Blog Archives - T E A M C O W

it's friday night!

9/27/2019

It's Friday dammit! Let's talk beer!

It's a ten minute drive from where I live to Oroville, Washington. There isn't a whole lot in Oroville - it's population was 1,686 in 2010 - but there is American beer. American beer is cheap! Or at least a lot cheaper than it would be in Canada.

And in fact, there are two breweries. I'm a little ashamed to admit I haven't been to either of them. I go down there to get beer that I would never see in BC, or anywhere else in Canada for that matter.

By the way, I use Untappd, and I am ClownyDaggers if you want to get into my beers more.

So let's check it out;

Here's an IPA from Pfriem Family Brewing of Hood River, Oregon. Of course people know Portland is beer crazy, but Eugene, Bend, Salem, Hood River - they're all on it too.

This thing just knocked me over on my first sip. Which is exactly what I was hoping for. I don't know what it is about Oregon, but they go hard on IPAs.

It was kind of like a fresh hop thing at first, but once I got used to it, it settled into some very strong citrus action. 6.8% and 65 IBU, which I laugh at a little as I've had 100 IBU beers with less bite than this.

3.75/5

Ecliptic Brewing is in Portland, Oregon, run by John Harris, previously of McMenamins, Full Sail, and Deschutes. So he's like the Bob Dylan of Portland brewing. In that he's been really good for a really long time. if that makes any sense...

Starburst IPA is 7.8%, 75 IBU, and doesn't knock your tastebuds on their asses like the Pfriem does, but damn it really tries to. More of a citrus pop here, but still very strong and not for beginners. I'd say it's pretty drinkable, but I'm not sure everyone would agree.

This is the kind of high-powered IPA that I get cravings for, and I sometimes find hard to find in Canada.

4/5

Two very similar IPAs from the same region, exhibiting exactly the traits I expect from Oregon IPAs. You know, I honestly think a lot of Canadian brewers are still afraid to make something like this because it's just too strong for all but the hardiest IPA drinkers. And that's ok, because you have to make money right? Make an Imperial for the weirdos like me, and a more sessionable IPA for all the rest.

I have no problem with that.

Let's have another.

gary fisher

9/27/2019

Nothing makes me happier than finding out about a bike from back in the day that I never knew about. Especially when it's from a brand that I was very familiar with. And even more especially when it's of a style that has been dominating my bicycle daydreams recently.

Gary Fisher is known as one of the originators of the modern mountain bike. Firstly as one of the Repack riders from Mt. Tam in the mid to late 70's, modding Schwinn cruisers - known as "clunkers" - for downhill racing, and eventually for riding the bikes back up the hill. And he's also one of the originators of the "29er" - mountain bikes with 700c wheels rather than the 26" standard size, which has now become a standard size.

He was a very good racer, on the road, and in the dirt, and was pretty clearly a fan of cyclocross.

greg lemond

9/24/2019

Amazingly, the American government is about to (possibly) do something good, and award Greg Lemond the Congressional Gold Medal. Originally commissioned to honour George Washington, it has also been awarded to Rosa Parks, Thomas Edison, and Jesse Owens.

As the only American to win the Tour de France - and not have his titles taken away for cheating - Lemond is probably the greatest American cyclist ever. Well, the greatest that didn't have all of his accomplishments taken away because he was doping.

It may not happen though, as it would require approval in the Senate, and by the President. Strangely there is a connection between Lemond and President Trump; the '89 and '90 Tour de Trump featured Lemond and a very impressive lineup of American and European racers.

Lemond won the 1992 event whichhad become known as the Tour DuPont in 1991. Trump had become too poor to sponsor it. Plus it sounds like nobody liked him even back then. You should go read the wikipedia page on the Tour de Trump - it's kinda wild. Entertainment Tonight host John Tesh and CBS basketball colour commentator Billy Packer were the two big names behind the race if you can believe that.

