beer #149

Another Arizona brew.  Oak Creek Brewing out of Sedonia.  All the trees you see on this label have burned down recently.

Heard an interesting stat on the radio this morning.  AAA reports that the cost to drive your car one mile is sixty cents.  About $750 per month.  Nine grand a year.  Ouch.  But that does mean I save $4.20 each time I bike to work.  Coincidentally, that's the cost of a PBR tall boy plus tip at Benny's.

Tried to go for a decent ride after work on Thursday, but a thunderstorm ruined those plans.  Hail friggin' hurts when you're in short sleeves and shorts.

Dog and I got up super early for Incline #27 this morning.  Looks like the Incline will be closing for a few months, thanks in part to the super swell folks at friends of the Incline.  From the released drawing it looks like it will re-open as an "improved" Incline, meaning it will be a lot easier and a lot less fun.  Fear not, however, just because the Incline is closed I'm sure you will continue to receive daily e-mails from that friends group asking for money.

Hopefully we will get together for one last Incline beer mile before the changes take place.

beer #148

Twisted Pine Hop Zealot.  Now on tap at Front Range BBQ.  Twisted Pine is one of the few Boulder breweries I've been to.

Ran up to the Top of the W's after work.  39:20 up.  I take a bit longer way to get up there, so I think that's roughly three hour Ascent pace.

Semi-rad nailed it once again today.  I was reading his book over the weekend:

Truckstop Honeymoon!

beers 146 & 147

I will catch up on beers with a Salida post when I get time.  Even with crappy weather, the Salida trip was awesome as usual.

A friend of mine from Flagstaff met us in Salida, and of course she brought some good Arizona beers.  Kilt Lifter Scottish Style Ale from Four Peaks Brewing in Tempe, and the American Pilsner from the Grand Canyon Brewing Company in Williams, AZ.  It's a tradition for me to climb out of the Canyon after the R2R2R and head straight to the Bright Angel Lounge to drink a few beers from Grand Canyon Brewing.

Wednesday morning was an easy hour over in Red Rock Canyon.  First run where I've felt good in a long time.

Attempting my first bike hundred this weekend.  First on Saturday at 12 hours of Greenland, and then I may take a second shot on Sunday at Elephant Rock.

The Springs is going through it's biggest scandal since the Ted Haggard days with our sheriff.  CRUD guy, former San Juan Solstice champ, and recent Pulitzer winner (those accolades are listed in order of importance) Dave Philipps broke the story.  One of the more disturbing things to come out of the whole mess was a selfie that our elected sheriff sent to one of the many employees he was banging.

Which, of course, led to my new facebook profile pic.

new ride!

beers 139 & 140

Kircher had talked up Black Shirt Brewing so I jumped at the chance to check the place out.  Just like one of his night hikes, the place was disastrously horrible.  Not sure how some of these breweries stay in business.

I knew I was in trouble when I ordered a beer and I couldn't figure out the glass.  Was it some kind of optical illusion?  Was I going to spill it all over myself?  The bartender saw me struggling to figure it all out and she informed me that you drink from the lower side and the higher side helps you enjoy the aroma.  Wow.

This was the Red Porter.  They're witty there at Black Shirt, all their beers are reds.

Also got a growler to take home of the India Red Ale.  Uninspiring.

But at least there's a new brewery opening down the street soon.

Also dropped by Jagged Mountain Brewery.  Not bad, but it's right downtown near the baseball stadium so it's a bit upscale and definitely not going to pull me away from my usual Colfax hangouts.

But hell, even Colfax is getting a brewery.  This one is opening up just down the street from Sancho's.

Oh yeah, also had my first trip to Voodoo Doughnut!

beer #138

I helped pace a blind girl at Colfax, which was awesome.  After 14 miles, I decided to let some of the other volunteers step up and do some work.  Just kidding, that's where this blind chick dropped me.  Fucking awesome to see a runner not coming up with a boatload of excuses though, that's pretty rare these days.  I ended up goofing off the final few miles and finishing in 3:49 after running 3:30 pace for those first 14 miles.

