cross, cans, neat old bikes

Minor confession time(this is me 110%): one of the things that keeps bike shop guys bike shop guys and not doing other jobs, is that we (generally) love bikes, maybe a little too much. The chance to work on/own/play with the newest and coolest stuff is a big perk, and sometimes getting the chance to see/work on/poke at some of the older stuff that hold memories and is totally different from what's out there now is a thing that keeps us in shops. Recently a really old Schwinn came in:
Not certain on what year, but Kyle is semi-certain it's a war era, so 1942-46 or so. I personally really like the way the top tube flows so smoothly into the seat stays, regardless of how old the bike is.

The head badge is amazing.

The drivetrain is a defunct system/standard called "skip tooth" not exactly sure what the thinking was, but it's a neat style even if is has gone the way of the wool mammoth and the three martini lunch.
This photo shows off the chain better than the first one, in particular the low portion below the chain stay. Note the odd spacing on the links, visually interesting but maybe not the best idea from the engineering stand point.

On the new bike/cool new stuff front, my awesome cross frame that was supposed to show up, didn't. I'm a little pissed because now I have to punt, and figure out what to do for a cross bike on short notice. Here's how it went down: I check around for cross frames, notice Specialized has a pretty cool frame set for a pretty good price, but it isn't available yet. So I place my order anyway assuming that once the frames get off the boat from Taiwan, it will come to me. The rep called today and said that they only got six in my size, and I wasn't high enough on the list to snag one. Super weak. So yeah, now I gotta figure out a cross bike/frame in short order.

Last thing I wanted to talk about and actually the whole reason for this post(originally), canned beer. There is plenty of pretty good/really good beers coming in cans now. This is a great development for the craft brew industry. What are the two biggest enemies of beer? oxygen and light. Even dark bottles let in some light, and most bottles are sealed pretty well but oxygen contamination is a slight possibility. The can taste is a 1970s (or maybe early 80s) relic, with modern technology imparting no taste to the beer itself. Reportedly the biggest reason more beers aren't canned is that the machinery to put beer in bottles is fairly cheap, but to put beer in cans, it's fairly expensive. But I like cans aside from the cost on the production end of things. Cans themselves are cheaper, lighter, easier to transport, less likely to break, allowed everywhere you can drink, etc etc. Hopefully the future holds more cans of craft beers for us all.

Moose Drool in cans. Neat.

Gubna!

Two posts in two days? No, I haven't gotten ambitious, I just got some awesome beer and had to talk about it. My buddy Drew visited his folks in Des Moines and brought some fancy canned beers for his buddies. I was fortunately on the list to get some. He brought Oskar Blues Imperial IPA, dubbed "Gubna" and Ska Brewing's Modus Hoperandi. Tonight I cracked open a Gubna.

It says "Imperial IPA" and holy cow does this beer deliver a punch. 10% ABV, 3 malts, 1 hop, Summit, by the way, and about 100 IBUs. The nose is an earthy citrus, with a hint of the malt. The flavor is hoppy, bitter, with a complex malt back, and a smooth and lingering sweeter aftertaste that still has some hop flavor in it. If you're in Colorado, or many other western states, pick some up, it's totally worth it. Currently (as far as I know) it is unavailable in Iowa, but with our new beer laws, we might be getting it sooner rather than later, but until then, try it if you can find it out west.

Thoughts on the week that was, plus a new to me brew from the desolate state of nebraska

Since my nearly triumphant self induced mauling at the 12 hour race, I've been less than excited to ride a lot. I've been doing the usual back and forth to work, and I attempted 'cross practice on Wednesday, but otherwise I've been sitting around. Work has predictably gotta slower, which I must admit is an okay change in my book. Summer was a bit too hectic, a bit too often for my tastes, but we made it through and had a great season. The only way we know this fall is slower than last fall, is that our computer system compares daily and monthly total sales with last years figures, and this year we're up, but for September we're down. After the summer we had I think we've earned a bit of a relaxing/regrouping fall. Cyclocross practices are Wednesdays this year, which totally messed up my schedule, but whatever, they're fun as all hell and I'm not gonna miss them if I can help it.

