Elk Island Fail Fest

A complete ride failure as I didn't even bother taking the bike out of the car when I arrived in Elk Island. The switchover back to days is hard and this was my last day so I got up earlier than usual which set the tone for the day…

Extreme tiredness.

I realized that driving thought gates so I paid my way and took some mini walks around thinking lots of my Dad and the time he spent out here. I get the appeal the older I get and more I see this place although today I walked  through snow in unstable summer Sidi's.. Jesus have mercy. 

No I did not have the good camera, this was an iPhone 13 or a 10…. I don't know. The camera is pretty nice but could not capture the cool vibe of this place. Sorry for the dorky vertical pictures. I'm such a newb. 

i had good intentions

very good intentions indeed. work sucks 

Global Fat Bike Day?

I'm sorry but there is no snow so I am not recognizing Global fat Bike Day as this is extremely unusual so I was out on my gravel bike which is the antithysis of fat bikes because fuck ya.Warm weather, no snow. Thank you El Nino.

*thinks of upcoming wildfire season, shakes under desk… 

But nonetheless, a shitbag of a ride happened under a great deal of fatigue brought to you by night shift recovery. It's a real bitch. Have I mentioned that previously? 

I made it around the lake otherwise known as Telford. The legs were not into this one bit and I started thinking about skinwalkers in the remote dark areas and freaked myself out a bit. 

My imagination is bad for night rides, although the older I get the less I care. 

It was slow and lame and had way too many stops but still beat sitting on the couch.

Well maybe.. 

 

Beer Friday, Omen Brewing. Black Forest Cake

 To say I feel like death right now would be a bit of an understatement. A rotation of nights just ended and it has been a little while so I am not used to this but I remember the old fun feelings of having zero desire to do pretty much anything. 

You know what though? It's Friday and that means we gotta do a beer review! Especially since we missed last set of days off as it never happened thanks to bike rides getting in the way. Tomorrow I hope to get out to at least Leduc for a roll around the lake. I can't guarantee anything but that is the plan as of now. Going forward after that the plan is to ride the Moots on some still dry and amaze singletrack. 

Omen Brewing, another local Edmonton brewery comes at us with their 'special anniversary edition' of Black Forest Cake chocolate and cherry flavoured beer. I have no idea why this is a special beer so I am going to take a trip to their website to see what this is all about. 

Well what do you know! There is not a thing written on their website regarding this beer which is making us revert back and try to think of our own reasons for this being a special edition. Now before you freak out and tell me I have to check their social networks to see what this one is about I have a quick and simple answer. 

No. 

They claim to be Edmonton's exclusive dark beer brewery so that has my interest peaked. This Black Forest Cake is a bit mysterious so we will see just how dark this is with our beer pour team. Let's go! 

It poured very dark with very little head.. A slight smidgen of lacing showed itself around the top but it didn't look like it would stay around for long. Dark fruits are all I am getting at the sniff test but I am quite plugged up right now so who the hell really knows what this smells like? 

Can a real beer reviewer please do this one so we all know what it smells like?

Please?

This is another higher percentage beer that masks the alcohol content well. It is only 6% but that can still pack a punch in the beer world right?  It has a definite Black Forest cake tinge to it. This sweet and heavy beer is quite nice but you will only want to have one out out of the four pack at a time. That is expected of a dark heavy beer so it's not a big deal. 

This is a beer you could easily have for dessert. Everything in dessert is in this beer. Except this dessert has alcohol so suck on that! 

This beer gets 3.5 suds out of 5. 

A Lonebiker History of Late November Dry Rides

 I think this is by far the most memorable late November year we have had since this blog was started back in 2009. It was a late November as well but nothing close to this year. This was typed out on November 22 and there is zero snow in the forecast so I am wondering if I will not need to pull out the fat bike when I get off work. 

I was wondering about other years when it was dry and the fun and nimble bikes kept going. So I came up with a list of every year when I started actual winter riding or if mentioned it snowed in a beer review or music post. 

