long time. smeh.

Haven't written here in a long time. Sorry. I've been busy and lazy and drunk. Lots going on in September kept me from wanting to sit down and write despite it being something that I totally should have done help get my brain around everything that was happening. Now it's October and I'm finally back to my normal easy going, bike riding, beer drinking self, at least kinda.

Tons of bike stuff happened in September. There was the Interbike trade show, that yet again I did not get to attend as my boss went, so it fell to me to run the shop. No huge deal but I've never been and would *love* to get out to the outdoor demo where you can ride a ton of sweet bikes (both road and mountain) from tons of manufacturers, and the indoor trade show part is likely fun as hell too. But such is the life of a second in command type person, so whatever. While he was gone there was the National Championship for the IronKids Triathlon series in Des Moines. Hy-vee was the title sponsor and we were tapped to run mechanical support and bike shipping and such. 99% of this happened while Kyle was out of town. It was a bit stressful, but overall kinda fun. The shipping in and out of bikes was hectic and I'm glad I've got a solid staff with me, helping me get this kinda shit handled as well as can be expected. Being out in West Des Moines at 5:15 am to run support was kinda horrible, and the day was overcast and pretty cold for mid September, but I had fun. There's something endearing about tons of kids trying their best to do a triathlon. The enthusiasm that 90% of these kids had overshadowed the crazy "sports parent" parenting skills of the rest.

Labor Day weekend, whilst taking a slightly buzzed mid-afternoon bike ride around town to enjoy the sunshine and the day off, I broke the seat tube on my commuter bike. Check it out:

I guess my awesomely powerful legs are too much for a 1976 mMotobecane frame. No, but seriously, I can around a pretty lazy corner in town, going maybe 12 mph and felt a "clunk" and wondered, "wtf was that? wheel seems straight, chain seems fine, what was that noise?" Just as I thought those thoughts, I pushed a bit harder on the cranks to see was else might be wrong and they felt super spongy, I quickly figured out what I'd done. I limped home and figured I'd have to ride something else to work the next day. I eventually got a replacement frame figured out and had to futz with assorted parts to make everything work, but I think I've got it figured out, but sadly no photos yet. I did get another new bike though.
BLAM! 1996 Specialized Shark Cruiser. All sorts of kick ass shark related detailing, and a pretty sweet cruiser ride. Someone traded this in with some other bikes and we gave them a package price assuming we couldn't sell this for much. After we sold one of the other bikes for a decent price, I snagged this for not much money. Being a cruiser, it only came in one size, and me being 6'4" I was too big for it. So, like any bike dork, I upgraded/swapped some parts to make it fit/work better. Enter the ape hangers, longer seat post, clear grips and pedals:
I not only sit completely upright on this bike, I'm comfortable doing so, and have adequate leg extension.

As I mentioned above, I've been drinking more than normal. Just the usual suspects mostly, Point beers (cheap-ish and awesome), martinis, assorted whisk(e)ys, the occasional fancy beer. Not 100% sure why I've been drinking more. Okay, wait. Scratch that. I do. My personal life is a shambles. Plus stress from work, a surprisingly active social life, and general malaise, my drinking took a slight upswing in September. A few noteworthy things to tell you about: New Belgium's Lips of Faith series has not disappointed me yet. Kick and Clutch are awesome.
Fall seasonal: clean, crisp, tart, minor cranberry and pumpkin notes. love it. Won't bore you with details but you should totally go drink this beer.
Clutch is a sour dark ale. The band with the same name helped create this, and it rocks. Seriously, the band is super rad and the beer is awesome. Go try it. It's dark but not crazy black and motor oily, with some sour, but not too much. 110% recommend it.

One last thing before I wrap this rambling and probably too long of post up, new tires for my mountain bike! Not just any tires, but tires you can't even buy yet. Our Specialized rep stopped by Wednesday and dropped off some 29er mtb tires that have "prototype" on the side.
This is the Fast Trak 29 prototype. And if I've got a set, I'm guessing this is the 2012 version or 2013 or something coming soon anyway. Check out the tread on this thing:
The center is like the old Fast Trak/fast Trak Lk tires that I love, while the weight is darn low (575 g or so for each tire on our shop scale), and the side knobs are much beefier than the old Fast Traks. Thanks to Kyle's wife being out of town, he suggested we go mountain biking at Seven Oaks near Boone this morning before work. It was awesome. The best/most technical/most difficult/most fun trail in the area on a sunny fall morning while the trail is in amazing condition save for the leaves covering a few bits. Woulda been fun regardless of tire choice, but trying new tires was darn fun. I've got a bit of a history with this trail and different tires. I've ridden here a bunch and the last three years of the 24 hour race I've been on different tires. A few years ago I had the Fast Traks, last year I ran the Captains, most recently I ran the ultralight Renegades. So trying a different version of a tire I like was a treat. Review: awesome. If you like XC tires that hook up better than the Renegade of the Fast Trak, go buy this tire. While the Captain had more sheer traction, this thing rolls great, is pretty light, and will be my go to tire for 99% of my riding. I ran them (as I do every tire I can) tubeless with 32 psi in both front and rear. They were incredibly easy to set up, and felt like I probably could have used a hand pump instead of the compressor. I'll have to ride them more, but for right now, they're an incredible tire that hooks up really well in dry conditions in both hard pack, off camber, loose dirt, gravel, etc. My coworker Bret was riding the same bike with the stock Renegades on it, and I had noticeably more traction than he did in virtually all situations.

