Last night was another quick ride on the Minutemand Bikepath. There’s a Wort homebrew club meeting this Sunday and I wanted to make sure I knew how to get there and back using the path. Even though if you’re going to get lost, having two panniers full of beer is a heck of a time to do it, the plan was to preride the trip to know where I was going. It was another beautiful evening, warm temperatures with a nice cool breeze and no bugs. Took me a little under 40 minutes to reach my destination and felt good to stretch the legs.
Minuteman Bikeway
On the way back I took it easy and added in some bonus singletrack that eventually brings you back to the path. This is one of the reasons I mounted the fat tires on Aretha. On the path, it’s definitely more work pedaling a 1.85 tire instead of some tiny 23c, but it’s all worth it when you find that sweet hidden gem.
Side note - also learned that Paul Revere evidently road a bicycle and not a horse…
Been a while since I’ve been in here - you should see the level of spam! Hmm, lot’s I could write about, but not much of it really matters. There was no SSWC08 after actually getting through registration and everything. There was a lot of reasons for missing it, but I’ll lump all the reasons together under low finances. Kristin and I were really looking forward to throwing down with all our friends, but it just wasn’t meant to be this time. Thankfully our little rough patch seems to be passing and we can’t wait to start catching up on some trips we’ve been promising - DC, Ocean City, Philly - you know who you are! You all are always welcome up here, we got spare bed space, beer on tap, and miles and miles of trails outside the door…
So what’s been going on? My parents made the trip to Bedford a couple of times. The last time they brought my grandparents to see our house for the first time. They spent a full week and it was nice to have some visitors. We sat on the back porch, listening to them tell stories of growing up in a very different time. Getting your history from somebody who lived through it is an amazing experience. I only wish I was a better writer, because the book that could be written on my grandparents would not soon be forgotten.
Let’s see, spent my 31st birthday up in Maine. We stopped by Portsmouth Brewing on the way up and Kristin let me get one of their growlers of IPA as a present. Pretty good IPA, even better growler…
Growler, photo by Kristin
Work has been good. It’s slowed down quite a bit recently, which means I’m working a more normal schedule. Still locked away in a lab, away from internet, email, phone, etc., but at least when the day is done I can head out and it’s still daylight outside. I’ve been using ESRI’s ArcGIS more lately and I gotta say, it pretty much sucks ass. For those who don’t know what ArcGIS is, it’s basically a very large GIS (Geographical Information System) software set. Most of the stuff we use it for is highly CPU intensive, so we have pretty beefy computers. Here’s the rub, all the computer power we can buy and all the software does is slow down! It can’t take advantage of a 64 bit machine and it can’t can’t take advantage of multi-core technology (this is a killer, because it means a single processor machine is actually quicker)…talk about lame! Oh, but wait, ESRI is on it…should be ready sometime in 2010…nice, jerks.
Anyway, I’ve also been doing some riding, not as much as I’d like, but a lot of the rides have been excellent. A few mini-epics here and there and I’ve been riding the Minuteman path and it’s BCT dirt extension more and more lately just to put in the miles. From the house to the end of the bikepath and back is right at 20 miles.
There was an awesome ride that I kind of pushed my way into, the BADASS, only to have it all go horribly wrong. You know it’s going to be a good time when you’re the first one to drop out before you reach the PR, which is like 3 miles into the ride, ha. It was mostly because I had jammed my thumb a day earlier and it was really difficult to grip the bar (boohoo, I know). On top of that my rear wheel was tweaked before the ride, so I put on a different wheel (with different tube/tire combo). First set of rocks I got a slow flat that didn’t rear it’s head until reaching the first road climb. I dropped out right after talking to one of the guys and telling him people shouldn’t wait for me (I noticed my rear flat as he was making the turn ahead of me). Got home, pulled the wheel, trued the original rear wheel, threw on a new chain from deep in the parts box, even found a set of rotors that were in better condition than the ones I was using, so I switched those out. Now the bike is running well, but a few weeks later and I still have a bum thumb…something must be cracked/broken. At least the road/path riding is now tolerable. It just sucks though, I was really looking forward to the long ride and if I was them I probably wouldn’t be too quick to invite me back. Oh well, just gotta ride hard and get stronger, so if there is a next time, it’s not such a disgrace. The first time I rode with of them I ended up cracking my collarbone, the second time was in some crazy snow and I was just sucking wind, then this for the third time!
Finally decided to pull the OMM rack off the commuter and put it on Aretha and now it’s all ready to go for some S24O action. Plenty of loverly spots for it out here. Ride, ride, ride…pull off, camp, crack a semi-cold beverage, wake up and head back home - hopefully using a different route. Should be a good Fall activity, considering temperatures are dropping and leaves are already changing.