Joined some ruffians at the Cherry Cricket post race.  Brooks and I had the Railyard Ale from Wynkoop as our beer of the day.  I also had fried mac-n-cheese and a fried bacon cheeseburger.  But I also had pickles, which count as a vegetable.

beer #137

Was up in Denver on Saturday to pick up my packet for my annual four hour Colfax marathon, so I hit up Jagged Mountain Brewing.  Had high hopes for this place, but I'd rank it down in the dregs of such generic places as BJ's or Rock Bottom.  This here is the Imlay American IPA.

beer #136

Fitting beer today, since it has an eyeball on it  Of course, it's no secret I'll use any excuse whatsoever for a Wisconsin brew.  This one is the IBA (India style Black Ale) from Lakefront Brewing in Milwaukee.  Pure Milwaukee genius.  It says so right on the bottle.

Lasik seems to have gone well.  They did my right eye first.  No pain at all.  But lots of bright lights and weird sounds.  As they were switching over to do my left eye (only takes about three minutes per eye) I said, "that was pretty trippy, you should play some Pink Floyd in here."  Not ten seconds later Dark Side Of The Moon was being pumped in.  Good stuff.

I was a bit scared in the waiting room as my vision was pretty cloudy at first.  I took the cheap route and didn't get the money back guarantee (saved me $200, and the odds of him screwing up are super small) but after I took a drug induced nap my vision improved greatly.  Dry eyes right now, but once that goes away it looks like I'll be able to call the whole thing a success.  Total cost was 3400 bones.

beers 134 & 135

On Wednesday some of us headed over to Front Range to help $100 celebrate the end of the semester.  Ska Brewing has had their Mandarin Modus on tap in these parts for a few weeks now, I finally got to try it.  Very well done, as is the standard for the boys from Durango.  Hopefully this is the last pic ever taken of me in glasses.

Chauncy Crandall was playing.  Good to see some live music as it's certainly been a while for me.

Great crowd on hand, so of course there was a run on Bitburger.  Bitburger is the best beer in Germany.  It says so right on the can.

Miss Grand Slam of Ultrarunning (TM) came to town on Thursday to join me for a trip up the Incline.  We hit Manitou Brewing afterwards where they rightfully had Lost Abby Red Barn Ale on tap.  Also had some pints of Green Flash as a shout out to the San Diego peeps battling the fires.

Hard Times

Remember when vibrams were all the rage?

beer #133

From the Schlafly Brewing Company in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.  Picked this up on one of my many trips to Wisconsin to visit the in-laws.  Those trips will end soon as they're moving to Florida.  At least I'll be able to drink Yuengling when I visit now.

Dog and I did the Incline on Tuesday, my 24th time of the year.  Good amount of snow up top even though the trails are all clear.

beer #132

Had this at the Wild Goose.  Goodman Life Belgian Black IPA.  A collaboration between Ska, River North, Left Hand, and Funkwerks.  Good stuff.

Hit hot yoga twice since Quad Rock, has really helped the recovery.

Headed up to Denver twice this weekend.  Hope to make a run at my 100th Colorado brewery.  I'm currently at 96.

beer #131

Smoked Nut Brown from Manitou Brewing.  Yummy.

Depressing weather all over the Front Range today.

Pikes Pub has dropped the apostrophe.  They're supposed to be open by the end of the month.

beer #130

It's like when you see that hot chick who always returns to the abusive boyfriend.  That's the kind of relationship I have with Quad Rock.  Holy shit that course always beats the hell out of me, but I keep signing up again.  "Oh, it will be a good training run.  Time on my feet and all that bullshit" I tell myself.  Then I finish and I can't walk for three days.  Even this year, when I kept the effort and pace very much in check.  The only difference between running hard and running easy on those trails is that at least when you try to go fast you get to the finish line a few hours quicker.