I'm seriously gonna try to update more often than monthly. September (I hope) was an aberration, and I can get back on track. Hassle me about it on twitter or something if you give a shit.

New beers, recovery, and a crazy health problem

My last post was a race report about the 12 hour race I did about a week ago. I'm happy to report that my recovery is going nicely, and I'm pretty much back to normal. Hands were the slowest to recover and I have full strength back in them but on a mountain bike ride Friday night they got a tad sore, but nothing terrible. I didn't really do anything special to help myself recover, I tried to eat better and outside of commuting I really didn't ride anywhere, so I think that helped. Something that certainly did not help my recovery is how I spent my Tueday; dealing with benign positional vertigo.

Woke up on Tuesday morning feeling groggier than usual and slightly dizzy, in a few minutes this turned itself into "OMFG standing is a hard, I'm gonna puke!" level dizziness. So after puking my guts out and wondering what the hell was wrong with me, I figured I'd eaten something bad and I'd just go back to bed for a while and worry about work and whatnot once I woke back up, this was a bad move. Literally 5 seconds after laying down, my head was spinning so hard it felt like my whole room was in a blender. I sprinted the few steps to the bathroom and again puked so hard I thought my bellybutton was going to touch my spine. At this point I knew something was seriously amiss I tried to plan my next move. Having no idea why I felt this was I was pretty freaked out, but knew I was "okay" sitting still and even standing, but laying down or cocking my head to the side caused horribly vomit inducing dizziness. So, I determined that the urgent care place was where I needed to go, so I called the only person I knew in town that wouldn't already be at work, my boss. In fairness, it was a little after 9 am, and he lives about 3 blocks from me, so he was a good choice even if I'd had a few more options, which I did not. Anyway, filling out paperwork is kind of a bitch while somewhat dizzy, at least sitting and standing weren't too horrible, some wobbly moments, but reclining or fully laying down was brutal. Once the doctor saw me, it took him about two minutes to diagnose it and sent me to the pharmacy to get an over the counter anti motion sickness drug. Weee. I spent the rest of the day napping and trying to watch tivo'd cycling while in a sitting position on the couch. I'm fine now(I think), but the problems could come back at virtually time with no warning or obvious cause. Great.

Once I got to feeling better, I resumed my usually habit of trying new and/or fancy beers. Here are a few:

Shipyard's fall offering, Smashed Pumpkin.

I generally am not a huge fan of pumpkin beers, most have minimal pumpkin flavor and focus on the spices you'd use in a pumpkin pie. While I like many fruit beers and many spiced beers, most pumpkin beers I've had fall flat, this is no exception. There's a ton of pie spices in this beer with a whisper of actual pumpkin flavor. Shipyard has even less pumpkin in this beer than most other breweries, which is kind of a let down. I think with a somewhat different base beer, and maybe dropping the pumpkin all together, Shipyard has a sweet-ish and spicy christmas/holiday beer. Not entirely sure how to alter this beer to make it better, but more pumpkin would be a quick fix, or scrap it, make a different fall seasonal, drop the pumpkin and try a different base and call it a holiday ale.

This next one is a bit closer to home, I made it.
\That's my Bourbon Oak Porter, aged several months, I don't have an exact record that I can find right now, but at least four, probably closer to six. Anyway, it definitely got better with age. The flavors blended better and the oaky character that was slightly annoying in the initial tasting has mellowed out is is not a present but not overbearing note that works really well with the rest of the beer.

Now for the crown jewel of what I've been drinking recently: 3 Floyd's Zombie Dust. (You'll have to click on the tap list to see a description of it)

Only available in their brew pub and only in pints and growlers, I was lucky enough to have a friend visiting the area who was kind enough to drink me one. I didn't ask for it, I asked for plenty of other things from them in bottles though (which he also brought) but this was a big surprise. It's a fruity, citrusy IPA that is excellent. It's super smooth, not over the top hoppy, but has a citrusy and almost sticky hop flavor. Much love for damn near everything 3 Floyds does and this is no exception.

race report and crash pics

This past weekend was the 24(and 12) hours of Seven Oaks. Trail conditions were as good as they've been in ages, weather was outstanding, and I again attempted the 12 hour race solo.

Yet again I finished 3rd and had a blast. As has been my custom, I'll break the race down lap by lap, as that makes the most sense and is easiest to remember.

Lap 1: Not a bad start, but whatever, it's a long race. a tiny bit of traffic here and there, but I focused on staying smooth and figuring out which parts of the trail were worth working hard at and when I'd be walking later. Rode almost the whole thing without putting a foot down, had a couple small dabs but nothing depressing. Tried to remember/figure out gearing to use in certain spots.

Lap 2: Saw virtually no one. Had the trail to myself and tried to go at a somewhat easy pace and stay off the brakes whenever I could. Figured the more "free" speed I had, the better I'd fair later. After a quick stop at camp for a fresh bottle and some energy gel, I went for #3.

Lap 3: Getting into a serious groove. Things are clicking really well, everything is semi-easy at a moderate effort. Picked a spot to stop midcourse and slam a gu and take a deep breath. Planned on using it most laps. At this point I was a tad under an hour a lap average, even with my quick stops to reload bottles and food. Felt great.

Lap 4: Starting get a little headache and possibly hungry. Probably haven't been eating enough, but pretty sure I've been getting enough fluids. I walk a few steeper climbs, I also experiment with some different gearing. I went to the granny ring on my triple. Turns out that's too low. Seriously, I still had to stand/crouch to get the weigh distribution right to keep climbing, and in that position a little bit harder gear actually works better. Lesson learned, I never went back down that low. Middle ring up front and big cog out back were plenty low enough, 34x36.

