“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

-Charles Dickens, “A Tale of Two Cities”

Las Vegas. Sin City. A place where the lines of business and pleasure blur, and people are encouraged to leave their inhibitions at the door, and their money in the casinos. When the business and marketing powers that be design a campaign to attract people to come to their town, the hook being “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, you know that anything can happen. Lesser known is the “What’s lost in Vegas, stays in Vegas” line, which my ATM card went the way of, getting lost at some point during the day at Interbike.

I appreciate Vegas in that it is a perfect social experiment. Sitting in front of the Bellagio, I watched three of their fountain shows while working a checkpoint for the alleycat that ran on Friday. A country western song that I wasn’t familiar with played, as well as “Singin’ in the Rain.” The one that really stood out in my head was when Lee Greenwood’s “I’m proud to be an American” started to play. Here we have a song that is supposed to really get some love flowing. I imagine people arm in arm in some sort of Kum Bay Ya circle. I listened to the song while watching people walk down the street, Bud Light in hand, on their way to one casino or another, ready to throw some money around in the name of Freedom. I was not, at that moment, proud to be an American.

I have a massive pile of swag, information, and literature, from businesses around the world to work through. I met some incredible people, made some new friends, got some pictures, some autographs, and some good memories.

I will be writing up some coverage as to what happened each day. But it may take a day or two. Of all the things I left in Vegas, I miss my mind the most.

In the meantime, you can read up on these people, who I did not meet, but may have sought out, if I had read the article while I was there. It looks like they may have had a bike for me to borrow.

Read the article and watch the video HERE