12 hours in Knoxville

Harper's custom bike; Eric's.




These shots were from one of my favorite laps. At this point in the race, we were doing group-team laps. So we stopped off at Toot's Little Hony Tonk for a few rounds. We bought a few songs on the juke box and a pack of smokes. We were just trying to blend in. It worked.


The immaculate consumption






This shot was from a great lap with Jeff. The clouds had turned dark, and it started to rain, so we hung out at PM's with some of the locals. This guy was fumbling through his pockets for candy to give the baby that was sitting on the bar, which was apparently odd because this is the kind of place that is more of an "adult day care."

Norris

Big group heading to Camp Sam, and into the woods of Norris


My newly pushed fork felt great.






Super-beer-run




it was a great day in the woods.

...so long and thanks for all the horses.

Spring Harvest

Knoxville skyline:

View along river trail at Ijams


Blue sky downtown





Rossini fest, Italian street festival

Hybrid Moments

Nashville skyline:


Ride your bike to ride your bike:


Rising cost in a tough economy are making more people tuff. I run errands via bike every chance I get. It turns the mundane into an adventure. Friday evening, I rode all over town looking for a copy of Breaking Away. Something inspired me to want to see that movie again. Anyways, I got home with eggs, coffee and beer; and even had time to take a break on the greenway. I sat by a creek, enjoying the day with a brew.
I never found the movie I was looking for, so I ordered it online.
I don't know who this commuter is, but he was killing it on the trike.


IC King, Knoxville, TN


I traveled to Nashville for just one night, and hooked up with Jut and Sharp for a tour of East Nashville to check out the new pedestrian bridge.
Greenway Bridge in Nashville, over the Cumberland River:


The General Jackson cruises down stream passing under the new pedestrian bridge.


Jut's Franken-bike. This looks like a very bad idea.


Cell-phone photo over Sundown in the City. Galactic headlined and came into Knoxville hot after they rocked Nashville with Widespread Panic. The music sounded great on top of the roof. My 7-month-pregnant wife safely scaled the ladder to summit the Nelson household for a great view and awesome sounds of Galactic belting out the funk!


Thanks to Eric and Jody for throwing a great party! I think everyone had a blast, even my wife who enjoyed the Marble Slab ice cream. I enjoyed the Pale Ale flowing from the kegs. The roof was on fire!
I probably should got a ride home with my DD, but decided to make the journey home by bike. I was a little tipsy and swerved all the way home, via greenway.


Good luck to those at Cohutta. Looks like rain, which could be good or bad.

Ripe for the Picking

Dodging a Dogwood Winter couldn't have been more sweet. The forecast likely scared away many would-be travelers. Leaving the forest seemingly unattended for the harvest-of-a-lifetime. Bold words, but I can back it up.

Saturdays blissful weather put everyone in a mellow mood. Making good time into Asheville, Eric and I made a stop at Bruisin' Ales and loaded up on frothy goodness.
We met up with Brian and Jeff in Pisgah Forest and set up camp in a sweet spot across a big creek.
We hooked up with DJ and his wife Kate for a mellow-ride and fun-descent on Long Branch -> Cat Gap. Some of the group continued on for a loop on North Slope ( a seasonal trail closing after Tuesday, this week.)

The temperatures dropped throughout the evening, but I never got cold. Big fire and big beers = great sleep in my new 20 degree sleeping bag. I only woke up slightly groggy before the most awesome route in Pisgah... eva'.

And so, without further ado; The most awesome route in Pisgah is: Point to Point: Laurel Mountain -> Pilot Rock -> 476 -> The Pink Beds -> Club Gap -> Avery Creek -> Clawhammer -> Presley Cove -> Black Mountain.
Three of the best descents in Pisgah. For my money, you can't beat that route.

We had a great group on a beautiful day! Jon, Shawn, John the Britt, Jay, Jen, Chris, Eric, Brian, Jeff and Myself. John is from the UK and this was his first ride ever in the USA. He said it was alot like Scotland, except you didn't ever have to push/hike your bike in Scotland. The trails were graded so that it flowed better. I'm going to Scotland.


Saturday:




















Sunday:






We got a shuttle ride from Fred Sanford. Dyno-Mite!!!






The perfect weekend could have been made entirely too sweet had this arrived a day earlier.

1speed Brian had this to say.

Bottle of Brews

Harvest the Brew UPDATE:

5 gallons of Imperial Pale Ale are being transfered to (24) 22oz. bottles for bottle conditioning. I am skipping the secondary fermenter and going straight to bottles since my homebrew stash is nearly empty.
As a homebrewer, I only make real ale, which is matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed.
Based on the initial taste during bottling and the IBU numbers (90), the hop bitterness will be very pronounced. It will be a hop heads delight. I call it 10 Minutes of Pleasure.