Lap 5: Before I started this lap I took a bit of a break, not terribly long, but probably 7-10 minutes. Ate a good amount of food, drank most of a bottle of gu brew, tried to relax a little, reminded myself that I was on a pace to do 12 laps or so. Basically told myself to chill out and that I was doing great. The actual lap was okay, still not feeling as good as I thought I should be but still on an hour/lap pace, despite breaks. Figured after this lap I'd take a bit longer of a break.

Lap 6: I tried to take a longer stop before this lap. I really did. I ate a good amount of food, drank most of a bottle. stretched a bit, restocked my bottle cage and jersey pocket, and got underway relatively quickly. Felt okay, but not great, probably should have stopped longer. Anyway, just after a part of the trail called "Rick's Drop" I went off trail, just a touch, and well, the trail got really really soft and horrible. I started to wash out and fought hard to save it, which really just prolonged the inevitable. But during this process I got crossed up, and did a half lay down, half endo, and hit the very hard and slightly gravely trail pretty hard. Not sure how I did this, but I managed to mangle my front wheel. It rubbed both sides of the fork pretty hard when I got around to sorting my bike out after fishing it out of the weeds. So I did the only logical thing, pull the wheel out and smash it on the ground repeatedly. After a few minutes of doing this and swearing a whole lot, I got it straight enough to clear my fork, and off I wobbled. As the adrenaline spike wore off, I still felt okay, but noticed how much of my had hit the ground really hard. Once I finished the lap I took some time to assess the damage to myself and my bike. I rinsed my legs off to see how much of the filth was blood and what was just dirt. Check it out:
Before any cleaning. Most of the dirt on my shin was there before the crash. The trail was lightly tacky and awesome to ride on.A little bit of a close up to the main damage. It was really hard to tell how much of that was blood and how much was just dirt/sweat mud.

There's the rinsed off view. Not as bad as I thought it would be, but not exactly awesome either. It didn't hurt as much as feared, and even two days later as I'm writing this, my hands and lower back are the worst.

When I went down I hit my head a bit. While I knew my head contacted the ground, it wasn't until hours later that the slight bruising showed up, and I knew I hit kinda hard. A closer inspection of my helmet revealed some cracks and some dented plastic, so I get to buy a new one. Not really looking forward to that, I liked this one. But I think Specialized makes the same model, probably not the same colors though. Oh well.

As I said, I took a long break to check myself and my bike out. I borrowed a wheel, graciously offered by Rick Blackford, and spent 45 mins thinking about if I wanted to try more laps. Turns out I did.

Lap 7: Started slowly, making sure everything on me and the bike worked correctly. I was plenty hesitant about most tighter/faster corners. Once I got deeper into it, everything was fine, but fatigue was starting to show and I was taking slower lines and not making as many slight corrections as before.

Lap 8: Took off without much of a break, but felt good. Figured I had to get moving if I didn't want to take the time to get lights on the bike. As the shadows started to get really long, especially in the eastern parts of the course, the trees and brush seem to get much bigger. The trail gets super narrow where before it wasn't. Finished the lap feeling okay, tired, fatigued, but semi-excited to still be riding. Plenty of light left, but I needed lights for another lap, and it was pretty well impossible at this point for me to get 2 more laps in.

Lap 9: I took a nice long break before this lap, took my time installing lights and getting a good amount of food and beverage. This was the first year I had a powerful light on my helmet. In years past I've had a bright light on my handle bars and either a crappy head mounted light or none at all. I've gotta say it was a great change. The laps started in heavy shadow and quickly moved into total darkness. With a combined 1100 lumens, I laughed at the darkness, I could see almost everything. 600 on the bar and 500 up top worked really well, though the helmet mount on the Serfas 500 was not as secure as i would have liked and bounced around a bit. While this didn't cause problems it was a little distracting at times. Finished at about 9:20, which because the event started at 10am this year, was closer to the end that I've made it in prior years. Somehow despite the crash and general lack of training, I made it the same number of laps, and feel better how than I did last year. I have no real idea what I did differently.

Final thoughts: Good lights are awesome, wish I had more night lap opportunities, but oh well. Crashing sucks, but not being too hurt is awesome. Being smart enough to smash a wheel back into shape in a nice thing, but having generous people to loan you things is definitely better. Hands and back and legs are still sore, they should come around in short order, probably a few days.

I know I haven't posted in forever, but I have no excuse, just busy, lazy, etc. Gonna try to do more writing in the future.

Ragbrai, collaborative beer, plus some whiskey

RAGBRAI was this week in Iowa. Tens of thousands of cyclists rode at least a portion of the route across the state, and most drank a beer or two. I was lucky enough to get out and do 3 whole days. Not entirely sure how I pulled that off, but I did. It was fun as hell, like it always is riding bikes with friends and drinking a few beers along the way. Sure there's thousands of other folks doing the same, many of whom don't know what they're doing, but it's okay, fun is still fun. As a "bike shop guy" from a busy shop in the area, I felt like a celebrity, tons of people knew me and said "hi Mark" as I rode by or they saw me in town. It was kinda weird, but pretty cool at the same time. This year on Ragbrai we passed through the small town of Templeton, Iowa, where (of course) Templeton Rye Whiskey is made. The company did a big beer/whiskey garden and had tours and such, it was a good time.

