Saturday, January 29, 2011

2 Amy's Review

Went to 2 Amy's last night and had some AWESOME pizza, appetizers, and ice cream and beer!

The wait was 45 minutes when we got there around 8. We went to the bar in the back which was moderately full, but not packed. We surveyed the tasty brews on tap. I opened with Rogue Oatmeal Stout, J had Verdi Imperial Stout. The rogue was good with a nice level of bitter. The verdi was very smooth and complex. I only caught hints of the chili in it.

Verdi Imperial Stout from Birrificio Del Ducato

In about 25 minutes we got sat down up stairs and went on the food offensive. I was starving. We opened with the braised duck and polenta. The duck was a little underwhelming flavor wise. Then a goat cheese and fig jam side plate. Tasty.

We also order a bottle of Demon Hunter. Damn interesting. Smooth, very complex. Not as dark as they made it sound. But it went really well with the App's and the pizza.

Demon Hunter from Birrificio Montegioco

For Pie's we had a traditional Margherita Extra Tomato with mozzarella di bufala, cherry tomatoes and arugula on top, and a Norcia Tomato with salami, grilled peppers, fresh mozzarella, grana. Ahhhh heaven. I wish the crusts were a little firmer/but the edge was excellent.

We finished up with an excellent bowl of Honey ice cream. Super smooth and rich.

Excellent food, interesting beer, tasty small plates. I rate 2 Amy's very highly.

I'll be back!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Snow Ride Fail - Sled Ride Win

The snow at WF last night was just still to deep with a semi-hard crust to make riding possible (even with an endomorph up front). So after some mild grumbling by the assembled misfit cyclists we proceeded from the regular parking lot to the high side of the ball field lots. After getting the rear of the big red truck set as our Weigh Station for Warming Beverages, we started sledding down the short but steep hill. I think the last time I went actually sledding may have been either 1990 or 1991. unless you count sliding down a hill with a snowboard on your feet on your butt.

After some warm up runs we started going for distance. This required navigating a moderately difficult path between the big red truck, a water fountain and a parking lot divider to maximize your distance. I put on the first record run not trying very hard. Dumb luck. Liz soon beat me, then Larry surpassed that. Eventually Scud stepped up and put in a MUCH longer distance and things got more serious. People started trying. Unfortunately the track was starting to wear and it took solid control to not end up on the divider or hitting the truck. Eventually after a couple back and forth lead changes El Jefe put in the biggest run getting almost to the street. Next year we bring a tape measure! And more shovels to build a ramp.

Hopefully we are done with the semi-annual MORE Sled Ride at Wakefield for the year. I keep hearing SNOW in the forecasts though.

Ordered a SWEET Ahearne flask and holder today.

And some evil genius at Plum Grove/Rockland MTB has added 1.2 miles to tomorrow's snot cycle course to re-route around a downed tree. Fun for racing in Saturday's hell.

Time to go medicate my aching body.

Monday, January 24, 2011

More BEER than Bike and more Work than ever

What a weekend. An all call for something led to a long busy weekend of work and missing the first MORE board meeting. Sure I'm only staff but I wanted to be there but work owes me big now. Oh well. Not that I'm feeling sad for not riding in the hella-cold that was Sunday.

Lots of beer enjoyed recently, notables include

Sierra Nevada 2008 Wet Hop - very nice and smooth adn super well balanced. I wouldn't call it an IPA, it's more of an amber ale almost. Very nice regardless.

New Holland - Night Tripper Imperial Stout - Super nice and smooth a bunch of the fellas enjoyed Friday at work with Deep Fried Turkey. Almost as good as Terrapin Side Project - Dark Side Stout. Maybe one step down on complexity but very rich, malty and tasty.

Exit 4 - Not sure the brewery but a very nice IPA.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Mudfest

Wakefield was soaked and like peanut butter in a lot of area's so we did the CCT which was pretty wet and muddy too.

I'll link up some pictures later.

It was a good ride of chatting with folks like Jason, Sarah, Todd and the others. We had 14 riders out.

We finsihed pretty early and were done a roy's by a bit after 10.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Snow Party 2011

We actually had a REAL good ride last night with about 20 some riders out grinding around Wakefield in a real thin coat of crunchy snow remains from Tuesdays snow. I thought it would be icy underneath but it was actually fine. The only bad ICE was the creek crossing on the bowl near the entrance road, it was frozen nearly solid and 3 of the 5 of us fell down. I warned em. Rolled a solid 9 miles maybe 10 with the group, then did 4 by myself before hand.

When that wind hit you though, damn it was KILLER!

Afterwards I enjoyed a REALLY good beer that I've gotta hit Jason up for.

