miles from my house). One of our other clients, Delta 7 Sports has a couple of its Arantix IsoTruss carbon fiber mountain bikes in the Miōn Footwear booth connected to generators that when pedaled generate electricity for the booth, making Miōn’s booth the first human-powered booth in the history of the OR show.

Stay tuned for more pictures.

Chip

I haven’t seen a weather report yet, but last night’s snow storm pounded the greater Salt Lake City area.

When Allisha and I got back around 10:30 p.m. last night after attending the 11th annual Bicycle Leadership Conference in San Diego, it was a warm 34 degrees in Sandy, Utah and most of the snow had melted from our front lawn. Not any more.

That’s me below taking a break from shoveling what I estimate to be 14- to 16-inches of fluffy lake effect snow that had fallen overnight and was still falling when this picture was taken at 11 a.m. earlier today. Amazing! (Final tally probably hit 18- to 20-inches. FYI: We’re at an elevation of approximately 4,800 feet above sea level.)

David (”Poppa P”) Politis taking a break from shoveling out

his home from a massive snow dump in Sandy, Utah. 

This is probably the worst (or best depending upon your preference) single snowfall we’ve had at our house in the 10+ years we’ve lived here.

So for any of you out-of-towners planning to attend the 2008 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market and Backcountry Base Camp this week in Utah (Jan. 22-26), bring your mukluks and snow boots, ’cause you’re probably gonna need ‘em.  

Burke challenges bike manufacturers to actively support advocacy efforts, including boosting donations to advocacy organizations to 0.5 percent of annual sales

SAN DIEGO, January 20, 2008 — John Burke, president of Trek Bicycle Corporation, started his closing keynote presentation at the Bicycle Leadership Conference by stripping off his sweater to reveal a No. 4 Brett Farve jersey and show his passionate support for the Green Bay Packers. 

He closed his speech by quoting President Abraham Lincoln who said his pastor had not delivered an excellent sermon because “He did not ask us to do anything great tonight,” and then Burke delivered an impassioned challenge to BLC attendees to do something great and increase their support of bicycle advocacy programs to half-a-percent (0.5 percent) of their annual sales.

Continue Reading »

Tags: , Advocacy, Bicycle Leadership Conference, Bicycle Product Suppliers Association, bike friendly, Bikes Belong, BLC, BPSA, donate, donating, donation, IMBA, International Mountain Bike Association, John Burke, League of American Cyclists, President, SOAR Communications, Trek Bicycle Corporation

Following the Saturday morning presentation at the 11th annual Bicycle Leadership Conference by Interbike industry consultant, Lance Camisasca, it seems pretty clear to me that the 2010 Interbike International Bicycle Expo and the Interbike Outdoor Demo will likely be held in Anaheim, California. (And no, I did NOT know what Camisasca was going to present prior to Saturday morning.)

Although it’s possible that Nielsen Business Media (Interbike’s parent company) will renegotiate an extension of its current contract with the Sands Expo Convention Center(assuming it’s still standing after 2009), Camisasca’s presentation provided quite convincing arguments as to why Interbike should be moved to cycling-friendly Southern California and away from Sin City.

Watch for more details from Interbike in the months ahead for greater clarity on this matter.

[DISCLOSURE: SOAR Communicationsis the public relations agency for Interbike.]