The whole place is like two huge machine sheds stuck together, very small for as awesome of whiskey as comes out. A room full of these barrels smelled amazing. I've gassed on about how good this whiskey is, and it being a big part of Al Capone's empire is extra cool, plus it being semi-local to me is a big plus, but I'd love the hell out of the stuff if it were from anywhere else, but being Iowa made is sure a bonus. Not quite Iowa, but Missouri made, is Boulevard's newest Smokestack: Collaboration No. 2, White IPA.
Boulevard partnered with Deschutes to bring the world this kick ass beer. Roughly half IPA and half Belgian White, it hits a ton of notes on the palette, not unlike Neil Pert on drums. There are some yeasty esters happening, some fruity hop notes, just tons of things going on with an incredibly smooth finish. Plus, it's only $8 for a 750ml, I almost can't believe how good this beer is for the money. It is crazy good period, and when it's only $8, it is extra awesome. If you see it, get it. If you don't like it, I'll come over and punch you in the junk.

long time in between updates, ragbrai is to blame

For those of you who don't know, in Iowa we have this thing called "RAGBRAI" it is effectively a 20,000 person rolling party that has become much more family friendly in the past few years. Regardless, tons of people need bikes, gear, tune ups, all manner of bike gear, and they need it right-fucking-now. We've been super busy all day every day for at least the past two weeks, if not longer. The ride finally starts Sunday, so the end is in sight, but I've not had a chance to write much nor to ride much. I have been drinking plenty though. This Wednesday the insane heat was still around, the weather had been dry long enough to try mountain biking again, and I felt like attempting an off road ride. Sycamore was in generally great shape, dry, firm, well worn in, if a tad overgrown in places. There were of course a few mud spots, but those never seem to dry, and there are dry lines on the edge of all of them. The beaver dam creek/inlet/whatever the hell we're calling it, was as bad as ever. Check it out:

As wide and flooded as ever. The log pile in passable but it is quite tricky.

Not all the logs are solid. Many are just floating there, making shuffling across this a vexing and time consuming task. I'm glad CITA reportedly has a plan to build a bridge of some sort in the relatively near future.
That's why it's still super wide/deep. The thing at the end of the little creek is the river. It has been so high all summer that this little stream is ultra high and making riding bikes a pain.
Aside from the dodgy creek crossing, the ride was awesome. The insane heat and humidity were sort of balanced by the constant shade and slight breeze of riding. Stopping was cripplingly hot, and the ride to and from the trail on paved MUPs was also incredibly hot, actual temps in the upper 90s and heat index around 110. Oh course I refreshed myself afterwards with a beer.

Odell Brewing's Myrcenary, their Double IPA. It is packed with floral and citrus hops and has a smooth, clean finish, and a well balanced body with a noticeable malt support. Very fruity with dirty floral scents, and a nice but not really apparent 9.3% abv.
If you get the chance, try it.Sadly a friend brought me this from Nebraska, and as far as I know, it isn't available in Iowa.

Sam Adams Deconstructed Latitued 48

This July fourth, as many of you did, I consumed a fair amount of beer on a deck while cooking/eating grilled meat. One of the things my friends and I drank was the Latitude 48 Deconstructed mixed 12 pack. Sam Adams makes an average IPA that involves 5 hop varieties and is named after the latitude containing the "hop belt" when most hops are commercially grown. The deconstruction is a great idea for both beer geeks and craft beer neophytes. In the 12 pack, you'll find 2 regular Latitude 48 bottles, plus 2 bottles each of a beer made with just a single hop from the 5 that make up the full hop list in the regular version. Supposedly, and I can't find confirmation online anywhere, each of the single hopped beers have the same IBUs as the regular, so the difference is exclusively which hop is used. Here are my photos and notes.

Regular Latitude 48, nothing amazing but an okay IPA. Somewhat bitter, slight earthy and fruity notes, nothing that sets it apart from a sea of average IPAs. We drank this first as to get the whole thing in our minds before breaking it down. We tried to go from mildest/cleanest to biggest/burliest in our tasting progression.

Hallertau Mittelfrueh, mild, earthy, clean and crisp. Not a hop that can support a beer like this, but not bad.

East Kent Goldings, the classic English hop. medium bitterness, smooth, slightly fruity, very familiar.

Ahtanum, piney, medium bitterness, not terribly fruity or earthy, great addition to a more complex beer.

Zeus, bigger taste, fairly earth, much more bitter than the previous three.


Simcoe, sharper/more bitterness, more fruit and citrus with piney notes, we thought this one was the most prevalent/noticeable in the complete/regular version.

Overall a great experiment and something I'd like to see more of in the future. Maybe not this exact set up, but a similar thing, maybe with the same base beer and then more creative additions as has been popular at various homebrew clubs.

This is definitely not a 12 pack to buy and drink by yourself, this is meant to be a group experience and I sure enjoyed it. So get some friends, get a few bucks from each of them and sit around grousing about each variety and enhance your understanding of hops.

long time no blogging and two crus from New Belgium, plus gin news

Ah July in Iowa, heat and humidity are ramping up, the rainy damp trails of June are fading, and a little ride called RAGBRAI looms large on the horizon. This means that I've been even busier than normal at the shop, attempting to mountain bike more, and drinking more. Of course I've been twitterizing many of my drink choices, but a couple I wanted to go more into here. New Belgium's awesome Lips of Faith series is their more experimental line up, which 99% of the time knocks it out of the park. The two beers I'm about to talk about are no exception. First up: Grand Cru.