Also the other day I had a River Horse Amber - REALLY good I'm going to pick up a few River Horse 6's at Total Wine this weekend.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Fun and Freezin Rain!

After getting done late today I scooted directly over to the Cub Run Rec Area and noodled around on the trails. It's a bit of paved, a bit of single track, and mostly double track. But it's quick and close and fun. At least this time I didn't prat fall on a stupid tiny rock, like in the summer. Tried to get a bit of video but that didn't work out it appears my glove was all over it and it ended too soon. Oh well. Got a few fun pictures. A few big flakes visible falling.

Near the end it start raining/snowing a bit. Then it went serious. Freezing rain. I carefully rode my way home along the paved trails. By the time I was getting to the house the sidewalks were also getting slick. My fleece and helmet had a coat of ice :) Pics to follow.

Slackin

You know when your still in your ride kit after 3 hours at work your:
A) Busy, B) Slack, C) Both

Today I can legitimately claim C.

The early commute in was actually pretty nice with less cars. I made it in about 20 minutes total time and 15:45 rolling. Felt better in general and was able to push in the big ring the whole way. Hopefully a snow ride thru Cub Run on the way back. Debated heading down to Wake-o-tink but I don't want to mess with prime snow traffic. Snow ride my way home and relax with a beer and a big bowl of chili.

Watched Scott Pilgrim vs the world last night - FUNNY AS HELL!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Why so tired.

Went to Conway Robinson with Tuba yesterday and I started out actually feeling pretty good but a bit in my legs gave up and never recovered. I was grinding hard and WAY more in granny than I should have been. It blew. Ended up with 10 miles and a decent amount of climbing from doing the orange section twice.

Tuba posed his bike in the massive boulder field on a limb and took pictures ending up with him scrambling to the top of a boulder.



So in 9 days of riding this year I've hit 3 parks, and racked up about 40 miles. Not bad but I'm going to push more. This week I'll get Accotink on Thursday, and maybe I'll supplement with Cub Run (non official) on the way home tomorrow. On the nearby radar I've got gambrill's and Bakers Dozen coming up very soon.

Terrapin Side Project #13 - Big Vladyz Russian Imperial Stout - Excellent very smooth/rich on the mouth. Nice big RIS. Forgot to check the ABV. I'm gonna try and find 2 more bottles. 1 to save for a year or more and 1 for whenever.

Friday, January 07, 2011

Fro-zone and Where's the Snow?

I was lead to believe we would have some snow on the ground today.

Alas there was no fluffy white stuff on the ground out in Chantilly-ville. It was still a fun change to ride in and surprisingly I had my layers almost perfect. Nice 3.5 miles. So with 14 yesterday at Wake and 9 at Greenbriar Sunday I'll be at 30 at least for the new year. Maybe I'll even go nuts and ride in again tomorrow to push towards 40 for the week.

Wakefield is a damn rutted mess. When I started riding at 5:45 yesterday there were still a number of softspots. By 7:30 I think everything was frozen. At ride start it was around 30. By the time we were done I think it was 28. Some serious ruts out in the powerlines/phase 2 and on the creek trail. Also the powerstation descent is a horrible mess. TONS of riders out I think we had 20 signatures but I know a few late arrivals never signed in.

PLB's were quality time as TBL had brought out the heaters again. Todd and Anne rock! We had a few and then a Jefferson chaser. After wards 'roys was empty really.

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Off Roading....on Mars

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

Right now they are working on loading/mounting the SAM unit to the MSL (New Mars Rover/science lab).

This is one of the 2 major projects my wife is working on and eventually she will be interpreting data it sends back in a year or two.

The MSL is about the size of a mini cooper, 4x the size of the old rovers at least.

Monday, January 03, 2011

Kumbaya Greenbriar

And a climbing we went. 1500 ft worth almost in an hour and a half in 9 miles.. To put that into perspective.

WF in 14 miles I log about 800 FT.
Santos Trail in Fl about 14 miles for 500 ft.
Fountain Head about 16 miles for 2100 ft. (2 laps)

It was a good group of 9 other guys out enjoying a damn nice day to ride. Got some great shots out over the lake. One of em almost looks painted. I'll get em up soon. Warm temps even saw 47 on top of one of the ridge lines. A few nice descents and 2 tough climbs. I would like to try red again without wet leaves, still dunno if I would make it. Don't have a clue how the Single Speeders make it up the damn thing.



On the down side it seems my RD is out of adjustment as a few times while shifting to super granny it went right past the last cog and into the damn spokes. GRR. So out comes the bike stand after I clean it up tonight. Try and adjust it back myself before taking it to the TBL.