Bellevegas Turkey Day

We made the trip to what is home for me, Belleville, Il. I spent a good portion of my childhood their and my Dad retired from the Air Force their, so home it is. We stayed the night in Nashville with our good friends, Mike and Jeanie (Thanks Jeanie). Thanksgiving is quite a gathering for my family with new additions almost every year. We ate too much and opened gifts (we do x-mas gifts at T-givings with my family).
One of the great things about my family is our love of good beer. We killed a 1/6 keg of Amber Boch and had to get another on Friday.
The store didn't have anymore AB, so we went with Breckenridge Avalanche Ale, Good choice.

Friday was spent with family. The adults enjoyed dinner at Favazza's on the Hill in St. Louis. This restaraunt is a must if you ever visit the STL.

On Saturday, we visited Schlafly's Bottleworks. I've been to the taproom on my previous visits and enjoyed it, immensely. So I was interested to see the creation of beer. The bottleworks has the brewery, a bar, a restaurant and a nice gift shop. We enjoyed a beer before the tour. I had the Coffee Stout, which is awesome. Mix two of my favorite things, coffee and beer and you have a winner. The tour was short, but informative. The best part is of course the tasting at the end of the tour. The Christmas Ale stood out to my palette, you could smell nutmeg or cinnamon while drinking the brew. It reminded me of wasel without the sweet taste. Bison nachos for lunch, another Christmas Ale and a visit to the gift shop and our trip was complete.

Left early Sunday to get back in time to pick up the da mutts. Always great to see the family and hang out with the nieces and nephews. No riding, but got in a couple long runs to somewhat negate the excessive intake of food and beer.

Pre carnage


Dead Soldier

Some pics of the tour
Coffee StoutHot Liquor?
Beer...
Bottlin
Cue theme song from Lavergne and Shirley
Incomplete bottles. We asked "what do you do with those?" response "drink 'em"
Taste test

Week 2

Last week was week 2 of a prebuilt training plan I am attempting to complete. I have never done any structured training, so with a gift (thanks Grant) I'm giving it a shot. The week went "ok". On Thursday I flatted in the middle of a tempo road ride, I then preceded to flat the spare. I road the rim 7 miles home. It was a PITA, but I got through it with no real damage. Saturday was supposed to be a fastish 2 hour ride on the mountain bike. With limited time, Becky and I hit Chicopee. Becky took off before I was ready to go and that gives me a bunny to chase. We eventually met up an hour and half later (she didn't go the agreed upon route). Good ride.

Evening was spent X-mas shopping for the nieces and nephews. Great dinner at Ted's. Hhmmm... buffalo meatloaf

Sunday came and a 3 hour base ride was on order. Becky was not up for 3 hours or the weather. I decided to try the Kelly Bridge loop, which starts in pature land of Forsyth and meanders into the foothills of Dawson county, then into Cherokee county, back into Forsyth. I wish I had taken the camera. List of interesting things that I would have taken a picture of:
-A pack of dogs sleeping in an open field
-A yard that had dogs in pens, but chickens roaming freely through the yard
-What I think was the bones of a cow carcass
-Heading down Yellow Creeks Rd. and theres a rooster hanging out on the side of the road, no house in sight. What's up cock?
- Nice views of Springer Mountain (I think) from Kelly Bridge Rd

Ended with 50 miles in 3:10

map and profile

riding like the devil

While bathing my trusty Niner following the 12 hours of Conyers race, I noticed a little something on the seat tube. Can't be, this is steel and we all know "steel is real". Sure enough, upon further review, I had a new frame coming my way. Hard to see in the pics, but the crack starts in the seat tube and extends through the weld and into the top tube.



I called Cody at Addictive and the bike swap was set in motion. I was without a mountain steed for a bit, so the shop lent me their Vassago Jabber demo. Xtank Lady and I visited our good friends in Nashvegas that weekend and Jabber seemed to ride nice. Upon our return to GA, I spoke with Cody again and he offered me his 3 month old Jabber at a price to good to pass up. It is time for me to go chromoly anyway. I was down a bike for the Hodge ride, but I made the unused commuter mountain ready and enjoyed it on the trail.



Yesterday, Becky and I needed a long ride. Too windy for the road, we decided to hit Chicopee for 3 hours of fun. I was trying to keep the HR in check, so I set my new Jabber up 32 x 21. It worked. Becky set the pace and we enjoyed a chilly day in the saddle.




The mutts got a long walk in on our local trail.

Ride for Hodge

Saturday was the Scott Hodge benefit ride at Ft. Yargo. The ride was organized as to help raise some money to offset the cost of Scott's medical bills after his unfortunate bike wreck. Becky and I picked up my brother, Dave, on the way. There were alot of cars there when we arrived so we found a spot in the overflow area and got suited up. I am currently in between bikes since I broke the Niner and have yet to purchase the very affordable Vassago from Cody. I set my commuter up for the trails and with a little help from Ryan from Addictive, I got the brakes dialed in.
We checked in on Hodge, he was rockin a cane, but otherwise seemed good.He now has a more comfortable neck brace and has been of painkillers for 10 days now. After some conversation, Hodge gave us the "go ride" so off we went. Dave is still new to mountain biking, but he picked up the handling skills quickly, he just needs some fitness. We picked up a lone rider on the trail, who had not been there before and Becky and her took off. I rode with Dave. Before we split I tried the horshoe drop after an audience had gathered. My rear tire slipped on the way up and I fell backwards into the gulley. No real injuries, just some scrapes and a little embaressment. The weather was great and the trail was perfect after the previous nights rain. Dave and I enjoyed the ride. It was his longest ride, yet.
We then joined the festivities. Food was great and we met some new folks. It was great turnout, for a great guy. Had to leave early and I forgot my camera, but here's one from the Sorba board.

The begining

This is the begining of my ramblings. I tend not to follow through on things like blogging, dieting and training. So you will probably see sporadic posts with meaningless drivel. The theme is mountain bikes and my life with them, on them and obsessing about them. I tend to consume beer on a regular basis and they may get a nod as well. I am married with two dogs and a mortgage. I used to live to work, now I work to ride and hang out with good people. Maybe one day they can cohabitate.
Enough with the ramblings, here goes the blog.