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:
