beer 283, 284, 285, & 286

Awesome trip back to Pennsylvania.  Lots and lots of different beers and it was tough to pick just one to use as the beer of the day.

283 was the Yuengling Oktoberfest, on tap at Peter's Pub smack dab in the heart of Pitt country.

284 was the IPA from Southern Tier Brewing Company in Lakewood, NY.  $100 and I took the opportunity to head up to Niagara Falls while on this trip, so of course we stopped in Buffalo to grab some wings at the Anchor.

Brew 285 was the western PA classic Straub while out pub crawling up and down the Southside.

286 was a growler of The IPA from Community Beer Works we picked up in Buffalo.  Really solid brew.  Weird NY alcohol laws, as this place couldn't sell us a pint.  We got all the free tasters we wanted and then paid for a growler to take home.

beer 281 & 282

DANK IPA, brewed by Prost Brewing in Denver.  I'll definitely be buying more of this.  Followed by the Irish Red from Smiling Toad.

We have assembled an elite team of mountain bikers for 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo.  World domination is our goal.  Though I wouldn't be surprised if we fell a bit short of that.

Love it when the kids go with non-traditional and cheap weddings.  This video has been making the rounds lately:

Tying The Knot from Kyle Duba on Vimeo.

Almost as awesome as this wedding:

beer 280

Wanted to drink this during the annual Red River Rivalry, but I'll be in Pennsylvania during that game and I'm devoting 100% of my time to drinking local beers while I'm there.  This is made by Independence Brewing Company out of Austin.

Bike to and from work, then an hour of hot yoga on Tuesday night.  Needed that, and I need to do more of it.

Wednesday morning was a seven mile run in the Garden, watching the end of the big eclipse.

Pic we took thanking Mayor Bach for increasing the transit budget.  Hopefully, city council won't fuck this up.  (Note: city council will almost certainly fuck this up).

beers 278 & 279

My two favorite local breweries.  Had the newly released Scotch Ale from Bristol on Sunday afternoon after taking the Austinites for a ride on Buckhorn/Cap't Jacks/Chutes. 

Monday found me at Red Leg Brewing for work (seriously) and they had their Scottish Tattoo on tap.  I've started lobbying efforts to have Red Leg keep this one on tap all the time.

Seven mile run after work on Monday.  Decent sunset for a run.

Five miles this morning before a nice walk with the dog.

Fall Series I

Photo courtesy of Tim at Pikes Peak Sports.

Actually had a fairly decent day at the first race in the Fall Series.  Went sub 30 for the 3.8 mile course, which doesn't sound too fast but a mile of that was running through a creek.  It had been quite a while since I felt the pain of a shorter race, looking forward to getting back into that kind of stuff.

I don't like to brag about the Fall Series, as I know it's not a big goal race for local runners, but I did beat Amanda for the first time in what seems like ten years.  Red Leg/CRC men have a decent lead in the team category and should be able to repeat as champions.  Though I'm sure I'll make it interesting as chances are I'll show up drunk to at least one of these races and have to walk the whole thing.

more bus stuff

Looks like all our pestering of local politicians paid off.  We were excited just to get the Mayor to say he would not cut transit funding.  But today he presented his budget, and it includes an increase of $471,000 for transit services.

beer 277

The Bitter End Pale Ale, made by Two Brothers BrewingCompany.  Pretty good.

Went to a combat vet memorial hike this morning.  Three miles in Cheyenne Canon.  Then the dog and I went to Red Rock Canyon for an hour.  And a four miler on the Garden trails.  Beautiful day to spend outside.

beer 276

A Company (pronounced Alpha Company in military lingo).  Beer of the week from Red Leg Brewing.

5280 Magazine recently named Chevy as the best tank name among Colorado breweries.  Read about it here.

beer 275

Fall Hornin' Pumpkin Ale from Anderson Valley Brewing Company in Boonville, CA.  Good stuff.  Love the beers this time of year.

Four mile run on Thursday evening, 38 minutes, after taking a belay class at CityRock.  Wednesday was five miles in 45 minutes.  Still using the bike to get to and from work.

In honor of Semi-Rad's latest post, I'm going to bail on work and ride the Falcon Trail today.

Amy's

Always a great day when someone brings in Amy's Donuts.  The Springs answer to Voodoo, but ours taste better, cost much less, and you don't have to wait in line to get them.  Mmmmmm...donuts...

beer 272, 273, & 274

Still getting after it with the brews.  That bottom one is the Steelhead Red from Iron Bird. 

Lots of biking on tap for this weekend as I have some friends from Austin coming to visit.  Hope to ride the Academy on Friday and the Cheyenne Canon area on Sunday after the first race of the Fall Series.

Saw Valley Uprising at Reel Rock last night, excellent flick.  Been climbing at the rock gym a ton lately, and it's showing as I'm seeing quite a bit of improvement there.  $100 and I have already started talking about what to do in 2015, and climb 5.9 outdoors is on that list.

bus

Some more bus advocacy on Monday morning. 

The two ladies on the front right are on Springs city council.  If our council had a few more like them, we wouldn't lag so far behind Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins on any semi-important measure among Front Range cities.  But hey, at least we're ahead of Pueblo!

I've been riding public transportation since I was a freshman at Pitt.  But Monday was the first time I've ever got onto a bus without a specific destination.  I got on at the downtown station, and then just rode it around until we got back to the downtown station.  Spent all of that time on the eastside, and it re-affirmed my opinion that there is absolutely nothing worthwhile on that side of town.   Every time you hear some stereotypical horseshit story about the Springs, I guarantee it happened east of I-25. 

FYI, the blonde councilwoman, Jill Gaebler, went sub four at the Ascent this year.  Less than two hours behind the fastest city councilor I've ever had. 

Seven mile run this morning.  I've now run seven days in a row, and nine of the last ten.  With the late surge, I'll end September with a whopping 93 total miles!

Pikes

Pikes yesterday during my run:

Pikes this evening at 5:30PM:

Happy Anniversary!

If you had two years or less in the divorce pool, you're out! 

beer 271

Montana yellow beer.  Bills itself as the official unofficial beer of Montana.  But it's made in Wisconsin.  I'm confused too.  But it wasn't bad.

Got down to Bristol on Sunday to reserve a few bottles of Venetucci Pumpkin Ale.  I'll be able to pick them up in mid October.

40 miles running and 40 miles riding on the week, my first decent week since the Leadville run.  I really have nothing coming up.  Oil Creek is out, it doesn't look like I'd get in off the waitlist, and I couldn't run 100k anyways.  Even Hot Chocolate is out.  Life events have popped up and I don't think I can make the Denver drive twice this weekend.  Besides, the Fall Series starts this weekend and I have to help the Red Leg/CRC men defend their title in the super competitive team category (I think we were the only ones to field a team last year).

beer 268, 269, & 270

Finally getting all caught up.

268 was a Devil's Backbone Belgian Style Tripel from Real Ale Brewing Company in Blanco, Tejas.  A gift from a recent Texas visitor.

269 was the Double Haul IPA from Kettle House Brewing Company in Missoula, MT.  Another one Marc hauled back from Montana.  Another mediocre Montana brew.

270 involved a hunt to find the new Smiling Toad Brewing Company location.  It's on 8th street, much closer to my house than the old location, but it's tucked away and not visible from the street.  Like the new digs though.  Awesome bar, plus a pseudo beer hall to go along with it.  Could serve as a nice post-ride/run joint after playing up in Cheyenne Canon or Stratton, though they'll have tough competition from Bristol.  Anywho, still making the same good beer.  This is the IPA.

beer 267

Another one Marc brought back from his trip to Montana.  From Dog Tag Brewing in Belgrade, MT.  Good stuff.

Even better than the beer is the fact that they honor a fallen soldier on every can.

Speaking of military related stuff, I had to head up to the grand opening of our new local VA on Friday.  Still using a bike for transportation, I didn't want to be all sweaty from climbing Fillmore hill so I decided to try using the bus bike rack for the first time.  Glad to report that the bike made it fine.

beer 266

Road Block Lager from Wildwood Brewing in Stevensville, MT.  Marc got this at a gift shop near Yellowstone NP.  Pretty awful.

Takuto

We had the good fortune to host a cross-country biker on Monday night.  The dude is from Nagasaki, lived in Toronto for a year, and then decided to ride from Toronto to Los Angeles before catching a flight back to Japan.  He spoke broken English, but we had a good time by throwing down a few beers and filling him with steak.  On Tuesday morning we took him to King Chef, which he loved, and then for a dog hike in the Garden.  Around 11:15AM he left our house for his next destination, Denver.

Bikes & Brews

Over the weekend we went down to Canon City for the annual Bikes & Brews festival.  Bike ride, beer festival, late night pub crawl....  Such a great time!  Only ended up riding a 50k, a solid indicator of my current fitness, but my beer drinking skills sure are off the charts right now.  Some pics from the weekend:

beer 262, 263, 264, & 265

Beer 262 was Friday night down at the Royal Gorge Brewing Company in Canon City.  Red Canon Ale.  I want this place to be cool, but the beer is meh.  More of a restaurant than a brewery and you can tell in their beers.

Beer 263 was another Royal Gorge Brewing Company drink, the Skyline Amber.  Good for those guys, though there was certainly better beer drank at the festival.

Dropped by Red Leg on Sunday to try the Blackhawk Black IPA.  Delicious.  Unfortunately they only made two kegs of it and now it's gone.

We had a CRUD happy hour at Bristol on Monday and they had the Double Decade Saison on tap.  Saisons ain't my thing.  But at least I got to drink Laughing Lab after this pint.

beer 260 & 261

I think I can make it the rest of the year just off of beer my friends gave me.

beer 259

Retro Red Ale from Lone Peak Brewery in Big Sky, Montana.  Marc brought this back from his recent trip to Yellowstone. 

Four miles on the Garden roads this morning, 36 minutes.  And, of course, the bike to and from work, as I've survived two days of not having a vehicle.