The 5-time World Champion who bestrode the world of triathlon in the 1990s like a Colossus, will race his last race as a pro at Austin 70.3

2008 has been a very magical year for Stephen Bayliss with Ironman wins in South Africa and UK, and a bunch of other very fine results. He is currently getting ready for Kona and has even bigger plans for late November.

There is probably a fine, long German word that aptly describes the social, cultural and industrial phenomenon that is Interbike. Part of that word should include kitschig which, according to those whom I rely upon for such transliteration, means smarmy, though there seems not be an exact German word for this.

Smarmy, because the trade show takes place in Las Vegas, the only place in the world where gold chains, side burns, white patent leather shoes and Sansabelt pants can be pulled off and, in the right context, might even be cool.

Another part of that long German word must include fahrrad because, at some point, an attendee must turn his attention to the upcoming season’s bikes. The end-users of such bikes and associated goods likewise want to see what’s new.

To that end, we present a few more Tim Carlson photos of what we saw at this year’s kitschigerfahrradkongress.

Banks and thrifts are failing, insurance companies and august houses of investment are crumbling with regularity. What about the bike biz?

After his win at the Bordeaux Grand Prix, Brad Kahlefeldt got his hip operated on and he checked in with Slowtwitch.com to give an update on his health and his coaching situation.

Las Vegas is Everyman’s cut-rate Babylon, wrote Alistair Cooke. Vegas—you must know in your bones even if you don’t think about it—is the most wickedly efficient, deviously designed and advanced engine to prime the capitalist pump ever devised.

Billionaire hotelier Steve Wynn gave everyone the blasphemous half-truth when he said: “Vegas is sort of how God would do it if he had money.” Rather, Vegas is how men who would be gods do it in order to get more money.

Vegas is a man-made mirage built in the land of natural mirages. As Norman Mailer wrote in The American Dream, “The night before I left Las Vegas, I walked out into the desert to look at the moon. There was a jeweled city on the horizon, spires rising into the night, but the jewels were diadems of electric and the spires were the neon of signs ten stories high.”

Famed architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown wrote a revolutionary treatise called Learning From Las Vegas 40 years ago praising the way the practical architecture of the casinos on the Strip played in perfect audacious tune to the blue collar id, the everyman dreams of fortune with neon signs three times taller than the low-slung boxes housing the money machines—the casinos chock a block with one armed bandits and baccarat tables. Elitist east coast architects harrumphed and lifted their pinkies in dismay, but soon enough the Yale School of Architecture and the rest of the design elite were studying the place and applying the lessons to buildings around the world.

Vegas is the Capital of Overreaching. It’s where a young, avenging Muhammad Ali punished a fading Floyd Patterson for perceived slights by raining down painful but non-knockout blows late into their heavyweight fight. It’s where Evel Knievel crashed out in 1968 trying to jump Caesars fountains on a big fat Harley with no suspension. It’s where Mike Tyson bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear trying to get DQ’d when he could not stand the humiliation of a resounding defeat. It’s where Hunter Thompson was drawn to mourn the death of the Sixties in a drug-crazed spree. It’s where unhinged personas like Britney Spears go to get married and divorced in a night

And it’s the home of casinos where entertainers that nobody knows are still alive can go out every night and find a nostalgic older audience seeking the reassurance of 40-year-old tunes. Perhaps the casino stages are the entertainment industry’s way of realizing Howard Hughes’ dream of cryogenically preserving bodies until a cure can be found.

And for those Cassandras looking for an augury of imminent ecological disaster, just go to nearby Lake Mead. Its water level down by 65 feet – half full with 5 trillion gallons of water to go — just as Vegas has virtually doubled to 1.9 million population in the past 20 years. Omnivorous Vegas has hatched plans for a $1 billion water pipeline to snatch water from not-so-nearby rivers and underground springs. All to keep the Bellagio’s 100-foot-high synchronized fountains reaching to the sky like rockets at timed intervals to the tune of Strauss waltzes.

Just as it appropriates water to keep all the world’s amenities flowing in “a habitat that won’t grow a tomato,” as Jason Love said, current Las Vegas appropriates the world’s greatest landmarks with its simulacrums of the Seven Wonders of the World. While environmentalists may damn Vegas for its insatiable appetite for energy and water, this Emerald City plunked down in the middle of a dead sea can counter: We make it up in saved jet fuel for tourists who might spend their life savings traveling to New York, Paris, Egypt, Venice and Rome.

