Race report + new beers

This past Friday night there was a night time cross race, next to a bar. It was a ton of fun, despite a pretty small/short course, that was super twisty and fairly technical. They called it Oakley Night Cap Cross, and Rob (from Oakley) and Scott (from BikeIowa) did one helluva job putting it on. I raced in the Cat 4 mens, which ran concurrently with the master's (35+ and 45+) and juniors. All these races going at the same time meant 99 people on the course at the same time. The first several laps were a mosh pit of asses and elbows, with lots of congestion as the slower/less skilled took bad lines, crashed, and otherwise held up faster riders. After the first couple corners, almost no one passed me. Seriously, maybe 3 people all race. After about lap 4, I'd found a groove, and focused on catching whoever was in front of me, and grabbing an extra gear when I could. With so many people on the course, I was constantly catching guys in front of me and having to corner hard and pick interesting lines to pass people. The course was fun but tough, with plenty of space for the crowd to be heard, and with the race being almost inside the bar, there were tons of spectators, and they were loud. Aside from one hilarious crash, the race itself went well for me. I came around a corner in traffic approaching the low single barrier, which I'd bunny hopped the last 5-6 laps. Somehow my stabbing the pedals to get some speed, and my timing on the hop were not good enough and I almost got over it, but got tipped forward and rolled to a stop, nowhere near my bike. I was fine, but it shot my confidence to hop it for the rest of the race. I tried to keep the hammer down the whole time, but I know I was losing steam towards the end. The last 4-5 laps I was pretty shot, but knew it would be over soon. That said I had no idea when the last lap was, or what the hell was going on with such things. When I crossed the start/finish line for the final time, the tape was broken and lots of riders (not in my race) were standing on course, waiting to do a warm up/ test ride lap. Not saying I could have picked up the pace even if i'd known, but maybe a tiny bit. No biggie, I was happy with my race and thrilled with how fun everything was. Officially, I'm 12th of 68 Cat 4 racers, but my newish coworker Bret was 4th, and I'm 110% sure I beat him. So is he. I've got an email to the concerned parties, and they're reportedly working on it. I must have done an extra lap at the end, but whatever, I had fun.

I've also (as always) been drinking new and exciting beers. Some recent notables are an unflavored lambic, and revistiting a Smokestack I didn't pay enough attention to the first time.
Cuvee Rene. Tried this at the Red Monk the other night, at it is super interesting. It is an unflavored lambic, so it's a wild fermented ale, that did not have fruit added to it. There's a killer lactic flavor, a tangy sourness and gets more intense, but also more pleasurable as you keep drinking. I was surprised that this beer is from Lindemans, the same people who make those really sweet fruity lambics. While maybe not as intense or as complex as a Flemish sour or nonsweet lambic, it is very very good, and an unusual beer.

Seeyoulator Doppelbock, from Boulevard's Smokestack Series, is a very nice beer that I admittedly have had before, but did not fully appreciate. A buddy was talking about how amazing this beer was, and I was like "yeah i've had it, it's pretty good. so what?" His enthusiasm encouraged me to buy more, and give it another shot. It is really good. It's a standard doppelbock, but aged in cedar barrels and bottle conditioned. Smooth with a spicy, earthy finish. Check some out.