Don't Lose Wednesday

It was another abhorrent set of days off from a poor night shift recovery and day after day I missed ride after ride sitting like a fool in my housecoat mad at the world (thanks reddit.) It was my last chance today and although I felt groggy and super gross I knew I would regret it terribly so off I went. 

But just barely.

An old school start in the mighty Mill Creek for a paved ride until I realized "what the hell am I doing?" and took Blueman group up to Dirty Mattress and a slight dip into West Coast and Old Timers. I crossed the Walterdale and giggled at the millennials taking pictures for Instagram.

What is it with that bridge?

I powered out after crossing and the irony of seeing so many E-bikes and my strange loathing glances but did think of how nice it would be to have one for the return trip. I was spent. 

I think E bikes vastly outnumber regular bikes now. At least today it did. 

Work tomorrow. At least I didn't lose Wednesday's ride. 

seriously?

double seriously? 

Ditch the Housecoat, Ride the Rocky Mountain

A bike ride on a rarely seen bike on these here parts as the Rocky Mountain lived again for another day. You see kids, me and the Altitude have had a high school on again off again relationship for the least five years. it means well but keeps breaking. The bike still feels good tonight as I took some corners hard and the way the rear suspension pushed me through is kind of a sexy feeling. 

I think on here I said goodbye to this bike last year so some may be confused as you should be but this is Lonebiker damnit and it never really made sense now did it? 

Now shut the hell up and read. 

This ride had to happen. I have been stuck in my housecoat since Thursday afternoon. Moping around with that lower lip pout that I am sure now makes my entire family want to consider murder.  This has been a hard set of night recovery and it took every ounce of being to get me out the door but in the end I am quite glad I forced myself. 

Yes it is still smokey and probably unhealthy but this ride had to happen kids. Fort Saskatchewan was the destination as it is an aerobically easy place to ride a mountain bike. It was the last time parking at the boat launch as I headed towards Turner park immediately and was delighted to see the bridge construction (although still ongoing) was a non issue as the bridge was put back and the trail was officially open again. Weird cause the bridge crossing over the river is still not open, it had barricades and looked finished as I rode by. On the return route a group of teenagers were in the middle of the bridge just hanging out 'those crazy kids just jumped over a closed construction barricade' I thought to myself as I rode by. 

Teenagers are so cool.

The bike felt great, it is now ten years old which is nuts. An end to end rebuild from Kent happened with donated parts from various folks making me wonder if  I have become a charity project. Whatever I say and enjoyed the hell out of the bike tonight and appreciated everyones input and effort in getting this bike back to proper ride shape (especially Kent obviously.)

The bike ran great although (yes, insert sigh here) some skipping issues happened on the power climbs which made me not trust the bike too much. 

See? on again off again with the Rocky Mountain. The Moots is 100% awesome 24/7, as well as the new Octane One gravel bike (despite its crippling ways.) 

The ride was great besides the overwhelming fatigue. A close call with a kid would've ruined the day as his face was millimetres from my left handlebar on a blind corner meet. Those east side trails from the boat launch have become ridiculously busy these days, careful out there kids. 

what a stupidly busy cockpit, i mean come on now

ye old bridge is back, hooray ye old bridge, turner park parking or die next ride

Beer Friday, Delerium Brewery, Tremens

 

On this, the second most tired of days we are bringing you a beer review after another day of slothfulness which featured a planned bike ride with sir Kent which was cancelled enemy behalf as I feel somewhat akin to death. 

Oh yes I do seem to over exaggerate the condition of coming off night shift but after five years of doing this shit that I would either stop bitching about nightshift or find a way to work around the fatigue but nope I didn't and here we are. 

This blonde Belgian strong ale is a medical term for the rapid onset of confusion usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol. A bloody brilliant name for an 8.5% brute of a strong beer that is brewed in Belgium, Delerium brewing was formed in nineteen ninety two and resides in Melle, Belgium. 

Yes I had been putting this beer off as it sat downstairs for some time as I thought it was coconut flavoured beer because ion the white bottle.Yes that is right, I am a little bit slow.

So finally after months and months this one gets a pour, lets go. 

This light blonde looking beer gave a two fingered head that seemed to want to linger. This was a wheat smelling beer with traces of banana and for some reason oatmeal cookie. It had a bit of an odd taste at first but grew on me, this is a dangerous beer with a high alcohol content that you do not notice. Those clever Belgiums… I tell ya. 

To round it out? Be careful and just have one, this is a finely crafted beer from Europe. A fine offering of yeasts and slight traces of corn was there in a very drinkable hard beer. 

This beer gets 3.5 suds out of 5. 

Happy Monday

 

Bikes are Life

 After about 12 days of being immobile I came back to life in a big way on the season debut of the titanium wonder bike. I stayed off the new bike even though this is gravel bike weather as it is the culprit of excruciating back pain or could it be that my core is a pudgy doughy mess? Damn you beer Friday Damn you!

So core exercises have been started as well as Youtube yoga sessions locked alone in my room for nobody to dare see. 

The bike is fine, it just needs to be tweaked. Not to say I won't be scared of it. 

The Moots though..