But whatever. At TeamCow, it's all about the bike, and Lemond had some beauties.

Let's check them out;

It's friday night!

9/20/2019

It's Friday dammit! Let's talk beer!

This is very interesting news - Molson Coors is set to open a new brewery in Chilliwack, BC.

In my adult life, I can't think of a big brewery opening a new facility. Plenty have closed; Edmonton, New Westminster, Victoria, Barrie, Vancouver. Wikipedia tells me that Molson opened a new brewery in Moncton back in 2007 though. With the new Chilliwack brewery, they now have six in Canada, including the former O'Keefe's brewery in Etobicoke, and Creemore Springs in Ontario.

Labatt's also maintains six breweries in Canada.

This is nice to see I suppose. Create some jobs, be more modern, more environmentally friendly - all good things. I doubt this will result in them making good beer. And buried at the bottom of that article, is that MolsonCoors sales are down 4.4% from last year at this time.

“unfavourable weather and weak industry demand” were the reasons.

Weak beer more like.

Here's what I've been drinking;

IPA, Hoyne Brewing, Victoria, BC.

If you were wanting to introduce someone to the world of IPAs, you would not want to start with this one. It's dark, beefy, bitter, and hoppy. I thought it was a Imperial actually, but it's only 6.3% and 58 IBU.

Not sure I've had another beer where the IBU number seemed so meaningless.

Did I mention though that it's fantastic? And I can walk to the pub store in five minutes to pick up another for $6.

Awesome beer.

4.25/5

Earl Pale Ale, BNA Brewing, Kelowna, BC.

BNA has a beautiful building in Kelowna with a tasting room, pub, and - are you ready for this? - a bowling alley!

And the beer is good. This Earl pale ale is very English, very dark. Excellent flavour and just the right amount of bitterness.

3.75/5

bridgestone

9/20/2019

I talked about Bridgestone just the other day, but in looking for pics of the XO-1, I found that I had more to say. They were my first favorite company, and my first real mountain bike, so they are special to me.

Plus it's my blog right? I could write about Bridgestone every damn day if I want. What are you gonna do about it?

That's right - nothing.

the greatest mixtape of all-time

9/19/2019

In grade 7, our home room teacher told us one day, as part of what lesson I have no idea, that there was great music on CBC radio late at night. If you happen to be a non-Canadian reading this, the Canadian Broadcasting Company is a publicly funded TV and radio station. Back before the Internet and cable TV, this was sometimes all there was to listen to and watch.

Because Mr. Johnson was so influential, I checked out CBC at 11PM that very day. And it was good.

From Sunday to Thursday at 11PM, Brave New Waves played a stunning variety of music. What would be called "Alternative" years later. And on Friday and Saturday nights, Nightlines did the same, but with more of a leaning towards pop.

If Brave New Waves was Skinny Puppy, then Nightlines was R.E.M.

Looking back at those days, I wonder how I functioned. I would listen to BNW every night until the nightly artist profile, which I'm pretty sure was two hours into the show, and quite often would wake up to my radio still playing CBC.

Maybe I did realize though that I couldn't keep staying up so late all the time, so I set up my tape player to record the radio when I went to bed. The next day I'd listen to the broadcast.

And then I figured that making a mixtape of all the good stuff would be the best way to listen to good music when Brave New Waves wasn't on...

big changes

9/17/2019

After living the vast majority of my life on the Alberta prairies, I am now a resident of Beautiful British Columbia.

So far, it's been pretty good - apart from the riding. I was certainly spoiled for singletrack living in Edmonton. No urban area in the world has trails like Edmonton.

And there are trails out here in the South Okanagan for sure, but they're very different. There's just WAY more climbing than I'm used to. Plus we have these nasty like "puncture vines" down here. I got five flats on the first two rides I took.

Because of that, I've been on the road mostly.