It’s just according to plan that Vegas leaves most visitors knocked off their bearings and counting their shekels to make sure they have enough to catch a cab to McCarran on the final day.

Every year for 27 years the bicycle industry gathers somewhere in the American southwest to schmooze, sell, tout, brag, spy, gossip and swap lies at Interbike. Since the mid-1990s, the Mecca for North American capitalist, cycle-worshipping pilgrims has been Vegas. And what better nexus for this harmonic convergence, er, perfect storm of hope for a big score by entrepreneurs of two-wheel human-powered innovation and their target audience, bicycle nuts?

Interbike is 313,000 square feet of exhibit space and 660,000 square feet of floor space in the Sands Convention Center, 1,835 unique businesses, 22,974 expo attendees, 977 retailers, 486 media.

This edition of Interbike occurred in the very same week that some of Wall Street’s most formidable investment institutions collapsed like a house of cards and elite economists and Main Street were both in a tizzy. Still, and in part thanks to the 5-star demographics of multiport, Interbike remained in its bubble of well-being and enthusiasm for the elegant tools of their sport.

Here are a few of Interbike’s faces.

Nine-hundred registered Slowtwitch Forum members rated companies in six categories. Cervelo was the big winner in the first annual Slowtwitch Bike Industry Awards, winning in two categories.

Alex Wassmann is a good man to know, as he manages the technical relationships with SRAM sponsored teams and athletes in the triathlon, road & cyclo cross disciplines. Slowtwitch.com had a few words with him.

McGlone, Jones and Badmann all fall prey to injuries – unable to challenge Wellington at the 2008 Ironman Hawaii.

The 2-time Ironman World Champion Normann Stadler is one of the pre-race favorites going into the upcoming 30th anniversary event, and he talked to slowtwitch.com about his state of readiness, his team and the middle of the year sponsorship change.

Cedric Fleureton was victorious in today’s Lorient BG Triathlon World Cup and the one-two finish of French men made the home crowd very happy. Lisa Norden won the women’s race and with it her first career world cup title.

The final day of the 2008 Interbike Las Vegas show has arrived and we were able to snap a few more images.

More goodies and personalities from inside the Sands Convention Center. This also marked the day of the Lance Armstrong press conference.

Today the doors inside the Sands Convention Center opened up for thousands of bicycle retailers and that is to most folks the real start of the Interbike show.

Today was the second day of Outdoor Demo of the 2008 Interbike Las Vegas trade show and meanwhile inside the Sands Convention center the exhibitors were scrambling to get their booths set up and ready for tomorrow.

The 2008 Interbike trade show started today with the first day of Outdoor demo at Bootleg Canyon in Boulder City, NV. We went out there and captured a few impressions of the activities out in the desert.

Many eyes in Kona will be on Chris McCormack to see if he can repeat his Ironman World Championship title. Slowtwitch.com talked to the outspoken Aussie talked to find out what we can expect in Kona from him.

A pair of 37-year-olds took top honors at the 2008 USA Triathlon Age Group nationals in Hagg Lake, Oregon. Jason Schott of Atlanta, Georgia and Brooke Davison of Boulder, Colorado held off all other challengers for the overall titles.

Julie Ertel and Matt Reed got away from their closest rivals on the run to take the elite titles at the USAT National Championships Saturday in Hagg Lake, Oregon.

For our series “the bikes of the pros”, we look closer at the Scott Plasma 2 of Luke McKenzie. The fast Australian switched mid season to this new ride and we wanted some numbers and details.

The image of Max Longrée devouring a huge hamburger at the finish line of Ironman Louisville made quite an impression on people who followed the race on Ironmanlive.com. We talked to the Ironman Louisville champion from Germany.

Triathletes like water bottles. Some of us, myself included, love them. But with all the concern about BPA, are we putting ourselves at risk. With MasterCard in hand, I set out upon the trusty internets to see if I needed to buy something else in the name of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, er, BPA-freeness.

We have selected the categories and finalists and you our readers, are empowered to choose the winners of the inaugural Slowtwitch Industry Awards. Vote now and we’ll announce the winners at the Interbike show in Las Vegas.