"It's not that bicycling is so important, it is that everything else is equally unimportant."

It's the Chronic...What!...cles of Narnia  
I don't usually post stuff like this, but damn it's funny!



DT
posted by DT at 12:46:00 PM
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Taste of TNS  
Last night was our first official tasting outing. With Stoner staying home like a little kid on Christmas night waiting for his frame to come to build her up, it was down to just Steve and myself. An executive decision was made and we rode into DC for a little visit to the one and only Brickskeller. They were hosting a little get together with Charlie Papazian of "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" fame. With the admission price we got Charlie's new book "Microbrewed Adventures" and the chance to taste 11 good beers, some great, some not so great, but a few we've never tasted before. It was interesting to hear Charlie tell some tales and to hear his cohost Bob Tupper (Tuppers Hop Pocket) provide some good natured ribbing.

But without further ado, here are the beers we had:

1. Sierra Nevada - Fresh Harvest Ale
2. Dominion Brewing - Tuppers Hop Pocket Pils
3. Anchor Brewing - Our Special Ale 2005
4. Magic Hat - St.Gootz Hefeweisse Dunkle
5. Balladin - Nora
6. Wolaver's - Organic Oatmeal Stout
7. New Glarus - Raspberry Tart
8. Brooklyn Brewing Co - Black Chocolate Stout
9. Dogfish Head - 90 Minute Imperial IPA (Direct from Keg)
10. Dogfish Head - 90 Minute Imperial IPA (Randallized)
11. Stone Brewing Co - Old Guardian Barleywine

I actually wrote down a few notes about each beer's appearance, aroma, and taste, kind of like the wine lovers do. If I get a chance I'll throw some links up about the beers and provide my notes.

On a completely unrelated note, I just added some pics in the gallery. Just a quick shot of a nice clean Pista and then a few after pics from the recent CCT mini-epic. The bike got pretty muddy, but it's mostly from the dirt road type of stuff and not the actual singletrack. Check them out here.

DT
posted by DT at 2:51:00 PM
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Virgin Snow  
Well it came down on Monday...finally, our first snow for winter 2005. A few of us banded together at Wakefield to take part in the first snow ride and put down some virgin tracks. Conditions got a little sloppy and we ended up cutting the ride short, but damn it was nice to get out there and crunch up some snow. Winter snow riding has got to be one of my favorite aspects of mountain biking.

Riding in the snow is a workout, whether your going up, down, or just cruising the flats. Your not going to break any time barriers, but that's a good thing. You take the heart rate monitor, the cycle computer, and all the other stuff that might be weighing you down and you just ride. You straddle the line of being in control and becoming a human snow plow. It's hard work and takes a lot of concentration, but that focus is what really makes it fun.

With friends, without friends, it doesn't matter. The isolation of riding alone in the snow is an eerily beautiful thing and a nice stout at the end of the ride is the topping on the cake.

If you want pics, you'll have to surf on over to Steve's blog and check out the fun we had...

DT
posted by DT at 2:38:00 PM
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Few Links  
Any of you IT guys out there looking for a new position, probably would be underpaid, but hell, I think I'd take a fairly big cut to...work for Rivendell Bicycles. I'd have to brush up on my Mac skills though. Back when I did a lot more networking type of stuff a few years ago, I could do anything I needed on the Mac, then I went corporate and it's pretty much UNIX and Windows. Ah well, can't hurt to send a resume right?

Next up is FISSO, Italian for "fixed". FISSO was formerly known as Skidstrong, until the lawyers got hold of course. Seems like a pretty cool company from what I can tell and everything you buy through them puts a little money into the BMEF. Link swiped from fixedgear.

Well it's been a long Thursday and I'm looking forward to heading home and hanging out with Busterman!



DT
posted by DT at 4:21:00 PM
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