One fun thing Kristin and I did manage to do this summer was get down to NYC to see 2 Skinnee J’s live. We took a new Skinnees fan, Notte (Kristin’s friend from Syracuse who now lives in the Boston area) and our beautiful as ever hostess, Kim. It wasn’t the best show I’ve ever seen the Skinnees play - that honor belongs to the time they came out in spaceman outfits, lots of smoke, and playing Irresistable Force, not to mention they were touring with Fishbone! It was still a great show, especially considering they haven’t played live in something like 5 years and this was only a one week tour. Lot’s of crowd participation and one of my favorite parts of the night were when they released 500 or so bouncy balls with glow sticks in the middle. Talk about pure chaos! Check out the video taken from the other side of the room…
Oh, and the opening band was Tragedy - a metal tribute to the BeeGees…talk about some funny shit!
I guess there has been a lot going on, considering I didn’t talk about going to Maine, hanging out with Mike & Cindy, brewing up some beer, or even the 3rd anniversary of being married to my incredible wife Kristin…at least that gives me a few fun things to write up now that I’m back and trying to dig through the memory banks. More to come!
Wow, almost 2 months have gone by since the last post, insane. Time to add some air in the tires of this dusty thing. As I’ve said before, most of the time I post is due to getting a moment at work where I can jump online. That becomes much harder to do when you’re stuck in a windowless secure lab for 8 hours a day. Once I’m out of work I end up doing other things than looking at a computer, so I’m behind on posting, behind on reading my newsreader, but not behind on mountain biking through sunsets, brewing kick ass beer, and most certainly not behind in snowboarding into the wee hours of the morning. We’re still living life up here in beautiful New England and while it’s still cold, you can smell Spring all around.
Did my first group mountain bike ride, um, probably more than a month ago now. 5 of us took to the PR to do our part in breaking in the trail after a fresh snow. Good group of guys and girls and I had a lot of fun. Hope to do some more rides with them, especially as we warm up here. I also got in a TNS, while it was on a Monday and it was a solo effort, I’ll still call it a TNS for now. Basically rode out to the bike path and over to the dirt BCT extension and out to Concord. Made it out to Main Streets Cafe, where I had a Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale before hopping back on the bike and riding home. The ride was good and the classic American Brown ale was the topping on the cake.
One of my recent night rides with Hog turned out to be an eye opening experience. My lights for biking are old. How old? Old enough that the batteries no longer hold a charge longer than an hour and if the moon is bright I wonder if my lights are actually on or not. So on this night, I just didn’t bring my lights figuring we would ride until dark and then I would get myself out to the road and slum it home. Hog had other ideas and whipped out a NiteRider Minewt X2. This thing is small and bright! An LED light that also comes in around $160 street price and lasts for up to 7 hours…yea, thats a long time, ha. So when it comes time to replace my aging (dying) lights, the Minewt is definitely on the short list.
As most of you know, it’s been a pretty cold and snowy winter. One night Mike and I were taking advantage of a current snowstorm and using our season passes at the mountain and go figure, the mountain has one night a year where they are open for a full 24 hours and that was the night. We stayed out on the snow until about 2:30 AM, riding some uber soft smooth closed trails. Best snowboarding night…ever.
Oh and the beer! I’ve been having some issues with my mash tun lately, so Mike and built a new one out of a 52qt cooler. Figured if we were going to go all out, we should go big time. Just for anyone wondering, a 52qt cooler can hold 33 pounds of grain and around 12 gallons of water…and it’s f’n heavy! We brewed up two IPAs from the one giant mash and seperate smaller mash was used to do up a Belgian Dubbel. 3 batches in a day, not too shabby.
But the biggest announcement on the blog, has to be this:
The Boston Globe just ran a really good article on Sheldon Brown, including a really nice photo of his family. Check it out here. More importantly though, they gave this bit of information:
A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. March 2, at the First Unitarian Society in Newton, in West Newton.
Might be an excellent time for a memorial ride to show support for Harriet, George, and Tova…
Looks like the news is starting to circulate, Sheldon Brown has passed away from a massive heart attack. Whether you prefer dirt to road or Sunday strolls to races, you’ve probably at one time or will in the future use information provided Sheldon. He was a champion of all that was cycling. Our thoughts go out to his family, may he rest in peace.
One of the many generous gifts my brother and sister-in-law gave me over Christmas was a set of Cabela’s MTP Compression Skinz™ Polar-Weight Mock-T and Bottoms. It’s basically Cabela’s store branded version of UnderArmour. The last few weeks have been excellent for testing cold weather gear, hitting -15º on one particularly cold and windy day.
