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.

RtD Recap, Bad Beer, and Old Fat Slow

The Ride the Divide film event at the Paramount was a hit. Supposedly about 235 tickets were sold, so Charlottesville Community Bikes made some money! Waiting on the total $. The film itself was a bit of a downer. It really exposed the true limits of human strength and psyche in a 2700 mile back country mountain bike race. I'm glad I saw it, but mainly because now I know not to recommend it or ever watch it again.

Chris invited me to ride with the Old, Fat & Slow Mountain Bike Club (OFSMBC) today. You must be at least one of those things (Old, Fat, or Slow) to ride with that crew. I'm slow. 9:30am today, Biscuit Run. I'll bring Rachel's camera. Last night I worked on my Scott Paisley mountain bike for the ride today. It's a 26" rigid, fillet brazed, early Hope mechanical floating caliper disc brakes, set up right now as a 1x7 with a Dave's Crud Buster:

Scott Paisley mountain bike, rigid (minus seatpost) 26"

DCD - Dave's Crud Buster

Hope mechanical floating caliper disc brake.

I'm excited about my Hope brakes a bit more as of yesterday morning. I've had the hardest time finding good info on them, and came across a current retrobike thread about them.

Now, time for less talkie talkie, more ridie ridie.