On Wednesday I was at the shop changing tires on the Jamis touring bike, as my new Specialized Crux frame set had not arrived yet(I'm getting the pink one), and Scott Sumpter walks in to hang out for a bit/talk about something or other, and mentions that he's planning on riding down in a bit, which was exactly my plan, so we rode down from Ankeny into the heart of Des Moines, chatting about new regulations for the 2010 cross season, and about the best way to get to the park. Once there, Rob put us to work flagging out a course, which was surprisingly fun. Practice itself was pretty fun too. The different position, especially hand position, as compared to my mountain bike, gave me no issues. The super intense effort didn't either, for about 30 minutes. I pushed on and rode for about 45 minutes, but on man, those last few laps weren't super fast, and my knees/thighs/shoulders were starting to act up. I thought I was pretty well recovered from the 12 hour race, turns out I didn't know what I was talking about. Hell, here it is Sunday night, and I know I'm not back to 100% yet.

Post practice we rode(most drove, but some of us rode) down to El Bait Shop for beers and food. I was fully prepared to ride all the way back to Ankeny, but someone offered a ride and I gladly accepted.

Randomly, this morning I got on the scale and found that despite eating worse than I normally do, and drinking as much or a little more than normal, I'm down a little over 3 pounds since the race. Weird. Not too concerned. I worry if I crest the 200 lbs mark, otherwise I hardly pay attention.

Now on to the beer. Saw this particular brew in Ames the other night, so I grabbed a sixer. Empyerean Brewing's Burning Skye Scottish Style:

It is a good quality, smooth, malty Scottish Style ale with a lingering sweetness that is quite enjoyable. A friend of mine from Omaha gasses on about this brewery and it seems that now we can get some of their offerings in Iowa. Go us. Given the strength of this offering, I'm definitely going to try more of their stuff. Even though most of Nebraska is a boring drive through/fly over state, it seems they've got at least a few folks in Lincoln that can brew a good beer.

24 hour race report(okay, just 12 hour)

This past Saturday/Sunday was the 8th annual 24 Hours at 7 Oaks. I once again did the 12 hour solo race. This year I managed a scant seven laps, compared to last year's nine, but I finished second instead of fourth. Good for me. Here's my lap by lap race write up, much like last year.

Lap 1: Started slowly on purpose. I knew the course wasn't in great shape and I knew I had a long way to go and planned to ride slowly and steadily. Being damn near in last place was an okay place to be as I didn't have to deal with any traffic to speak of, especially given the low participation. The course (as promised) was in highly mixed condition, lots of muddy spots, several reroutes, plenty of dry /hardpack places, and a surprising amount of tacky, perfect dirt. With no one around me, and the extra bit added to the start to break the field up, this lap seemed to take forever. I planned on this and grabbed extra Gu and carried two bottles.

Lap 2: I cruised past my camp without a stop due to the extra food and beverage I just mentioned. Second lap went about like the first, slow, lonely, peaceful, pretty low effort. I really started noticing all reroutes and some of them were very nice, and should be worked in as permanent changes, some were of course quick work arounds that will be changed next spring. I focused a being smooth and trying to stay off my brakes to maximize my efforts, not so much my speed. This would be the most time I'd spent on my bike actually off road all season. I've a sweet new Jamis D29 team since this spring, and with the weather and working too much, I've barely ridden it off road. It was working great, and the position was pretty god after my minor changes earlier in the week.

Lap 3: Stopped at camp to reload bottles and Gu. I was starting to think of laps as doubles and trying to get my brain around only stopped at camp every other lap to minimize down time and keep me rolling forward longer. This is when people started catching and passing me more than just occasionally. I was still plodding along and faster people (especially teams) were going very very hard. No problems with any traffic, but it didn't help me mentally knowing I was that much slower than basically everyone else. Towards the furthest away point of the course, I noticed my rear tire was getting a tad low. This was a bad sign, as I was only running about 30 psi in it to start and though tubeless, it wouldn't ride well if it got too much softer. Shortly after I noticed it feeling soft, BLOFF! Blew it off the rim mid-corner, and somehow kept it upright. Both beads stayed on the rim, I just burped it really hard, and lost all my pressure. Going to my seat pack to pull my CO2 and a tube to fix it, I discovered it had come open and everything inside and fallen out. Awesome. With no other options, I started pushing/jogging/walking my way along the trail, hoping someone would come by soon with the stuff I needed, and a willingness to share. It took a surprisingly long time for anyone to approach. Fortunately for me, the first person who saw me, asked if I needed anything and happened to be riding a 29er. This guy (whose name I've forgotten) saved my race. This is a microcosm of why I love mountain biking, everyone is friendly and there's a camaraderie that isn't found in other types of cycling. After this lap I stopped inhaled a bagel and used a bread bag twisty tie to make sure my pack was closed.