It looks like 2016 is the year to beat for late snow falls. Can 2023 just do it!?

2022, Nov 5. music post, early year

2021, Nov 20 snowed work.

2020, Nov 7 beer review. 4.5 suds!

2019, Nov 8-9 one of these days...

2018, Nov 11 fat bike for the vets

2017, Nov 22 snow ride

2016, Dec 9. beer review and reigning champ

2015, Dec 5 a close second

2014, Nov 22 broke wrist, new bike.

2013, Nov 7 pervert

2012, Nov 7 blizzard

2011, Nov 15 riding

2010, Nov 21 a bitch post

2009, Nov 28 lots of ice

Happy Tuesday

 

Last Chance of Dry

Another banger of a ride on an insanely great set of days off which sadly had to end cause once again frozen feet happened and I had to retreat 

I blame the summer bike shoes. It's November twenty second and there I was in my damn Sidi shoes. 

It's the lack of snow that is deceiving. 

So last chance at a dry bike ride as work starts tomorrow in the darkest hours of the night. Is this late November riding going to extend into December just like the Oilers losing every game they play? 

I started in the Pioneer cabin parking lot and took the Old Timer trails westward like any proper chump should. Unless that chump had more of an adventurous side and took Old  Timers. I avoided the upper Gnome area as the legs were not kicking in and kept it low and easy. Work loomed and wanted to see Victoria and then took the Groat Road Rollercoaster (aka Lovers Lane)  to the end and back.

My feet froze by the end ad I hightailed it back to the car but not without riding the high side Old Timer trails which was an amazing way to end the dry side skinny bike season.

Bikes rule. Bring on the fat bikes. 

 

A late November Ride on the Gravel Bike

See this right here! Look to your left and this is what I was trying to accomplish the other day with Kent's pigeon killer. I don't know why it was so easy tonight to do what I wanted to do but look at this!

My blog the way I want it! Aww goddamnit thanks Blogger!

*sheds tears…

Oh and look at that picture I got. Now eat shit Kent! 

Whoah!

That just got unnecessarily aggressive. According to my genius daughter its native to the penguin species in a remote Icelandic rainforest. 

She actually never got back to me so I made that up. 

She got back and it was a Downy Woodpecker. 

*sits back and waits for applause…

The ride was decent but not amaze in any sort of way. My legs were not one hundred percent and for the first time that bike felt sluggish and unresponsive but I think it was just my vibe. A few out of the saddle moments happened including trying to catch some dork on an e-bike on the High Level and something about out of the saddle hammering on that thing that is so invigorating it is unreal. That bike comes alive and its amaze factor is quite freakin high. 

The route was up top of the End of the World area and east staying up high and descending down (ugh… now I gotta go look this up) Scona Road and crossed the beautiful Tawatinâ bridge and kept the eastward push going until I ran into an area where some stupid shitty hard climbs await thee who want to ascend into the city, the area was Dawson park and I decided to take the ravine me and Kent rode last Sunday and climb out from there. 

Now I was at Commonwealth and took the sad state of affairs that is the LRT paved trail from the stadium into the city. It seems to be more fucked every time I pass by it. Multiple fires have happened by the looks of things. I did hear some were killed in a tent fire and wondered if it was there where I was just riding by. 

The area had a bad burnt and garbage like odour. I have never seen it this bad. It's quite sad. 

I toured through the bike lanes and found the new route the now open LRT takes and it was quite fabulous! I am sure there are twits on reddit complaining but I like it and thats all that matters. 

I found the High Level to avoid climbing out of the valley where I chased the e bike where he got away quite easily and boy I was quite chapped at the situation. I swear e bikes are creating bike rage. Bike rage never existed until e bikes came along. 

See? go ahead and look it up I will sit and wait. 

Wow. Why am I such a dick today? 

So in the end it was a fine ride that feel could have been a lot better if my legs were more into riding a bike today. My feet ended up freezing so I cut the ride a bit shorter than I intended.