First up is the Mock-T. It’s black, so of course I look dead sexy in that sausage still in it’s casing kind of way. It’s tight, yet it doesn’t shorten up on you while you’re riding, avoiding the dreaded chilly air draft up the back. Tuck it in your pants or leave it out, it does a good job of staying put. The added neck portion at the top seems to be good for keeping a little extra warmth in, but not tall enough to be annoying if you forgot to shave that morning.
Next up are the bottoms, also in dead sexy black. Like the top, they are good at protecting against the cold air, only this time it’s the dreaded crusty ice crack… The bottoms are tight, but loose enough in all the right places. Most importantly, like a set of long johns, you can whiz without having to pull them down, big bonus, especially when riding in the woods. The only problem I have so far with the bottoms are the ankle cuffs being really tight, so it takes a little extra umph to get them on/off, but that might just be due to my fat metal cankles.
Couple of things both the top and bottoms that has impressed me so far:
X-Static Technology - oh yea! My biggest complaint about using normal long johns is the static. Maybe it’s just me, but I can practically light up a room with the static I generate just putting clothes on and taking them off. Not only do these things keep from generating static, they actually seem to absorb the static generated by my other layers.
Again, X-Static Technology, only this time I’m talking about the silver coated textile that they weave into the fabric. It’s main purpose is anti-odor and I’ll be damned, it works great. It’s been a month and I’m just getting around to washing them and not because they smelled, because they were just dirty from riding in the slushy, salty, wet road grime.
So there you have it. If you’re looking for some base layer action, this top/bottom set gets a winter thumbs up.
Picked up my new DaKine hydration pack (Black Camo) that I got online from REI-Outlet and had them just ship it to the local REI shop for free shipping, cause I’m cheap like that.
Looks like REI raised the price of the pack since I bought it, from just under $30 to almost $45! Must have been a small rush of people to buy this thing. I know I told some people, who told some people, which resulted in a few buys…right Arleigh. Anyway, just picked up the bag last night and it’s pretty spiffy. I’ve owned one, count it one hydration pack in all of my biking days. It’s a circa 2001, 100 oz. Camelbak MULE. It’s seen it’s fair share of ground crushing wrecks, tree scrapes, and rock rubbing, and it’s lasted a good 7 years. At this point the zippers are broken, holes in the fabric are getting to the point I might actually lose things, and I have to date never cleaned the water holder… Yes, it was time for a new pack. So when I saw the DaKine Drafter (2006 model) for uber cheap, it looked like a good solution.
A few of my requirements:
Can hold at least 70 oz. of water (I didn’t fill the 100 oz. full very often)
An outer mesh pocket (so the GPS can get a good signal, while bing protected)
Compressions straps (handy not only for compressing, but holding things on the back)
An airflow system to ward off SBS (Sweaty Back Syndrome)
This pack met all those requirements and upon further inspection, it has a lot of extra things I didn’t think about that will come in handy. Instead of having one large deep pocket to throw things in (like the MULE), it has a long deep pocket with a few small mesh pockets inside to sort gear, which is a godsend when you need something fast. I think a couple of these pockets could also be used for holding 12 oz. bottles securely inside the pack, if you know what I mean. One pocket has a key holder clip, which is also a nice touch.
There’s also a pocket on the outside that is lined with fleece, specifically for sunglasses. The fleece gives you a good way to clean off the glasses if you have the need and at the same time keeps them from getting scratched up while being stored and tossed around. Another outside touch is a removable piece that expands the back of the bag to hold a regular XC or full face helmet. They’ve included a little zip pouch at the bottom just to store this extra piece of bag, so you always know where it is.
The hydration part of this pack is pretty slick too. I believe DaKine uses Nalgene water bags and Nalgene has put in some thought into their hydration design features that will make this pack even more useful. The water in port at the top is covered by a huge screw on lid, so it’s easy to screw on/off and easy to fill with the large hole access. The water tube itself has a quick release, so it can be cleaned by itself or the bag can be stored full without the hose attached. To get water out, there is a bite valve with a lock that looks a lot more secure than my old MULE, which had a simple slit in the end and tended to drip on you when not in use.
All this adds up to what I hope will be a great hydration pack for at least the next 7 years…hoping to push 10 out of this one. Once I’ve taken it out for some good rolling fun, I’ll report back to see if the features are actually useful or all just a show.
Looks like they boys back home made it out to Dremos before closing time. Steve did a nice write-up on his blog. He gives a little history of the taphouse and links back to some older TNS blog posts, which were pretty funny to go back and reread.
Sounds like everyone had a good time, no road rash, no punches, and no car dodging. Seems like they ended a little early, quiting around 10:00 PM, but then again, those 2:00 AM nights made Wednesday work pretty hard. I think Gary may have had to call in sick before, ha.