I've owned three "road" bikes in my life; a Rocky Mountain RC ST, A Rocky Solo CX, and the Vitus 979 above. I didn't hang on to any of them for very long. I really did like the Vitus, and I was proud of that build - that bike looks good - but that bike was not built for me.

These had a reputation for being noodle-y, even with the legendary Sean Kelly racing on one for years with no issues that I know of. I'm quite certain I outweigh Kelly by Nairo Quintana though, so it just wasn't a good idea.

I really did like the feel of that bike, possibly because it was flexing under my weight, or possibly because I liked that moustache bar. I've never been comfortable in the drop portion of a drop bar on a road bike, which defeats the purpose of it to some degree.

I still have that moustache bar, so I'm set to build another road bike. And i would also like to build a gravel bike.

I make fun of the gravel bike genre because I can't quite figure how it's not just a rigid 29er MTB with drop bars and skinnier tires. But, if that's the bike you want, then it's a lot easier to get that from the shop then convert your 29er MTB. There are lots of converted rail lines and gravel back roads to ride out here, so it's slowly starting to look like a good idea to me.

The question then, is what in my fleet could become a road bike, and what could become a gravel bike?

Firstly, I have this Rocky Mountain Metro from 2007. I love that it mimics a late 90's mountain bike, and I've built it with parts of that time. Kinda. The thumbshifters are late 80's really, but otherwise, it's pretty 1997. With the 700c wheels, this is virutally a road bike for me already. I can put the moustache bars on it and call it a day.

However... I could also put some tanwall gravel tires on it, and I'd have a modern style gravel bike that looks exactly like a 1997 mountain bike. I haven't seen anyone else do this, and I like this idea so much that I wish I hadn't said anything.

This is my 1995 Breezer Storm. It's pretty much a gravel bike already. There's maybe 1.5" of travel out of that fork on a good day, the tires are not aggressive and roll smoothly, even if they are fatter than most gravel tires. I'd just put the Mary bars from the Metro on here and I'm done.

Or..... I could put the moustache bars on this bike, get some skinny 26" slicks, and make my own Bridgestone XO-1.

The XO-1 was the ultimate Bridgestone. Product Manager Grant Peterson was famous for speccing bikes in a very different way from other companies. Generally, if your company made a really good frame, it only took one call to Shimano for an XT group, and you had yourself a great bike.

For Bridgestone's top of the line MB-Zip though, Peterson got parts from Mavic, Ritchey, Dia-Compe, and SunTour. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to coordinate this operation. He ended up with a bike almost as light as a Ritchey P-23, at a fraction of the cost though.

I don't know how Peterson was able to green-light the XO-1. It had MTB-style 26" wheels, but a road-like frame with center-pull brakes and slick tires. It had moustache bars, which are..... whatever they are. It was a kind of hybrid, but with way better parts than other hybrids.

It was a predecessor to the modern gravel bike.

Sort of.

The Rocky is really the best choice for a gravel bike, and the best choice for a road bike. The Breezer will be a bit of a compromise no matter what I do with it. But, I'm pretty sure that no matter what I do, I'll be the only kid on the block with both bikes, and that's what I like.

the return

9/17/2019

Well. Here we are, five years since I've used this site.

Kinda surprising that it's still here even. I guess congrats to Weebly for carving out a solid slice of the DIY website market.

I abandoned this page after buying a domain and making a full-on legit website with WordPress and everything, and then I didn't post anything there either!

Though that's not totally true, I did post stuff, but I just got kinda tired of it. It just took too long to create the posts. You wouldn't believe how many drafts I had at any given time.

I like think of myself as a good writer, but usually I don't want to do it enough that it made sense to pay for a domain and hosting and all. Maybe that means I'm not a good writer then?

And I don't think I had enough of an audience that it make any difference if I just let it go. Someone will snap up the domain, try to sell it probably, whatever. I'm cool with having weebly.com on the end of my URL.

This time around, I'm not limiting myself to bikes. TeamCow is branching out. I figure I'll post more this way.

Hopefully.