Beer Friday. Ribstone Creek Brewery, 2018 Cold Lake Air Show

Beer Friday is back and complete with a remote beer testing all the way from Cold Lake, Alberta! Hells yea kids! A day spent at the airshow with a fine lad and his fine lady at my first experience at 4 Wing to watch an airshow. I've been to this base countless times, nerding out on the jets but have never made it on the tarmac until today. If you like the airshows get to one at an actual airbase. They tend to be the best although the grumpiness in me did find its mark as it seems the safety factors keep the planes farther away, plus the speakers and non stop speaking announcer put a bit of a damper on things. Still it is awesome to see and this being the biggest airbase Canada has to offer there are plenty of jets on hand.

Ribstone brewery in Edgerton, Alberta had the honour of supplying the base with beers geared towards the airshow. I tried to get one to take home but as you can expect the question was met with looks of absolute stupidity towards myself. Yes, I asked them if I can have an unopened one to take home... You know, carry it through the airbase and all.

Whatever, I don't care, it was worth a try.

The beer they had supplied I can strongly assume is their Ribstone Creek Lager. Although not 100% sure, it just makes sense.

No pour was had as this was done in the beer gardens. Right from the can and into the mouth and it delivered a great tasting lager full of earthy hops. Nothing much of else to  note on the taste rather than it was much better than the big name beer lagers cause it had more personality. The taste suited the warm atmosphere of sitting in the sun watching jets fly by and enjoying a nice beer. It's obvious that this one was written with a strong bias so we will have to find their lager again and review it fairly.

This beer gets 4 jets out of 5.

Confused Wandering

Back from another long trip and a trip from Mill Creek to downtown Edmonton where I seemed to ride with no purpose focing me back and forth and eventually back homehward bound.

The ride had all the anticipation of a giant bonk coming in to ruin my life. Lots of energy in the beginning on a hot humid day where the local newstwits had been calling for tornadoes. I decided that singletrack can wait as wet trails looked a bit sloppy. The first sight of the bonk demon showed itself midway climbing the new paved trails at Louise McKinney.

So downtown was the destination where once there I had no idea where to go. Hence, the wandering happened. A lot of back and forth  took place and I wished I had a destination.

Happy I'm not Dead tuesday

Beer Review and normality coming soon..

That's if I ever get out of Ontario.

Happy Friday

Happy Monday

MillCreek 2.0

A day before travel day hence a short ride. I told myself I would have more time to myself in the Summer but when that phone rang all I saw was dollar signs. The site work can be addictive. Something about working straight through two weeks on a mine where you develop a strong sense of pride. Sometimes that pride shines a little too hard and others really don't know how to take it.

Usually bike rides help pull my mind away from things but with having to be up at four am the next day to catch a flight it is hard to get the mind thinking clearly.  Hence I am lucky if I hit ten kilometres today. I'll have a look after when I copy and paste this to the Strava title.

MotherTrucker... This is one boring ass blog post.

Sorry kids. Like I said. Mind elsewhere..

On another note the refurbished bridges are quite stunning. Everything in Mill Creek is open now months aheads of schedule.

Stay tuned for three weeks of video posts with no beer reviews pre-written.

I know...

Summer Solstice Plus Three

 No this wasn't meant to be a solstice ride I just liked the idea of the title for this one.

A meet up with Kent after some long and hard thinking regarding the Altitude. The plan was to dispose and get a new one yet oddly enough for the first time in my life I have absolute zero passion for a new bike. I was going to go ahead anyways but figured why?

So new tires a brake bleed and some adjustment on the Ride Nine system (an RMB system that is pretty cool.) and my old bike was good to go renewed for another season.

Staff College was the starting point although Kent now lives in the heart of Terwillegar making ride starts pretty epic. Yet... I made him come meet me cause I am the power player in the relationship (you know... ceo of lonebiker and all.)

Go Trail was ridden and the Altitude came to life, new tires? New set up? Hmmm... Nevertheless, fuck me that can be a fun bike.

Some messing around throughout Terwillegar in Firemans and other spots and than we went to a brand new trail conveniently cut in if you want to avoid the boring pave ride up to Cameron Heights. Welcome Bottle Rocket. A trail built by... well shit. I don't know their names. I think I met one guy a while back and seemed like a nice guy. Well he is cause he builds trails.

Overall impression was good. It is obvious the trail need lots of traffic so here is hoping this happens. A few ladder bridges, a culvert crossing some hard berms make the trip down the pave a thing of the past.

Understandably it will be hard to find so Strava tracks posted. Head towards the water treatment plant and enter at the bend.

*Kent Steeves pics #3,4 & 7.

