VeloSwap this Saturday

October 22, 3:10 PMDenver Cycling ExaminerGary Koenig

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The 20th annual VeloSwap bicycle swap and sales extravaganza will be held this Saturday, October 25, from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm at the National Western Complex in east Denver. Be there or … well, just be there. It is the ultimate bicycle love fest in the area and the most fun you can have without your cycling clothes on (although many attendees will come dressed in full kit).

Parking will be tough to come by and lines will be long well before the doors swing open at 9:00 am, so take a moment to consider your strategy for the day. Although I’ve never been able to sufficiently psyche myself up to stand in line for hours before the doors open, I’ve heard plenty of apocryphal tales about early entrants who found the perfect widget at a great price and vendors who “sold all the good stuff in the first ten minutes.” If you want your pick of the really good stuff, plan to be at the doors by 7:00 am or earlier. Even if you are one of the very first to hit the show floor, I’m not sure how you can possibly survey all 400+ booths before the unwashed masses overwhelm the place. You might be better off to check the booth map right now, and plan to head to the one or two booths that you think will have the most snaggable swag.

If standing patiently in line for an hour or more is not your ideal back strengthening exercise, you might want to consider a more fashionable entrance on the scene at 10:00 am or later. There are some veteran event-goers who will tell you that swooping in at 3:30 pm, right about the time that vendors are dreading the effort to put all the unsold crap back in their trucks, is the best time to get a real deal.

VeloSwap is about more than commerce, of course. There are some interesting looking events scheduled. The Yellow Designs BMX and MTB stunt riders will perform three times during the day. Lennard Zinn, the amazingly technical contributor from VeloNews, will be demonstrating bike maintenance techniques. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Heather Irmiger and Sam Schultz, all Subaru/Gary Fisher riders, will be signing autographs from noon until 2:00 pm.

The swap meet is also on the green bandwagon, offering bicycle, tube and tire recycling opportunities (check the rules – most road tubes are not accepted).

Early or late, you choose, but don’t miss this event because it’s the best chance to mingle with thousands of your kind. See you there!