A pretty good example of the style, fruity, estery, kinda sweet but with a bite to balance it out as to not be cloying on the palette. I quite enjoyed it. Maybe not quite as awesome as some actual Belgian Cru style abbey ales but still a nice entry in that style. Next up: Super Cru

This beer really knocked my socks off. Reportedly it starts as a Fat Tire but with 2x the malt and 2x the hops, then they add Asian pear juice, and a Saison yeast. It's vaguely familiar but entirely new at the same time. The pear notes are subtle and present throughout, but most prominent in the finish and aftertaste, but it totally works. I'd like to try this without the pear, to see what a super fat tire might taste like with that estery saison yeast and a ton of extra malt and hops. I think it could work great.

As any astute reader of this blog will note(and I'm sure you're one), I love gin. Martinis and gin and tonics are some of my favorite non-beer beverages. Sadly, one of my favorite, if not my favorite, gins is not going to be imported any long: Quintessential has reportedly been purchased and the new owners don't want to jump through the hoops to import to the USA any longer. I'd link to an article but 30 seconds of googling has failed me. Anyway, I've been searching for a replacement. So far, Plymouth is the leader. There is talk of a blind taste test with Q vs Plymouth, but as of yet, my friends and I haven't put it together, but expect much tweeting and blogging about such an event.

Until next time, keep it rubber side down, and don't drink and drink, you might spill your beverage.

riding more and a new bike related beer

This last week has been a busy one both at the shop and on the bike. Several small/medium sized group rides as well as a few solo evening/night rides were had. The weather somehow cooperated enough for me to get out for 20-60 miles 5 days in the last week, sadly all were pavement oriented. Rain has been prevalent but mostly during the overnight hours, so days and evenings were gorgeous for riding, sunshine, warm but not hot temps, low to moderate wind. Hell yeah.

While I was busy riding, I was not busy taking pictures. So I have no photographic evidence of my recent increase in mileage. I did shoot a video of the new High Trestle Trail bridge at night, but have not done anything to/with it yet, but I plan to in the next week or so. Short version: super duper cool, go ride it after dark. Saturday a group of us rode from Ankeny to the bridge, got to the bridge right at dusk, saw the bridge in the dark, then rode home. Of course we stopped for liquid nourishment at the Take Down in Slater and the Flat Tire Lounge in Madrid. Both very nice places full of bike ridin' folks.

My beer drinking was not limited to bars near bike trails. I have been drinking at home. Bicycles and beer so well together many breweries name beers for bikes/bicycle stuff/trail/any bike related thing you can think of. As a lover of both things, these beer always attract me for better or worse I feel compelled to give them a shot. So, when I saw Lakefront's Fixed Gear, I had to pick it up. It was clearly not optional.

Quoth the labe:

Inspired by the energy and audacity of the fixed gear courier.

I hope they were inspired by actual messengers and not the fixed gear hipster, who while possibly possessing similar skills, is still a poser and has bought into a prepackaged identity. The beer inside probably was wrought with working messengers in mind as it is very good and acceptably strong. The color is much brighter red than my crummy photo shows, with a creamy white head and a fantastic floral nose, which sadly, my camera couldn't capture either. Reportedly only 34 IBUs but tastes like more with a strong malt back that lingers on the palette more than the hops, but they play very well together. The 22oz bottle packs a minor punch at 6;5% abv, more would probably become a distraction flavor wise, and less wouldn't match the bold flavors. If you see this beer, even if you're not a cyclist, give it a shot. If I remember correctly, it was only $5 maybe less, which is entirely worthwhile.

Confessions about the wind + homebrew

As I tweeted earlier today: I like the wind. I enjoy riding in it under most circumstances. Sure it is a pain in the ass on my commute, especially in the winter, but all it does is make you stronger. In Iowa we don't have long climbs, nor many especially steep ones. We've got tons of slight rolling hills, miles upon miles of rail trails, but nothing that can really be called a proper climb in the cycling sense of the word. Sure both "coasts" of Iowa boast some steep climbs that last about a mile, but nothing like a serious mountain climb that takes a couple hours to summit. What we have instead is the wind; rarely ceasing, constantly shifting, soul crushing wind. You can eventually summit a mountain pass of any length, nothing you can do other than waiting will shut the wind off.

When I've ridden bikes in other parts of the country, I get dropped on climbs pretty easily, but I can always hang if there's even a mild cross wind. People who aren't used to it have no idea what they're doing and bitch about it constantly. When I was in Morgan Hill, California a few years ago attending some classes at Specialized's HQ, we did a 30 mile ride in the rolling hills surrounding the town. There was a 15-ish mph breeze, and almost everyone was sketchy when it was a cross wind, complained constantly about the head wind and didn't enjoy the tail wind as much as they should have. On the other hand I was fine and held my lines (so did a few others from the midwest), I also provided significant shelter from the wind for many other people. You see, I'm 6'4 with fairly broad shoulders, so I punch a pretty large hole in the air when riding, a hole smaller people can take serious advantage of. This "favor" is one they cannot possibly repay because I get virtually no draft off of tiny people.