Anywho, at least they had beer at most aid stations.  And a keg of Pateros Creek 51st Mile at the finish line.

Here's me at the mile ten aid station.  Approximately 7:30AM.  I certainly didn't win the race but I collected quite a few blue ribbons for the effort.

Kudos to Nick and the FoCo crew for creating such a great event up there in the second best running city on the Front Range!

beer #129

Stopped by 1933 Brewing Company on my way into Fort Collins on Friday.  My 96th Colorado brewery.  Was hoping to get to 100 this weekend but the Sunday weather wrecked havoc on my plans.  Maybe next weekend when I'm up in Denver.

Had the G-Man IPA and I thought it was good.  Also had the Bird Dogging Brown Ale and I thought that was tasty as well.  But I talked with a bunch of locals over the weekend who weren't impressed with the brewery.  So who knows.

Shot of my village taken from a different vantage point, behind motor city with Pikes Peak at my back.  You can see the Drake power plant, which damn near burned to the ground last week.

beer #128

I went to podiatry school in Philly for a year, and a ton of my friends were from upstate New York.  So I drank a ton of Saranac.  Good to see it slowly making it's way into Colorado.  Maybe Utica Club will follow.

Hour bike to work today through the Garden, 14.4 miles.  Quick ride home followed by Incline #23 with the dog.  Also threw some weights around at lunch.  Good day.

Holy shit, Pitt had a guy drafted in the first round!

beer #127

Quarters on Wednesday.  Ten of 'em.  Unfortunately, most of 'em were on the wrong side of 90.

Good news on the lasik front.  I go under the knife, er, lazer, next Friday.  They wanted to get me in this Friday but it would have meant bailing on Quad Rock.  I have 20/800 vision and they seem pretty confident they can fix it to better than 20/20.  Plus, I'm getting x-ray vision and the ability to shoot lazer beams out of my eyes.

beer #126

Still celebrating Meb's Boston win.  Green Monsta IPA from Wachusett Brewing Company.  Good stuff.

On Saturday I ended up dropping from the 50 to the 25 at Collegiate Peaks.  Lots of small reasons added up, but mostly I just didn't want to head back out for what I thought would be at least six hours.  Not ready to hit the panic button yet, but I'll be worried if I tank Quad Rock this weekend.  Thinking I was pretty beat down from Craft Week, which is actually closer to two weeks long.  This week is Commute Week, and hopefully that's a bit kinder to my body.

April was a decent month.  34 hours of running (169 miles) and 28 hours of biking (264 miles).  Plus ten trips to the gym.  Really need to add yoga back to the mix but I'm not sure where I can find the time.

Lasik appointment tomorrow to find out if my eyes can undergo the surgery.  Wish me luck.

Stage 4 of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge will roll right through the neighborhood.  Lots of great beer drinking points to watch the race within walking distance.  Should be fun to watch the riders climb Ridge Road.

beers 124 & 125

Took the easy way out and drank some Cinco de Mayo themed beers, Corona and Dos Equis, for Sunday and Monday.  Monday marked my return to the hash as it's been at least six months since I'd done trail.

beers 122 & 123

Spent a good deal of time at Eddyline Brewing over the first part of the weekend.  Jolly Roger Black Lager and the River Runner Pale Ale were beers of the day for Friday and Saturday.  Of course I also enjoyed a crapton of Crank Yanker while I was in town.

beers 120 & 121

Wolf Picker from an Odell's variety pack, then ended CS Craft Week with the Daily Brew coffee amber from Red Leg.

21 mile ride in Ute Valley on Thursday after work, good stuff.  Off to Buena Vista later today, then tomorrow I'm headed up to the Fort to support Wyatt and $100 at the Colorado races.  Just kidding, I'm going to the Fort for the same reason as always: to drink some beers!