Archive for May, 2008

Are you there Internet? It’s me, Chris….

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

It’s finally time to write off all the stuff I wanted to write about, so I can write something. Ahhh… that’s better.

More to come soon, hopefully. For now, just updates in the subject areas I cover here….

Brews

I guess I’m still a homebrewer, because I’ve actually brewed in the last couple months. It was a little 5 gallon batch of a steam beer. Other than that batch, I’m essentially out of beer.

[That "out of beer" is relative; I actually have quite a bit of beer, but only one "everyday" beer on tap. And a cider. And a very sour lambic. And some of the strong bottled beers I'm saving for a special occasion... It's actually quite a lot by my pre-brewing standards, but not enough to get me to bring beer unprompted to parties, family gatherings, AA meetings, and the like.]

Bikes

My first commuter bike (the Raleigh MTB) was stolen out of our garage a few weeks ago. That had me bummed out for a few days, but at least I still had the fixed gear Schwinn to ride. I actually found that more pleasant to ride when it wasn’t by choice. Since no part of my brain was saying “gee, I wish I could coast/shift/turn the pedals while stopped”, I was better able to enjoy the ride.

Shortly after the theft, Jess’s uncle bought a recumbent and offered me his old MTB. It fit me, so I took it. It’s a nice mid to late 90s Giant Yukon. The frame is basically a touring frame with clearance for huge tires, and with a few handlebar/stem upgrades it could be a nice comfy bike for road rides. Or, since it has horizontal dropouts, I could turn it into a single speed MTB. Choices.

The biggest detriment to bike commuting now is the new garage project. Shortly after the bike theft, we decided to move on the garage replacement we’d been talking about. With no garage to store bikes, I’ve been moving the bike in an out of the house. With our short entryways, getting the bike in and out of the house is enough of a hassle to make me grab the keys and take the vehicle that’s already outside. At least the garage should be finished soon, so that may no longer be an issue :-)

Posted in Bike, Brewing | 2 Comments »