People think I'm a bit "off" for liking the wind, to them I say HTFU. A large part of training/riding is preparing mentally for a race/event. Sure the physical work out and condition of the body is crucial, but mental callousing is also crucial, especially if you're like me and enjoy events that are more about finishing than formally winning. A good wind (from any direction) does both. A headwind forces you to push harder and attempt to hold a more aero position for a longer amount of time. This makes you stronger physically and mentally. A cross wind makes you focus more on bike handling and teaches you how to deal with uneven conditions. Cross winds probably do the most for you in terms of being faster than other people in a race. If you can keep yourself on line and in a good place in a cross wind, you'll do well in a race. A tail wind not only makes the ride more fun (holy top speeds Batman), it can also provide a bit of a different work out. It can do this in two ways: first those high speed runs work on power and leg speed. I've spun out on flat-ish terrain with a really strong tailwind. Spinning a cross bike with a 42x11 high gear at 130 rpms and 35+ mph is a killer work out. Secondly a tailwind can allow you the confidence to ride harder into the wind, knowing the ride home will be cake.

Thus ends my defense of liking the wind. Now on to what most of you probably care about: beer.
This is a beer I brewed a while ago, a Belgian style tripel. It has taken 5-6 weeks (I've legitimately forgotten) to properly bottle condition/carbonate. Not entirely sure why, possibly it was too cool after bottling, maybe there wasn't enough yeast in the bottles, but for whatever reason, this was my fourth test bottle, and the first on that feels right. The flavor is about the same as the others, but the carbonation is perfect and it enhances the flavor in just the right way. Hiccups like this are things that make me think about investing in a stir plate for yeast starters, and also a kegging set up, as bottling is a pain in the ass. Oh well, maybe once I find some money I don't want to spend on bikes...

Finally got a longer ride on the new mtb

As astute readers will remember, I mentioned my new mountain bike (Stumpy comp 29) a while ago, and just recently have I gotten a chance to spend much time on it. This past Sunday I made the trip down to the Center Trails after work for a bit of a ride. The trail was in killer shape, my bike was awesome, riding with my coworker Bret was great, overall one helluva night. I neglected to take any photos of the ride, or nay new photos of my bike, but other than the grips(now Ergons), it is bone stock. The bike rode really really well. It's light, snappy, stiff, and very quick handling. It is better in almost every way than my uber fancy Jamis I had last year. The parts are nothing exceptional, Reba fork, Elixir brakes, SRAM X-7 and X-9 shifting bits, all good workhorse component choices. The DT Swiss wheels are pretty light and roll really well, especially at this price point, the durability is a bit suspect. I'm not terribly hard on things, I'm usually pretty smooth, but I've already had to touch up the true on these things a couple times, and I've hardly ridden them. Here's hoping they weren't built as well as they could have been and they're okay now.

One part of the build I was unsure of is the tires. New model from Specialized, S-Works Renegade. At a listed 1.95 inches wide, and with a ton of tiny knobs, I wasn't sure they'd be the right tire for anywhere, let alone my locale. Having put some miles on these, I gotta say I love them. Perfect for hardpacked trails with occasional damp spots, loose bits, and general trail obstacles. At 430 claimed grams for a 29 inch version, they're super light, and the sidewalls and understandably thin, so they're not going to hold up anywhere there's a bunch of rocks. The 1.95 width is probably closer to a 2.05 or bigger in reality, and set up tubeless they roll really well, and grip like crazy. i've only had minor issues with them is greasy corners and super loose dry climbs, but in both those situations almost nothing was going to work well. Another big plus is that they set up tubeless as easy as any tire I've ever used.

I'm a big-ish guy who really likes 29er hardtails, and this is one of the quickest handling and tightest turning bikes I've ever ridden. The chainstays are really short, a scant 435 mm, which in only 11 mm longer than the 26in version. This helps the bike accelerate like crazy and makes lofting the front end easy, and keeps the wheel base tight for sharper handling. Compared to the Jamis, this thing is 100% more race ready, fits me better, and with a modicum of tweaking/adjusting is super comfortable. If the weather would cooperate I'd have tons of miles on this. More updates (and pics) as I ride more.

Quick note about gin

Summer is here, and with it, in the midwest at least, is oppressive humidity and surprisingly variable temperatures. Also along for the ride are gin and tonics, which in my mind are the most refreshing non-beer beverage when the weather is hot. Hell, they're a lot more refreshing than a lot of beers, but that's neither here nor there. My second update in as many days is to spread the love for a new and highly affordable gin that's perfect for gin and tonics: New Amsterdam.

While not exactly complex, this stuff mixes well, has a bright citrus note, not a huge amount of juniper, but still recognizable as a gin, albeit a sweeter/more fruity one. For $13 or so, this stuff is perfect. Much better than cheaper $10-13 gins like Seagram's or similar, but not as complex nor as good quality as Beefeater, Bombay, or others in the $20 ball park.

I'd never make a martini with New Amsterdam, but a cocktail that doesn't require awesome gin? Hell yes. Gin and tonic, tom collins, velvet crush, etc etc? Absolutely.

That's all, just drinking one and wanted to make sure more people knew about it. Even if you hate it, you're only out $13, I've spent more on a 750ml of beer.

I'm back on the intertubes

I am finally back online, and a host of computer issues that were ultimately resolved by my friend Markk, I now have a functioning computer for the first time in about 3 weeks. I used my smartphone to do most webstuff, but blogging from it, or any longer form writing period was a horrible hassle, so I didn't do any. But now I'm back with some great news: Hy-Vee in Ankeny finally has reasonable bike parking. This is best explained visually:

Old rack. That van is nearly always there, and it has clearly hit the rack at least once. Not only is that thing not secure, I'm not terribly sure on how to lock anything to it. I usually just leaned my bike up against the building and locked the front wheel to the frame and tried to be quick inside. Ankeny has basically zero bike theft, so this was never a problem, but still isn't a good way to do things.

