Bloomington Road Ride

Yup, just what the title says. Managed to get in 40 miles between family festivities yesterday. It's a little easier to break the 20mph average here in Indiana than in NC, got in the 40 in just under two hours of riding time.

Here and There

Lisa and I and my parents went out on Btown last night, and got the chance to do some post-Christmas shopping. We made a stop in at one of my favorite places here in Bloomington, Revolution Bike and Bean. I scored a great deal on some Mavic shoes and picked up some coffee beans...hooray!

Indiannannanannanna

For all the lack of posts recently, I have been occupying my time. Family pandemonium ensued in Ohio, and now that we are in Indiana we are visiting the other side of the family. I've been able to get onto the trainer a number of times, but the wealth of snow on the ground has not allowed me to get onto the roads or the trails. Yesterday, I got to check out the Big Woods Brewing Company in Nashville, Indiana.


After all the hubbub on the Hoosier Mountain Bike Forums, I had to give it a go since we were already in the area. The atmosphere is fantastic, the beer (especially the IPA) even better. I picked up a growler deal with some of their custom glasses, and was thoroughly impressed again later that evening!

Registered

And now to begin a few months of suffering to get ready....


Photo stolen from here

CL and Batch One

A heavily modified city loop was in order for today. It was the second back up, but still worked to be a fun ride.


Kunstler would be proud of this urban decay



Afterwards, JillyJill made us some pizza and another attempt at our own embro was made. This guy tells the story of how we felt about batch one:

Batch Zero

After having used some embrocation from Mad Alchemy, Erich and I had made mention of possibly trying to make some of our own. It was a relatively fleeting thought, but as we did some more research on the process and possible recipes, it became apparent that we could give it a shot. Our first attempt at making a batch was today, after having done some shopping around, and it came out about like we had expected.
And no, I wasn't doing some vodoo trick on the emrbo, that's just my natural look of disdain:


We decided that there needs to be some work done around the base of oils, we aren't entirely sure about the consistency. Also, we are thinking that our makeshift warming agent may be a little on the weak side and may need to buy some of the weapon grade capsicum. seriously.

Straining out the warming agent from the oil tincture:



The scent, and the look is pretty appealing, but we've already started to hatch some new plans about recipes. Be looking for Batch One soon!

The final product: Batch Zero:

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

What will it be? And how wicked? The latter has yet to be answered...

Beast of the Brushies

A great winter training ride is in the books. Right about 70 miles with 6100 feet of climbing. Porter and E and I had been talking about doing this ride for a while now, but hadn't been able to get together since the mini training camp. Porter entitled the ride, "The Beast of the Brushies" We met up at Traphill Elementary and we had a short moment to reminisce about our day at Hurt, Pain and Agony. I had to make a quick pitstop before we started out, and through the brush I realized there was a four legged voyeur across from me...the pony freaked me out! Anyways, the route took us away from Stone Mountain and towards the Brushy Mountains. Notable climbs on the route were Windy Gap, Balls Mill and Cherry Grove. After about 35 miles we had a bulk of the suffering out of the way in those sustained climbs.







We headed down Brushy Mountain Road and into North Wilkesboro. We made a stop at Talia Espresso and had heavenly white chocolate raspberry scones and some coffee.






The owners of the shop are kind enough to have sponsored Pirate Race Productions, and their winged logo is proudly displayed across the backs of our new kits. It was great to get to talk with Jim and Kathy, one of the baristas was kind enough to snap a photo of the five of us.


If you are ever in the neighborhood, I highly recommend that you stop by, everything was delicious!


After chilling for a few minutes, we got back on the bikes and got warmed back up. The route back was punctuated by a few minor climbs, and may dogs chasing us. By about mile 62, I had gotten incredibly hungry, and was getting pretty desperate to get back to the car. Once back, I rocketed home to eat some homemade chili and some cookies...hooray!

CL After Dark

And, Napolean deemed it good

OVT Night Ride

Chancey and I hit up a night ride at the OVT tonight. Much fun was had all around, a few near wrecks, some good laughs and hilarity. I brought mismatched socks, and as much as I try to convince myself that it was purposeful, it wasn't. At the end of the ride, one foot was toasty, one foot a block of ice.




As a side note, I got the new PRP kit tonight, and can't wait to break it out for Saturday's ride.

A Chill Night

Last night and tonight have been spent chilling with the spousal figure, the four legged figure and a paperbound figure.


The lack of recent posts on any form of riding have been because of a lovely bout with a sinus infection and bronchitis. I've been on the trainer in the basement a bit, but that hardly warrants any photos or any attempt at making it entertaining to read about. Thingshave gotten a bit chilly here in NC as of late, and there were some bouts of panic as we got more than an inch of snow on Saturday. The dog has been relegated (albeit self-imposed relegation though) to being bundled in pillows and blankets in the house.


Though it's been slow round these here parts as of late, there are some plans for rides over the next few days (including night rides tomorrow and Thursday night), so perhaps things might get interesting around here again. If they ever were, that is.


And, no fear, I am not getting rid of a bunch of cycling stuff to fund an Escobar enduced haze, I just would like to pick one of these up

Liquidation!

Selling some stuff off, check it out here on my Northstar for Stuff site.

To the Future

In little more than four months, I hope to be blasting through this bridge at nearly mach three with about 140 of my closest foes. Battenkill registration begins in roughly three weeks!