Lap 4: Still slow, but still moving. Mid way through this lap I started getting a wicked headache and noticed I was really really hungry despite the bagel. Other than that I really have no distinct memories about lap four. I took a pretty long break after this lap, refueled as best I could with more food and gu brew. In a big to perk up mentally, I drank an entire can of Monster. I did feel a bit better, though my stomach was not 100% okay with this idea, and I was burping monster flavored burps for the next couple hours.

Lap 5: Again, nothing terribly new here. I walked a bit more of the climbs, and probably rode slower overall, but kept moving forward. With a quick stop to reload Gu packs and grab a fresh bottle, I was off for lap 6.

Lap 6: Starting to feel worn down. Arms, wrists, mid and lower back, plus my left knee all started to bother me a little. And of course after this much riding, "a little" is a relative term, so I was dreading every single medium sized bump, and had a couple interesting bails, including one where I jumped off the bike about 4 feet backwards to the far side of the bank of a deep washout, and the bike went in the crevice. It took a good 30 seconds to figure out how to lift the bike out. Towards the end of this lap it starting getting just a little dark in certain spot in the woods. I stopped and put my lights on and had a snack. I figured I could probably do another couple laps, as I wasn't feeling *that* bad, and it wasn't quite 8 pm.

Lap 7: Started out with the light on low, which was plenty for a few minutes, but soon I had to step it up to full power, which on a Nite Rider 600, is really really bright. During this lap I kept fighting a battle internally of doing another lap or quitting. By the middle of the lap I'd grazed a few trees, walked a ton of the climbs, and rode my brakes down damn near every decent. I was fairly certain I didn't have another one in me. Then, as it happens almost every lap, the last 30-40% is somewhat easier, and I started thinking, "hey, maybe I can squeeze in one more." That is, until I had a big, and probably entertaining to watch, endo on the last decent convinced me otherwise. No idea what caused my crash, but I was enjoying the downhill and all of a sudden my bike stopped, and I was airborne. After I stopped rolling and realized I was fine, I walked the 10 feet (seriously, it was that far) back uphill to my bike, gave it a quick once over, and finished the lap. I sat down and had a big snack and another bottle, just like I promised myself I would to double check if I could do another. It was barely after 9pm, and I had tons of time if I wanted to go again. I couldn't. I cracked a beer then had one of the top 10 best showers of my life.

After: I went and checked the score board, and found I was in second place, with a slight margin on those behind, but I was down a lap (and he was on course for number 9) to the guy who beat me for third last year, Jason Dal. I was somewhat surprised, and hoped that none of the guys chasing me had 8 laps in them. I knew I'd win the tie breaker as my 7th lap earlier than any one behind me. I hung out, snacked, drank some beers, had a brief awards ceremony, pocketed a little more than my entry fee for me efforts, then went to bed. Overall a fun day.

Feelings Monday: Still a little messed up. Hungry, but fill up pretty quickly, sore but really only my arms and lower back. Should be fine in a day or two, not as bad as last year, but felt worse immediately after. No idea what the difference was, but there it is. Course was rougher and slower, but my bike was nicer/faster/had a shock on it, but it may not have been any more comfortable. Almost can't wait for next year, almost.

Lap 7:

New rack on the trail

Same old ride today, up the High Trestle Trail and back, nice easy, familiar, boring, but not 8 blocks from my door. Something was a little different today though, there's an "oasis" about 6 miles from the start of the trail, and it has a porta john, water fountain, picnic table, and until this week, 3 inverted "U" or staple type bike racks. Those were removed and a day or two later, this thing was put in its place.
It's an old railroad track, that was reportedly found nearby and put in place by some kid of his eagle scout project. It's a more interesting bike rack to be sure, but i didn't find anything wrong with the old ones. Not that this is a place you'd ever lock a bike up, but I think it's a wash on bike capacity. Not really for or against the change, just bemused, not sure why it happened at all. Here's a pic with my bike against it for scale.