Happy Monday

The Plight of My Winter Riding Season

Another shit bike ride with this one being a lot more mundane and boring than yesterday. According to Instagram I am missing out on some amazing trail conditions as I spend my days clunking around on my white bike which I loathe. This season has been quite decent for the winter rides and it's a bloody shame I am missing out. 

I didn't stay long in Mill Creek where I parked at the Velodrome as the hordes of walkers gave me a gross feeling and I had to get out. 

Ugh… Sundays. Am I right?

What surprised me for how cold it felt and there were so many people. I have no idea on what the temperature was but it felt like about -15. I'll check the current temperature now to see how big of a pussy I am. 

Well how about that. It is now in the evening and it says -7.

It was colder in the ravine that I barely rode in ok… 

a now rare potty break photo

back alleys over roads any time of year

A Journey Next to Cloud Making Machines and Beyond

 The shit bike was absolutely horrid yet again. I started in Goldstick and had to ride about 400 yards of untracked snow until I found something decent with traction. The back end was all over the place combined with a well worn out drivetrain had it skipping as well. 

The ride was starting badly.

In the end though the ride was quite satisfying. Pretty sure it was because of the lack of riding that made it special cause this bike ride was not special in any way shape of form. I climbed out of Rundle after crossing the mighty Ainsworth Dyer and then climbed out into house-land where I criss crossed streets all the while not too sure where I wanted to end up.

I found the high side of the valley again and started to plan my return to the Jeep while trying to avoid that skittish start as it is also a gradual uphill which would make it quite a bit more hellish. I know I could have rode Hustler and wormed my way back to the Jeep somehow but that bike man… I barely trusted it on the mean streets of Beverly. Tight and twisty singletrack with short power climbs? No way.

So I wanted to ride up into the houses behind Capilano park and ended up taking the long way around and climbed up on the paved trail paralleling the cross country ski track. My big worry was the upcoming ride down Baseline coming out of Sherwood Park to get back to the Jeep parked at Goldstick as it seems like a very car only type of area and I wanted to dry off the streets.

 As you can see in the bottom picture. Boom! Success. Not a bad ride, just a bad bike. 

Beer Friday. Athletic Brewing, Free Wave Non Alcoholic Hazy IPA

 Yes it has been an eventful week over here at Lonebiker headquarters. With the passing of our beloved wonder dog Mojo we spared no time in getting new companions. The plan all along was to get a brother and sister and shortly after our guy was gone my wife and daughter made it their mission and drove to Lethbridge to buy two new Newfypoo puppies. 

Yes, we might be insane. It was a gametime decision to go with big dogs as the plan was to keep them smaller. After losing a dog that size and the impact he had it was an easy decision to do a one eighty and go bigger. 

So anyways, enough about dogs. I said all that to say this, I have two broken bikes and literally no money to repair them. Don't worry kids it just might be a bit of a longer lull. The shitbike is still rideable in ultra granny or big ring high speed gears. So who knows but I have really grown to hate that piece of shit. 

So we have a non alcoholic beer to review from a brewery much appropriately named Athletic Brewing who brew non alcoholic beers only who reside in San Diego, California. A good place for non alcoholic beers as I'm sure most of those people are quite fit. 

Wait…They are Americans. 

Nevermind. 

It poured like an IPA should and had that off putting golden colour that an IPA should. I took a lean back and thought 'hmmmm….' You know what though? There was something off putting about the colour but maybe it was because I had an alcohol IPA parked right next to it. Oh what! You would do the same thing if you were me so stop judging. 

I had a nice sniff and determined it would not pass for a true IPA as I could compare it with a real IPA sitting right next to it. It had a sweet smell to it like a glucose sort of thing. It was a bit off putting until I took a sip and was quite impressed. For a non alcoholic IPA I think they did a decent job. It doesn't have that dark IPA bite that makes me randy. I think that might be the alcohol that is missing. Oh fuck I might have a problem. 

It has a nice taste to it with that IPA bite with a sloth of sugary and sour fruit mixed in, This would be a great replacement for alcoholic beers on a weekend somewhere.

This one gets 3.5 suds out of 5. 

*sorry for poor top photograph, iPhone can be real disappointing. 

An Ode to the Best Boy Ever

 With heavy hearts we had to say goodbye to the best dog that ever existed. Mojo. Yes he was an ordinary run of the mill small white dog but damnit this guy had something special. His infatuation with each member of the family was over the top which obviously made it so hard to say good bye. 

Life goes on, new dogs may have been acquired… well, they have been acquired. 

For now, this is for Mojo. 

Thanks buddy. 

Happy Tuesday

 Terribly sorry for lack of ride content. This has been a horrendous set on switching back to days combined with a couple of fucked up bikes which I don't really seem to care about repairing. 

A very low chance of a ride tomorrow so please for the love of God. Stay tuned...

Beer Friday. Russell Brewing, Root Beer Stout

 Another Friday has come and we have Russell Brewing from Surrey, British Columbia with their Root Beer Stout. It is the night shift recovery week meaning two full days have gone by and I still haver not left the house or got out of my housecoat and you know what? It actually is pretty great. I complain about the night shift recovery incessantly but up until Sunday I go with the flow on sleep and relaxation with rides hopefully starting Saturday or very rarely Friday, which would be today and I can tell you brothers and sisters thats hit ain't happening.. 

Once Sunday comes and goes I start thinking about having to switch back which makes me a bit grumpy because it is never easy. 

Russell Brewing was started in 1995 and now they run a fine brewery with a tap room where you can get tortillas, nachos and tacos. 

We poured and a dark root beer coloured beer filled the tester glass. We took a sniff and guess what kids? It smells like root beer!

Noooooooooo way.. you say clutching your phone or device even harder while reading this. 

The first sip gave away the sweet taste of root beer too but there was something unusual about something. Now hold on. I only had one sip, lets have another and see what's up. I would say it is a bit unusual as you get the root beer and you also get the milk stout which I  seem to be interchanged in their tastes where both tastes swirl around. I would like tom say it has a mint like taste to it too. Overall it is decent and has a nice mouthfeel. 

At 6% you can't really tell the higher alcohol content. I have three more of these and I am sure tempted to do one with an ice cream float. I'll update this here blog if I do that.

This beer gets 3.5 suds out of 5.