Holy shit kids I love that bike. Like the gravel bike it just wants to go and feels so damn fine all over. For a little while a few years ago my fat bike was my favourite oddly enough. The Moots grew on me in a big way in the last five years and I can't see it ever put away for good. A new bigger wheeled modern titanium frame would be a nice addition though. I was so close in 2021 but never pulled the trigger. 

The ride was from the Science park to Rogers Place to spread good luck somehow Lonebiker style to the Oilers as they have a big playoff game later. A visit to the Wayne Gretzky statue was had and we locked eyes for a good solid three seconds. It was an awe inspiring moment.

The route was Kents entrance to the lrt bike lanes to downtown past the vast expanses of homeless camps. I had to ride through one to cross 97 street and after a few hundred homeless in the streets I found Rogers Place. I type that and it sounds bad, there were lots out but I never felt threatened. 

To get back I crossed the mighty Tawatinâ and crossed back thinking my route back would be a lot easier on the north side with a lot less climbing and I was overdoing it on ride length considering I was told to take it easy. In the end we are 100 percent. 

Beer Friday. Wild Winds Brewing, Wind Warning NEIPA

From Beer Friday to Beer Friday we go…

 I had mentioned bad back pain on the last beer review and things had gotten a lot worse since and at times I had almost become immobile. Yes it is pretty fucked up and I feel like a real schmuck. I had blamed the new bike and now a doctor and two chiropractors confirmed it was that evil Polish black bike. 

Well fuck me, I had a feeling it might be evil.

In all seriousness the setup of the bike needs to be tweaked a bit but the more important issue is the lack of fitness on my side *types while hanging head in shame. My core is pretty shitty and I have to build that shit up if I want to keep riding bikes. Fingers are crossed on a Tuesday or Wednesday ride after Doctor approval, you know… for work. 

Wild Winds Brewing is located in Pincher Creek, Alberta where it is quite windy from what I heard and it was the reason why I picked up this beer. It's windy in Alberta right now combined with very hot and dry weather which means that my province is currently on fire. 

Bummer. 

We are fine here at LB headquarters bur could see the smoke form various fires around. It's quite something kids, I gotta tell ya. Naturally social media is melting down over here as people have become divided and are fighting as the fires have become politicalized. 

Fuck me, people are stupid. 

So yes, Wild Winds in Pincher Creek gets an 8 out of 10 on their website and there is no sign of a brewpub. I think this New England India Pale Ale is one of their main beers or it was the first one to come up on their beer page. Reading about this beer online makes me excited and I think it's time to pour. 

Lonebiker Beer Review team! Assemble!

The pour was had and it was kind of hard to get a head on this but our boy succeeded and we were left with a dirty golden coloured look. A one fingered head stood on top for a bit but dropped down to some lacing on the top and sides as the beer went down which is so sexy. Rawr.

Sorry, I am staring at the Moots right now. The beer looks real good as well. 

It has a nice citrus tone to it. From smelling and even tasting it is there. This is a very great tasting beer, mango and dark berries and it was quite hazy. Whatever the hell that means… Hold on, let me Google. The answer was quite boring meaning I am stupid and do not understand it so lets get back to the review. 

A definite winner. Those Pincher Creek folks knew what they were doing when they made this one. This is a mouth orgasm beer that leaves you wanting more. 

This beer gets 4.5 suds out of 5. 

Beer Friday. Troubled Monk Brewing, Daycation Lager

 Well we are here and back with a new Loneibker beer review on a Tuesday that was supposed to have a super long ride posted today as well as a ride yesterday and possibly one more tomorrow on the fancy new gravel bike but things went downhill over here pretty fast since the last ride on Saturday with some over the top back pain resulting in barely being able to make it up the stairs. 

Officially the longest sentence in Lonebiker history. Ah yes, fun.

All signs point to the new bike as after previous rides I was quite sore but eventually things went away. Saturday evening was a killer for me it seems and by Monday I was completely out of commission. 

So for now there will be very little happening in the way of rides unfortunately.It is really quite frustrating as I had some pretty big plans with the new ride which would have improved this here blog, well at least I thought it would… 

Troubled Monk has been on here previously a couple of times in the past and come here with their Daycation Lager. This brewery is close to here from Red Deer which saddens me a little bit as I was looking into gravel rides in that area. 

sigh..

Well let's pour! So we did and a beautiful golden beer found its way into my tester glass and for a while things were not so bleak. The one fingered head looked at me straight in the eyes and said 'cheer up kid, things won't be so bad.' 

And you know what? For that moment he was right. 

This one was real nice and refreshing for what I call a 'regular' beer. Yes don't throw stuff but lagers are the most prominent beers in the area or at least they have all been Bud, Kokanee, Molson, PBR… Craft beers have definitely infiltrated the market with tons of varieties and all I gotta say is thank you beer Jesus. 

A well balanced beer with a nice scent of.. well I really don't know what. Let me take another smell, hold on. I'll say to smells like a lager should. 

Oh man we are gonna get mail, Im an amateur beer reviewer people! 

Like I said this one is nice with very good mouthfeel and is much better than Bud and Molsons as there is no skunky taste which is what you get with them. 

This beer gets 4 suds out of 5.