Tailgating

I took part in a Knoxville tradition last night. "It only makes sense to tailgate anywhere you go, that you don't have to work." The Wednesday ride at Haw Ridge has exemplified the spirit of that statement over the past decade or more.
Throughout the afternoon and into the evening, the lot; at the ridge, fills with cars and bikes / coolers and grills. Haw Ridge host a party almost every Wednesday, where riders meet for group-rides of various orientation, yet all seem to find their way into the inner circle of coolers before the evening expires.
I showed up with my new singlespeed 29er and hooked up with a good group of Brian, Matt, Wally, Monte, Bo, Kieth, Randy and Allan. We sprinted out the gate, loosing one early on. The sprint along the lake was short lived as we headed into the hills, on some of the "lesser-known trails." Traversing ridges and creeks, the crowd got smaller again. The final separation came with a turn down a steep fall-line ridge trail, covered in leaves and buried roots. The rigid forked bikes didn't follow, and then there were four.
The tour continued and finished with an attack on Rainbow; up the ridge and along the contour trails; out Soccer.
Back to the lot for refreshingly cooled barley pops. The circle of coolers never got too big last night, but it was cool for me; since I can hardly ever make these rides(because I am usually traveling for work on Wednesdays.) I was sitting there laughing with the colorful array of characters in attendance, and I felt like I was living a real life episode of the Heartland Series. (I mean that as a compliment to the local knowledge of trails, roads, ridges, lakes, rivers, creeks, etc. possessed by the characters of last night episode.)

Bike Camp: Weekend Forecast
I received an email, foreshadowing this weekends trip to the mountains:
Brevard forecast for this weekend, 30% chance of rain, low of 33 for Sunday. Perfect camping weather in my book. I'm in.
Jeff Murray

Barefoot and Expecting

The July 6 due date will be coming around the bend before we know. But in the meantime, things are going great and Erin is feeling good. She is even still running and working in the yard.
We have not decided on a name, although I think we've agreed on a favorite.

Ocoee

Me and Eric rode the Tanasi Trails at the Ocoee Whitewater Center on a beautiful day, dispite of a gloomy outlook.

Imperial Pale Ale: Harvest the Brew

Here's the methods and recipe I used in brewing an Imperial Pale Ale. Mr. Tomato, this bud's for you! Go forth and flocculate!

Hop Variety Alternatives
Recent hop shortages have led me to experiment with hops. My local homebrew shop introduced me to Columbus hop. I bought 3 oz. with an Alpha Acid level of %12.2. I will us this hop for bittering, finishing and for aroma.

Commercial breweries use different methods than I will outline here, however, I will make an excellent and fresh beer. The most notable difference in methods, would be that commercial breweries will make a tea or "Wort" from all-grain. Whereas I will use a partial grain recipe. The grain I am using will contribute color and a grain-flavor, but it is likely that I would not be able to extract sugars from this grain. The sugars will come from 2 pounds dry amber malt and 6.6 pounds of Amber malt extract, which is a malted grain that has been lautered and cooked down to an extract which yields excellent quality homebrews. Commercial breweries add the extra step of starting with all grains for economical reasons and their ability to obtain specific style characteristics.

Help in designing this recipe came from: Extreme Brewing

Here's a list of ingredients:
1 lb. of crushed Crystal 120L Malt
2 lbs. Dried Amber Malt
6.6 lbs. of Amber Malt Extract
3 oz. Columbus Hops
5 oz. of priming sugar
Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Ale Yeast

Process
1. The first step is to bring 3 gallons of tap water up to 170 degrees, while putting 2 gallons of spring water in the freezer (for later use, to help cool the wort.)

2. Next step, open a bottle of beer, pour into a glass and relax, in this case I have smuggled a six pack of Yazoo Dos Perros over the Cumberland Plateau.

3. With water in brew kettle reaching 170 degrees, place crush Crystal Malt into grain bag and soak for 30 minutes with heat off. After 30 minutes remove grain bag and bring wort to boil.

4. Meanwhile, you should be sanitizing the fermenter and other tools needed (long handle spoon, hydrometer, thermometer.)

5. Upon wort reaching boil, remove from heat and add dry malt. Return to boil.

6. After 15 minutes, begin adding hops to kettle. Add 2 oz. Columbus hops and set timer for 45 minutes.

7. At timer, add 1 oz. Columbus hop. Add Amber Malt Extract. (I added an additional 1 pound of local honey to boost the final gravity) Stir. Set timer for 10 minutes.

8. At timer, add 1 oz. Columbus hop. Set timer for 5 minutes.

9. Cool wort rapidly to 70 degrees.

10. Measure specific gravity.

11. Pitch yeast.

12. Ferment 7 days.

13. Bottle in 22oz. Bombers.

14. Age 4 weeks in cool basement.

15. Drink at joyous occasions often.

Starting Gravity: 1.064
Target Final Gravity: 1.016
Final Target ABV: 6.1
IBUs: 90

In related news, thanks to the guys at Harpers Bikeshop for taking care of a homey on a busy Saturday! Here's the completed 18" Purple Unit.


Brew update: Sunday morning 4-6-08 a.m., heading out to ride and checked the airlock, fermentation has taken off rapidly!

Monkey with the Juice; Fiddle with the Flow

Here's a few updates from a rainy week in two cities.


Trail run in Percy Warner Park, Nashville.
Without a bike, while working in Nashville, I was relegated to running.



My new frame is in:
Kona Unit 2-9! Purple? Hell yea! I can't wait to get this built up.


Crown and Goose, a new pub, dubbed a Gastropub, recently raised the bar in the old city. Marty Velas brews three great house beers(including a tasty IPA!) The menu is outstanding. I ordered stuffed jalapeno appetizer, which was filled with a mixture of shredded chicken, potatoes, corn and cheddar. The risotto was outstanding as well.