Night Shift Inebriated

Pretty sure it was Jason who noticed the least riding I do is in the middle of Summer as per Strava stats and I took a bit of an offence to it. However, Strava doesn't lie now does it?

Today proved the tale. I would like to say a week of nights was partly responsible but once sluggishly getting to the trail and riding through thick grass covered trails with the humidity beating down and grass and leaves whipped my legs and forearms I honestly wanted no part in riding today. Absolute zero passion was there.

That combined with a rear tire that kept burping with no air kits to solve the problem and being dead tired to the world. It was a miracle I didn't hurt myself as I just casually lumbered over the roots and rocks with no fucks to give.

I blame coming off nights for this poor showing first. It's a tired that you have to live to understand. Sleep doesn't work at times and you lay in bed wide awake yet dead tired. It doesn't happen often as I learned how to control the demon. Last night I didn't follow the proper procedure and paid dearly today.

This did barely get over the minimum 5 km Lonebiker minimum hence the post. Fort Saskatchewan is all prime right now kids (besides the overgrowth.)

Beer (so I thought) Friday. Strongbow, Apple Cider

Apple cider. The true blue drink of the hot summer days? I'm not quite on board yet although a fine lass from a previous job introduced ciders to me and I was pleasantly surprised. Fast forward to now and I have not had one since that day. Hell I think I even did a review on it. Lets have a look, while you are waiting go watch some youtube videos of model trains or something.

Well fuck... Strongbow Apple Cider I even went on a remote location to do a photo shoot. Can't have repeats on here now can we?

Having this again I agree with what was written although I would knock the rating down to 3.5. It just didn't excite me as much as back in the day. We will try to get some other cider to review before Summer ends, although the back lot of unreviewed beer is pretty full right now.

Happy Wednesday

Pedalling for Harambe

 A longer route chosen with absolutely zero intent of riding the singletrack as the thought of not wanting to ride the wet trails and be 'that guy.'

Although the trail entrances seemed fine and the few people I saw riding mountain bikes were fairly clean. Unless they were avoiding the trails as well. Given the wind we had my guess is things are ok right now.

I don't care though. I was happy with the plan. A decent ride on paved and the very odd multi use. It was the land of the shopping carts and apartments near the Heritage LRT where I started. The climb out of Whitemud ravine was it's usual dickhead self and almost killed me. Well if it wasn't for a decent looking woman sitting on a bench three quarters up I would have stopped and got my shit together. But I'm a dumb guy and saw "woman" and had to show off my killer climbing skills.

I'm sure she was very impressed as I wheezed by in the lowest of the granny gears probably with the face of a man who just had a thousand strokes. Sucking in air like a lifetime smoker on his portable oxygen tank.

Terwillegar MUT was ridden and it got a bit euphoric as some clouds came over top creating a hauntingly amazing scene. Bits of trees and branches layed askew across the trail giving some clarity on the weather that had passed through.

I climbed out and rode around town for a bit. Ending up downtown and dodging cars once the bike lanes abruptly ended which they tend to to. I had enough and made it back in the valley and took Mackinnon back into town for more car riding torture.

Eventually I found the valley again via the Zoo and started to limp home as the fatigue set in.

Battered

I don't want to be another one of those people that is going to talk about the heavy winds today because if you are in the Edmonton area it was the main weather discussion. 90 kilometre and maybe higher gusts were the order of the day making things a bit uncomfortable on the flat areas as sand pebbles would rocket along and slam into my face. Yes. It was a bit annoying.

The wind did bring the ride to an earlier than expected end as it was a bit too much. The gusts had me come almost to a complete stop on the steep downhills, helmet sliding back and camelback acting like a sail. All the while said pebbles and what felt like small rocks pelted my face relentlessly.

The route from Emily Murphy to Hawerlak and Laurier was all done on pavement. I crossed Quesnell  and checked in on my shiny balls to see if they were ok with the wind. Of course they were. It's the Talus Dome bitches! That big pile of silver balls could handle anything! I climbed up Grandview and remained mainly city/ urban for the remainder of the ride.

Not exciting but still a win over the insurance shopping quest that was coming.

Moistness

You know how you feel greasy after sitting through a movie at a theatre? Covered in popcorn grease and spilled pop. You can literally grab a rag and rub the grease off your forehead as the credits for Men in Black 4 roll by and you seriously contemplate your life decisions. That is pretty much how I felt at the end of this one. Without the regret of course cause it was a bike ride which trumps pretty much anything. Did they make a MIB 4? Hmmm... I could Google that but I guess I'm not really all that interested.

