A New Year's Realization for Bikes & Beer

Please read this post: Something has been weighing heavily on my mind for the past several weeks and as we've entered a new year. The more bicycle grease that I wipe on my shirt and the more my breath smells like hops, the more I realize that there is something askew with bicycle and beer geeks. This thing that's askew... it's something that's always been there, but I've begun to notice its prevalence with the more blogs I'm following, the more beer documentaries I watch, and the more I bust my ass to ride to and from work in this winter's cold & snow.

I fear that as bike and beer enthusiasts, we often forget the simple happiness that first sparked our geekeries. We're sometimes so caught up calculating gear ratios and measuring IBUs that we completely miss the simple and unifying pleasures of bicycles and of beer. These two things exist as the pinnacle of the good lives to which many of us are privileged. Please, let me explain:

I have a co-worker who often commutes via bike about 3.5 miles each way. The other day he mentioned that riding his bike to work is a "means to an end" - namely, just getting to work. And while I can appreciate the idea that a bicycle is great transportation tool, I wholeheartedly reject that over-simplification of its place in life. I believe that riding a bicycle is the greatest manifestation of a simple, yet profound, happiness. We forget that riding a bike is, in itself, a great source of joy. For those bike-commuters out there, we must see our jobs as a means to an end - namely, having the personal wealth and a somewhat legitimate reason to ride a bicycle across town every day. Even if we have to fight every car and granny-gear up every hill (with a headwind the whole way), it's always an adventure truly worthy living.

And to you beer geeks out there, don't forget to get drunk. Yes, there I said it. Sure, talk about flavor profile all you want, but don't forget that beer is brewed to create alcohol, you know... that stuff that gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, loosens you up in social situations, and makes you laugh a bit louder! We know there is good beer and bad beer out there, but that doesn't mean we need to be snobs and obsessive over it. Drink up and enjoy the simple pleasure of sharing the inherent merriment of beer with friends and family.

There's a quote that may have come across, that, with a little personal revision, sums up my little rant.

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure(s) of a bike ride (and drinking beer).

~John F. Kennedy & Thomas