New racks. Four kinked, inverted U/staple style racks. Huge improvement. These are actually secure, and while they only provide a maximum of 8 spots, they are a big leap forward. I am actually pretty excited they finally got these things installed. When I took these pics (earlier this week) it must have been the first day because there was still concrete dust covering the mounting hardware.

That's all for now, I'll try to get back to regular updates in the coming days.

best day of the year: new bike day!

Yesterday (Wednesday May 4), I finally put my new mountain bike together. It's been in the shop for at least two, if not three, weeks, but because of the weather and my generally busy life, I had no motivation to put it together. I assembled it and hit the trail:
Brand new Specialized Stumpjumper Comp 29. So far so good. Snappy, stiff, fairly light, killer bang for the buck, but I've only ridden in on one lap through Sycamore and a few miles of pavement to and from, so I'll have to give a more detailed review after I spend more time on it, but I'm excited to have a new toy to play with. More updates as I ride it more.

After my ride, as is my custom, I drank a beer. This time it was something pretty terrific from Sierra Nevada, their Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale. As the bottle explains, the compounds that give hops their flavor/essence/scent etc are called alpha acids and they peak just before the end of the growing season, effectively right at harvest time. Hops are harvested in the fall and there are two hop harvests world wide, one for the northern hemisphere, and one down south. This beer is made from fresh hops from the southern half of the globe and the flavor is great. Multilayered, piny, smooth, deep, everything a hoppy beer needs to be, nothing it doesn't. Sure it isn't some insane ipa that kicks the door in with hop power, but it's a clean fresh hop ale that works in every way possible and necessary. Obligatory photo:

Royal mile/Red Monk and a new one from Summit

Last night I ventured into Des Moines to eat dinner with some friends and use my last Groupon to the Royal Mile. When I arrived around 6:30 the place was really really packed. I figured there were just a bunch of last minute Groupon-ers, but I soon learned that was only partially to blame. A flier alerted me to a new beer from Summit was being shown off via firkin, and even the founder of the company was there hanging out. While I didn't get to meet him, I did drink some of the new beer. It was really really good. Gold Sovereign Ale is part of their limited release Unchained series, where brewers are given free reign to do whatever they want. This beer is reportedly a Victorian era pale ale, but with a modern twist: 100% organic malts. I briefly wondered if there were non-organic malts in the 19th century but I was quickly distracted by the fruity elements of this beer, as well as the clean and balanced finish. Pear and apricot notes made up most of the nose, with a hefty malt body and spicy hop balance did the heavy lifting. The whole thing was well balance, easy to drink but required some thought to pull out all the subtle flavors. I'm sure my not so great palette missed a bunch, but I liked it nonetheless. This is the part of the review where I'd normally post a picture, but the area around the firkin was super crowded and photo friendly, and the beer looked like any other beer in a pint glass. Plus I kinda forgot until after I had finished it. Ooops. After a hearty fish and chips platter, my friends took off and I moved to the bar upstairs at the Red Monk, a killer Belgian place I'm sure I've mentioned before.

I had a couple old favorites, and then with considerable help from the highly knowledgeable bartender, I gave the La Chouffe Blonde a try.

Sorry for the sideways photo, but my phone and computer are arguing and I had to upload the photo from my phone, then write this entry on the computer. Anyway, just tilt your head or something. Back to the beer, La Chouffe is a great blonde with a slightly hoppier flavor than a lot of other Belgian blondes. Mind you, there's not a lot of hop in there, but a little more than you'd expect. The fruity/citrus notes of the style are pleasant and blend well with more complex hints of flavors from the yeast and hops.

Saturday ride to the High Trestle Bridge

Thanks to our relatively new system of taking days off at work, I got this weekend off. As such, I finally went on a normal Saturday ride, which for many in and near Ankeny, that's becoming a ride to the High Trestle Trail Bridge. Today was also the first day in a while that it wasn't either raining or super windy. The wind was present but not horrible and out of the northwest, so it was in my face basically the whole way from Ankeny up to Woodward. Perfect. This ride was also the first time I have seen the bridge in its completed form.

130 feet above the river in the middle. I've been across it before, but not since the additional metal work was finished around it. Looks great.
The offset design is awesome, good looking, and invokes a bit of a vertigo feeling, or it might if you rode across fast enough. Looks great too.

Here's a look from a tower/lookout/observation point just on the west side of the river, looking south across the bridge. On a sunnier day the view would be even better, but the river is pretty regardless.

Once home and thawed out, I had my favorite post ride beverage (surprise): beer. This time I cracked open a Brau Brothers Bancreagie, a scotch ale I grabbed to fill in a mixed six pack a few days ago.
It was okay. Nothing terribly special, but it's malty and very slightly smokey and pretty smooth. I really wanted the peaty smoked flavor to come through more, but alas, if there ever was a smokey note, it was covered by other malts. Without a significant smokey hit, it's another anonymous scottish ale. It's an okay example of the style, but even then it isn't exactly the one I'd show people as a "good" example. I generally like things from Brau Bros, so I hope this is just either a rare miss, or the brewers' palettes and mine don't agree. More beers later will probably make me feel better.

Super long term product review and a new summer beer from Shiner

A few days ago, while commuting home through a crummy spring rain, it occurred to me how great my cycling jacket has been for the last three years or so.

