Gingerly

Work hard. Play harder.

My Ginger Minger & Scott Paisley MTB just before a clean & lube.

I worked hard this weekend. Friday was the biggest retail day of the year. I sold a bunch of bikes, got folks accessorized, and thoroughly worked my ass off. Following busy working days like these, I usually just rest on my next day off. But not today.

Today, I played. I took the Scott Paisley mountain bike out to the woods near my place. She rode beautifully. It was my first time riding the trails out there. It was fast & fun. I rode for and hour and a half and explored all the different loops on my own. I can't believe I hadn't done this sooner.

I had forgotten how important play is to me. I'd been wasting my days off, just napping & watching the boob tube. Then, I got hooked up fishing. I found a friend that makes jigs and has taught me quite a bit about fishing in the creeks and lakes around here. I caught the fishin' bug from him, and have been fishing several times a month on my own. I caught three bass two weeks ago, just a 5 minute walk into the woods from my place.

The woods are my new sanctuary. On my days off I can take my dog out there for a walk, grab a fishing pole and pull up some perch, or sling my bike down and tear up the trails.

I feel really good again. It's a high of 75F today, unseasonably warm for this time of year here in Dallas. After riding today, I came back, cracked my latest homebrew, cleaned my bike, and cranked the online stream of WTJU on TuneIn. The folks at WTJU always remember to give me a shoutout.

Oh - my latest homebrew. I was quite disappointed with it... until this week. I call it Ginger Minger. It's a basic pale ale recipe I took and played with a bit. I added a bunch of shredded ginger and fresh mint for the last 15 minutes of the wort boil. It was intended to be a late autumn beer... and it's perfect for that. Perfect for today. Play is rewarding.

Beer & Ride Report

So my first homebrew batch ever is... a little over carbonated, but drinkable! It's sweet & malty, even for a Bock. I didn't reach my target final gravity, so the ABV is about 5.1% instead of the 6.2% that the recipe should have reached. The over-carbonation may be due to the fact I had extra fermentable sugars in each bottle from an incomplete primary & secondary fermentation. However, the over-carbonation definitely cuts the sweetness and allows the beer to be more palatable. Overall, I'm very excited that I'll be able to celebrate great recent events with my family over my first homebrewed beer.

The Old, Fat & Slow ride today at Walnut Creek was also great, although I did have a mechanical in the last mile:

A RockShox suspension seatpost cam failed

The bold pulled the threads right out of the cylinder cam.

So, I rode my Scott Paisley MTB the rest of the way without my seatpost.

'Twas most fun.

Paranormal Activities

BRAINS

This Saturday is the 2010 CRC Paranormal mountain bike race in Earlysville, VA. It's always a great 6 hour endurance race with beer, costumes, beer, camping, beer, and best of all - it starts at 4pm and is dark after 3 laps. I've done this race for the past three years, twice with Charlottesville Community Bikes in the shop category, and once solo. I'm not really that great of a mountain biker, so I've never made it more than three laps personally. Also, it doesn't help that I don't have a great light set for riding single track in the dark.

If you wear a costume to the race you are awarded a 2 minute head start. Last year was the first year that I went solo and decided to go all out on my costume. Swine flu:

Turn your head and cough.

I even wore a curly tail.

Charles wielding a sharp weapon as usual. Will as a Donnie Darko skeleton.

In 2009 I raced on my 26" rigid Scott Paisley mtb (to be salivated over on a later post). But this year I'll be converting my rigid mountain bike commuter into something viable. It has a 3 speed Sachs Torpedo internal hub in the back, two rings on the front, and a front generator hub to power a headlight. To convert my commuter I'm swapping out my slick tires and spring saddle to knobby tires and a racing saddle, adding another water bottle cage, and removing the rear rack, light, and fenders. This bike, too, is a rigid 26":

So tonight I'll be re-suiting my commuter for the race and rebuilding a rear mtb wheel for Chris. He has had the worst luck with spokes breaking, so I've convinced him to go with double-butted Wheelsmith spokes. They should be fun to build with.

If anybody in the Charlottesville is looking for a teammate that can drink better than he can bike, drop me a line and we can ride some beers together at the Paranormal.