Blast from the past

I was rereading a post from '08. Back then I really really didn't like hoppy beers, and for the most part I suppose I am prett low key when incomes to hoppy beers. But I'd say, that in the intervening years I have developed a palate for even the more hop forward bes like dogfish head or steel toe.

Sweet child of vine is damn fine too.

Also, tonight I was clocked by a speed limit sign at 13.
 I was pretty excited:

 Four years ago I got a road bike up to 19 mph for a couple moments and averaged 8 riding home. Tonight I averaged 13 on a single speed pug.

To all those who thought the price of beer in Canada meant nothing.

Because with enough funding, research can be found for damned near anything.

Merde

So the Jetta went in for new bearings today.  Dammit.

We decided to take an emergency bike ride.  And that really helped.  We went up Minnehaha to Cedar and picked up a few things from Midwest Mountaineering.  Which was pretty cool, we ran into Kevin.  

Shannon found a nice hat and I found some gloves that will be nice when it gets colder out.  Since the car just needed further repairs, I passed on the gloves for now.

But after perusing the sporting goods store, we went to the Town Hall brewery for lunch.  I had two and a half pints of the house stout, and Shannon had the triple and a stout.  To eat, I had the 7 corners burger since we had just been to 7 corners hardware this morning.  We went there looking for locktite which we found, but I also showed Shannon which drills I liked there.  There are two Mikita and one Milwaukee drills I think would be nice.  One of the Mikita drills is pretty small, and only 2 amps, but it also weighs damn near nothing.  And the other two were much much larger, with the second handle and everything.  The burger though, was awesome.  Shannon had the pumpkin soup and brat special which rivaled the burger.

The stout was smooth without being sweet or heavy.  We'll have to go back.

On our way home, we needed to rest a bit.  Mostly, I was having trouble going in a straight line.  But as we were sitting next to someone's bronzed work boots a couple came pushing their bikes by asking for directions to the Hub.  But what they clearly needed was a patch and a pump.  

I had a pump but sadly couldn't find my patch kit anywhere.  So another rider gave us a glueless patch and we put everything back together.  And I told them where they should be going for their bicycle needs.

Studly

In preparation for the winter we picked up a pair of the Schwalbe Winter Marathon studded tires.  I've never had studded tires, so I am excited to try them on ice.  A few years back I wiped out pretty hard on Frenchie riding over ice.  I was sort of asking for it though.  I had ridden across the ice at Harriet Island once and then doubled back because I liked the cracking sound the frozen puddle made.  Take two... not so smooth.

What is funny is that suddenly I have amassed 3 sets of spare tires, for 26 inch tires. 

I'm sipping on Rogue Mocha Porter.  A dark beer with a slightly bitter chocolate aftertaste.  I wonder about aftertaste. Our beer had a definite appley flavor.  

IPA

Indian Pale Ale.  I can't stand the stuff. It just tastes sour to me.

But we just slow-cooked some chicken in an IPA based marinade and it was awesome.  For the record IPA was not in the recipe, but the Horn Dog we have in the fridge wouldn't exactly have worked with the spices.  So we cracked the last bottle of IPA we keep in reserve for folks that like really hoppy beer, and tada!

On today's ride home from work there was one of the speed signs with the radar gun, and it clocked me at 19.  

I was pretty excited.

Solving the world's problems

Today’s ride home had its high points and its low points.

The first low was when I couldn’t keep up with two guys crossing the Mendota Bridge. I usually pride myself on being able to keep up with others, and I just couldn’t do it. My excuse is that when I started riding home I pedaled really hard and my thighs were not warmed up yet, and hurt the whole trip after. Weak excuse but that is how I perceived it. As one of my friends named Jim says: “the problem young people have is they don’t know how to pace themselves.”  

my bad.

The second low came just as I was coming up along the exit from 55 to Hiawatha. I was being passed by a polite guy on a red lugged Trek and a small sparrow flushed out of the shadows missed him and hit my front spokes with a “BONG!”

I think I killed it....

I don’t know....

So I entered Minnehaha Park not feeling so good. I felt slow, dehydrated, and like I had just run over a song bird.

But then a chance to redeem myself!

A person in distress! Pushing her rusting yellow Schwinn Collegiate with a flat rear tire.

“Do you need a pump, patch, or a tire?” I ask pulling up. She wasn’t sure. So I triied putting air in. No good. So I call Shannon’s phone tell it I’ll be 15-20 minutes late. The nice thing about dealing with older bikes regularly is that you come prepared for working on older bikes. The back wheel was held in place by a 17mm bolt. I happen to carry a 17mm socket. It took but a moment to pull the wheel and then the tire off, and another to find the tear. Less than 15 minutes to patch and reassemble the wheel. The tire was old and the rubber was starting to crack apart so I pumped the tire up to 60 psi not the 90 it prescribed.

We hopped onto our bikes and headed our separate ways. I had new energy, becasue I had been of some use.

If you are reading this, your bike needs new tires. they can be had cheaply, two for as little as 20 bucks or so, but you’ll be happier for it. Patch kits are nice and also cheap. And a crescent wrench can solve a lot of the world’s problems.

I finished off the evening with a nice Barley Wine style ale with some delicious chicken tacos Shannon made. I’m feeling pretty good about the day as a whole.

The taste of metal

Actually a pretty good short story if you are in the market for one.

This is not the material of a good short story, but me thinking about how long I've been doing the same thing.  A lot has changed in the last 4 years. But I am starting to notice a different something about things.  And it makes my ears prick...

I like my job most days, but... I don't know what.

mostly I lack a unified theory of beer.  I really just cannot stand IPAs.  They taste metallic to me. maybe I've just had  a bad run  of IPAs.  But I love a good dark ale or a stout.  Like a thick oatmeal stout served in a large snifter...

I used to believe in the opacity test, but that really lacks causation.  Mostly I really like stouts which are opaque, but there are some belgian beers that are quite translucent and 11.3%.  There was this Roquefort I tried that was very distinctive, and knocked me on my ass.  I'll have to keep an eye out for it again.

warm beer

I have been reading over old posts in an effort to keep fresh material appearing in new posts.  And got back into the posts about the trip to Duluth and I got to thinking about that growler we bought at Fitgers which was really tasty.  And then I got to thinking about how tricky it is for someone who works on Saturdays to get a growler of beer from Surly.  And then I got to thinking about Irish whiskey verses Tennessee whiskey, when I remember I poured a glass of beer an hour ago.

IT WAS SITTING NEXT TO ME ALL ALONG.

now I have a mostly flat glass of warm beer.

mmm warm beer.

I wonder why I got to thinking about whiskey though...

Lake Walk

The lake walk started beyond our hotel and continues down to the lift bridge.  

A nice little jaunt, but still covered in ice and snow in places.  And water the rest of it.  I kept trying to find places to step on the snow and filling my shoes with slush.  Have I mentioned I love wool socks.

Also by the lift bridge is Grandma's.  When I was growing up we would stop there for sandwiches and they were good.  When I was in college, Grandma's opened a location in Fargo, and it was also good.  

But time passes.  And when we went there on this trip the meat was over done and overall blah.  For the same amount of folding money a couple can get 2 beers and 2 sandwiches at Grandma's OR walk to the other end of the Lake Walk and eat in Fitger's brewery pub thing and get 6 beers and two sandwiches that tasted better to begin with.

We have a new place to stop on our way to my Grandmother's cabin.

Look at the big anchor. And then I sneaked another picture of Shannon!