Anyway, here’s to you TNS Crew! Cheers, hope you keep it up, since we know the TNS spawned from the Winter blues and the need to put in some long cold miles with a burning reward in the middle…
I spent Tuesday preparing for my own future TNNS rides…Tuesday Night Northern Swill. I picked up a new hydration pack (non-riding review to come shortly) and also swapped my CO2 tank for a filled one. Less than $12 a fill is sweet! In homebrewing, just like bikes, there’s always an upgrade…and I’m eying that 20 pound CO2 tank, ha. One day…
So get outside, get active, and reward yourself. Your body and mind will thank you.
Tonight, the boys are taking to the cold streets of DC (yes, 20 is chilly in that neck of the woods) for another TNS ride. I’m jealous, super jealous. For those readers who might be from up north, the TNS rides are Tuesday Night Swill rides. It’s your basic ride - you bike a lot, stop, drink, eat, drink more, ride your bike more, get more to drink, and then ride back home. Sometimes theres more drinking involved, ha. It’s always a blast, good people, good conversation, good arguments, and somebody always throwing down the gauntlet, whether it’s by ordering another pitcher at the end of the night when nobody needs it or picking that hill to ride that crushes your soul a third of the way to the top.
They’ll be heading out tonight and hopefully they’ll be drinking one for me, sounds like Butch is already on it, ha. They should be hitting Dremo’s at some point during the night, since it will be shutdown as of the end of this month. Try to get a pitcher of Chocolate Donut or Anderson Valley Winter Solstice (I think they used less vanilla this year).
I miss our rides into the city to visit Thor at Paradiso. From what I understand, our bike parking tree is no longer there and Thor has been replaced by Greg.
photo by Spearman
Yet they continue to ride…and drink…and ride…the vicious cycle it is.
photo by Gary
So keep it up you all. I hope to bring the TNS to the northerners here soon. The bikes are ready and the liver is willing. Although I might have to trade out the bikes for some skis or snowshoes here for the next couple of months and pack along the goods. Here’s to you all, may your bikes be swift and your beer be tasty…oh and make sure you do DT’s Hill at least twice - even better if somebody throws up doing hill sprints!
So we’ve had a couple of big storms here in the last month or two. After today though, I can certainly say I’ve been through a Nor’Easter and survived. The weather forecast for today said 10-15″ of the white stuff. Out to shovel this morning and we had about 7 inches or so already and it’s supposed to keep on snowing clear through the next rush hour. A nice powdery 4 inches on top of a wet and heavy bottom layer. Sure makes shoveling a good workout.
Last Friday I ended up getting a bum foot somehow. The muscle on top of the foot just below the ankle area is really swollen and red and the tendons or ligaments or whatever the cables are that run down through the middle of your ankle and into your foot are tender to the touch. Tender meaning it hurts like F when you simply touch it. So I got a bit of a limp and I look a little gimpy, but other than that I’m hoping it will fade away fast. Hoping it was just from doing a lot of walking in my trainers (British enough for you Fletcher!) that are pretty old and used up.
Mounted up Aretha this morning and made a beeline for work. Only a few cars out there, which was nice. With some heavy snow still coming down I got to work with that nice covered in white look, but luckily I remembered the sun glasses to keep it out of my eyes and the scarf was a nice touch. Too bad that after I got to work I found out that both of the labs I needed to do some work in were off-line and closed until further notice. Right….nobody could send an email about that before this morning?
Hm, if I can figure out how to duct tape the camera to my head, maybe I’ll get some commuting video, ha.
Kristin’s parents made it into town this weekend. We had planned on heading over to Walden Pond and checking it out, since neither of us has been there yet. Instead we ended up playing Wii most of the day. It would have been nice to get outside, but it’s really hard to pull people away from the Wii the first time they end up playing. Bet they were sore yesterday!
I did manage to get two starters going. A smackpack of Wyeast 3787 Trappist ale yeast I had smacked a few days ago was now nice and swollen, figured I should step it up a little more, so it’s in the flask and showing signs of fermentation this morning. Hopefully I can quadruple the yeast by the end of the week. Also made a starter of Brettanomyces Bruxellensis. This is supposed to be a more mellow strain of Brett and it’s supposedly what is used in Orval. Hoping to do some experimenting as I also have a tube of Brettanomyces Lambicus, which is supposed to be much more funky. As the name says, this is the strain most often found in Lambic beers and is much more intense. I think it will be interesting to try and make two of the same beers and only change up the Brett strain that I use. Guess I’ll see if Brett can be stepped up in a starter like a regular packet of yeast…hope so!
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