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.