That's my Endura Luminite jacket hung on a hook, like usual. I've worn this thing in all kinds of weather, with all levels of layering underneath, and it has performed perfectly at every turn. Wind and rain at 55F? no problem, I stayed dry and comfortable. Snow and slop and horrible winter weather from 30F down to -30F windchill? Hell yeah, bring it on. With fully taped seams and well designed everything, when Endura says "waterproof" they mean it. In the winter I layer up significantly and wear this literally every day, and I've never had any issue. In the spring and fall, I don't use a lot of layers and the pit vents work pretty well to keep my temperature regulated. Generally in the summer, or any time the temp is above 70, it's way too warm, but that's no surprise given how sealed and sturdy the material is.
For this photo I left the flash on, and the large reflective sections reflected it back, just like when headlights hit it. After all this use the jacket works just like new, even if the crazy bright yellow color has dulled slightly in regular light. I really could not be more impressed with this jacket and how well it has held up to my abuse. If the weather isn't horrible it pretty much lives in the bottom of my messenger bag rubbing up against shoes, pumps, beers, multitools, etc etc, you know, whatever I happen to be carrying with me. Until a few days ago I hadn't even really thought much about it, but damn, I love this jacket.

Ya know what else I love? beer. (surprised right?) I also love interesting/unusual beers. Odd pairings and weird experiments are half the fun of brewing right? I love the brewmaster's creativity and minor bits of bravery to make weird beers. Sometimes they don't work, but hey, at least someone tried. And when they work well, the result can be better than anyone would have expected. My lust for these weird beers could also be considered morbid curiosity. I almost want to see horrible failure as much as I want to see success. A beer I noticed recently that set off all sorts of alarms in my head was Shiner's new summer beer: Rudy Redbird.
It is a lager brewed with ruby red grapefruit juice and ginger. The citrus is more subtle than you'd expect from the nose, but the ginger really comes through in the flavor and mouth feel. Shiner's website lists 4.2% abv and a scant 13 ibus, which in my mind makes this an excellent and refreshing summer beer that would pair really well with food. What food you ask? Sushi was my first thought. The second I mentioned sushi, maybe after my second sip, my friend Andrew heartily agreed. It would also work really well with citrusy chicken dishes, and damn near any grilled fish. Maybe that's what I should do this week sometime, get more of this, get some tuna steaks and some lemon pepper and go to town. If you like citrusy and refreshing beers, or just like interesting flavors in beer, definitely check this out.

Fleur

Goose Island's Fleur. Part of their excellent "Vintage" series. A Belgian style pale ale with Hibiscus flowers and kombucha tea. It has a strong fruity aroma with a heady floral note as well.

I've had this beer before, but it's been a while, and this bottle is the 2011 batch, while the last one I had was the 2010. While I don't have an incredible memory for tastes and how a similar/identical beer changes from year to year, I think the 2011 batch isn't quite as floral as 2010. This new batch also seems to be a bit fruitier with a strawberry flavor lingering in the back long after swallowing. I really like these more experimental beers from Goose Island(and others) but I'm not necessarily wowed by their day to day offerings. I think is a good thing, as more interesting beers is never a bad thing.

In riding news, I rode the cross bike through Sycamore, down the paved trail for a ways, across the new levy by Birdland and then back home. The new levy is mostly ridable but you have to go around some fences and ignore some trail closed signs. The ground is fairly chewed up from the heavy equipment, but careful line choice on a cross bike was fine, a mountain bike would have made it easier. Sadly, I'm dumb and didn't take any pictures. Must remember for next time...

Thoughts on flights, and some I drank in Oregon

The flight, most breweries and serious beer bars offer one (or a few), and they're as varied in how they're presented, how they're priced, and what comes in one, as there are places that serve them. Here are three I had in Eugene and Portland, plus a dissection of each approach.

First up, Ninkasi. Eugene based and super fast growing, this brewery is one of the highlights every time I'm in the area. They've got a great way to do a flight.

Five beers in a little metal tray, each with a laminated card with the name and logo on the front and a few stats on the back, not unlike a baseball card, but for beer. You get to pick the five beers from the 7 or 8 they've got on tap. The samples are 4 oz (I think) and the price was reasonable, $6-7. I really like the set up, and the cards are a stroke of genius.


Close up of the front of the cards.

Detail of the back. All the important info is on there. And I totally love the format, brilliant.

Next up, Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) in Portland. I'm in love with this brewery not just for their beers, or their bicycle themed brew pub, but, um, yeah, I guess the combo of those things is pretty much why I like them. They are committed to sustainable beer and life in general, so that's super cool. Anyway, their flights are 10 beers, 3 oz of each on a tray made from a bicycle rim, and $7-8, which is about the price of 2 pints, so it works out pretty well.

They've got a big chalk board behind the bar that has 12 beers listed and the flight comes with a taste of the first 10. Simple, easy, and a large selection of beers.

Lastly, I ate/drank at Hop Valley. Their flight is nine beers, 7 standards, with a seasonal and a special release. Simple, effective, and on par with the other flights I've talked about size and value wise.

Of the three flights I had on this visit to Oregon, I think I liked Ninkasi the best. Not because they're beer was the best (it was damn close, and overall it mighta been), but the format with the laminated baseball style cards was amazing. The value on each was similar, and if anything Ninkasi was a tad more expensive than the others, but Hopworks wins huge points for having a sampler that contains almost all their beers. On the flip side, Ninkasi gets points for letting me pick which beers I wanna try.