The lack of riding as of late was for Lonebiker Jr, the eldest. Vehicle shopping has taken over and thankfully it ended today. A new vehicle added to the mix has created a traffic jam in my once wide open driveway. Seeing the joy makes it all worthwhile though and I snuck out for a quick 15-20km ride (I really don't know how far I went) in the rain.

The old school Mill Creek space was chosen as the launch pad and I took the Whyte ave area bike lanes to the High Level with a planned crossing but I kept going. "Fuck You High Level!" I yelled as I passed by. Now why would I diss my favourite bridge? Sheeit son. I gotta look at my heart and see what's wrong.

After cruising around the University I descended into the valley and crossed the sexy new Walterdale all the while feeling the heinous stare of the High Level as it glared at me for the mad disrespect I displayed as I passed by. I kissed my two peace fingers and waved it towards the almighty black bridge to appease the bridge Gods and I felt like it worked.

It was probably the water sloshing in my shoes as I peddled through the wetness that made me think. Ehhhh, maybe it's time to head back. The cold wetness shivers crept in afterwards so I did what most real men would do. A hot bubble bath complemented by candles and chill out music. Fuck ya!

don't think this guy is really making a good name for himself, be nice kids

Hitchhiker City

Not much for legs today all thanks to a few too many post beer review beers and Netflix. I’m not gonna lie. It was pretty fun. I had pondered on staying home and going on a social network spree and be entertained by all the insecure folks who are lashing out at people after they stated a point about something in life that they prefer. Message boards and group chats can be so much fun sometimes. The insecure weak ones usually lash out the greatest. I did however think of how annoyed I'd be and chose bikes instead. Bikes vs dickheads? Bikes win hands down. 

I was wondering when my legs were going to blow up. Each climb had the risk of disaster with the push of each pedal stroke. Thankfully that never happened and given the condition I was in I felt fine. Even made some pretty fast times on some of the trails. Win win. 

I rode with the spirit of a strongly haunted crazy man with bipolar disorder riding the paved and randomly choosing trails to ride blindly and then getting shit back out in the pave ignoring good trails mindlessly spinning cranks.

The green hitchhiker worms are back in a big way in areas. I don't mind the worms just hate the silk thread that gets all over your arms and face. At one point I had counted twelve worms that I could see on me. One guy I named Willy hung around my stem for a long portion of the ride. He disappeared on the upper Mill Creek singletrack and I shed a tear or two. I thought we had developed a pretty good rapport. 

The trails ridden were... Ah screw it. Here are the tracks. 

Beer Friday. Shepard Neame, Spitfire Amber Kentish Ale

Beer Friday done live again after some confusion last set of days off as to whether I would be gone or home. It turns out I am home and that means I'm off as of yesterday evening which allows a beer review to be done in a rare Lonebiker exclusive Live event spectacular.

A small crowd has even gathered outside! Imagine that? Chants of "Beer Friday"were yelled every time a car would pass as the crowd hoped to see some sort of sign of maybe a pourer, back up pourer or perhaps even an intern!

As for the first day off? No rides sadly,  just vehicle shopping for one of the Jr Lonebiker family members, it seems the older I get the faster the day travels which is a true bummer. Cause you know what that means? Death is lurking around a soon corner.

Oh fack! I didn't just go there did I? This just got very dark in a hurry.

Here! I'll save it right now with this video..

One hour of straight cats

This beer was named after perhaps the greatest fighter plane in the history of the world. The Spitfire. One of the heros of World War Two this plane flown by the bravest pilots who helped fight off the Germans in the battle of Britain. A dark and terribly scary time for England.The brewery behind it is Shephard Neame. Founded in 1698. Holy shitballs! What did I just type!?

Sixteen-Ninety-Eight.... Just let that sink in for a minute or two. Think of how old that is. Understandably the cool factor in this beer just went up ten fold. We won't let the old cool bias come into play during judging will we? Nope. We are professional.

The beer which was named in honour of the Spitfire was poured and a golden murky brew filled the tester glass. A one and a half fingered head appeared and soon went away like a dark shadow on  a night ride. The first sip was taken and we were a bit taken back as it seemed to be a tad watered down. Or is this how North American jackasses review beers without a full understanding of what goes into making them? The strength is low to low moderate. Some earthy tones come into play but nothing that comes with a resounding wallop to the mouth. The website says it's high on the bitter but I'm not getting that in any way.

What is this is to me? A gentle lad of a drink to be had before bedtime while reading the BBC news on your iPad. Its subtle and quiet, much like the British were thought to be in World War Two. Or maybe not..  Not great but historic. The Union Jack on the top is a nice touch I'd say..

This beer (sadly) gets 2.5 suds out of 5.