Dead Brewery Recap
Check out this post from Jojo about Chicago's version of the World's Naked Bike Ride this past weekend.
But Minneapolis had it's own recreational rides going on this weekend, including Saturday's "Dead Brewery Tour".
HereNT has some photos.
Advertised as an easy 20 mile swerve through Minneapolis and St Paul, I figured this would be a perfect ride for the kickbike. I ride the kickbike in Critical Mass fairly regularly, which often ends up being around 13 miles door-to-door, so I figured 20 miles was totally doable.
Met up w/Doug, Jay, Pete, and a few others at Molly Quinn's - Doug saw the kickbike parked outside and didn't believe it was mine until I started unlocking it. Funny. Paul had emailed and said he'd join, and I was getting ready call and give 'im hell for not showing just as he pulled up. In the 5 or more years that I've known Paul, this is the first time that we've actually ridden together!
Paul rides a purple 1992(?) Bridgestone XO-1, a total cult bike. As Paul informed me, the bike's designer Grant Petersen later went on to found Rivendell bikes, with the Atlantis being the direct descendent of the XO-1. Interestingly, there was another purple XO-1 on this ride ... pretty crazy considering there were only 1000 of them made.
As for the ride itself, it got off to a questionable start when someone flatted only a few blocks from the start, and then the all-too-predictable rain started in at the same time. Thankfully, the rain subsided soon enough, and we all dried off pretty quickly once we were on the move again.
The beer stops were frequent, free, and um, frequent. The first was somewhere in the woods across the river from Fort Snelling, where we hung out long enough to toss one back and bullshit a little, but not long enough for the bugs to get too unbearable. From there, it was off to the first actual brewery stop, somewhere in St. Paul ... honestly, I forgot the most of the breweries we stopped at, but oh well.
A fellow who hadn't been on a bike for 12 years won a prize for something (most improved rider?) while I won an award for "best legs" for riding the kickbike. This was a dubious honor since the prize was a can of spray on nylons - a product that I didn't even know existed. This product doesn't seem to be intended for those with leg hair (although I'll have that shaved off for the triathlon in July) and it needs to be applied generously to cover up trail dirt. The can claims that "Rain, perspiration, pool water, surf ... even bed sheets won't take away your instant Spray On Nylons." Hmmm. Do people really use this junk?
HereNT later commented that my calves make it look like I have Popeye legs. While I don't take offense at this (actually he's not the first to make this comment, and at least he didn't use the word "freakish" like others have) I do wish it weren't so - my upper legs are by no means small, but when wearing shorts the calves are what shows. Guess I'll have to ride harder and build those quads and hammies up even more!
At some point Doug got initiated into derby when he got sucked into some sort of ride around in circles derby-type game, and got totally and unexpectedly derbied - he became the proud owner of a nice saucer-sized bruise on his arm.
Oh, and I got to play the part of the dumbass inexperienced cyclist who doesn't have the gear to support his own ride. My rear tire (a 12" recumbant tire which I had previously considered to be bombproof) flatted, and I didn't have tire levers, patch kit, or pump. I always carry this stuff on bike rides longer than a few miles, but for whatever reason I didn't have them today. Dumb. Many thanks to those who helped me (Paul, Jay, Swervy?) get going again.
The last brewery stop was at the old Grain Belt brewery-turned-library on Marshall in Northeast. I think this was also the longest beer stop, with Dustin(?) supplying some mighty tasty homebrew sweet stout. Yum.
By the time the rided concluded w/drinks and dinner at Town Hall in seven corners, it was nearly 8:30pm and we'd logged some 36 miles over the course of about 8 hrs. HereNT's GPS said we'd spent some 3+ hours covering those 36 miles, and another 5+ at the myriad stops.
But I'd paid the price - my legs were totally blown out - by the time I got home my bike computer read 40 miles, way further than I'd ever gone on the kickbike. It's now Tuesday, and my legs are finally feeling normal again, the stiffness in my ass, hips and legs is mostly gone!
But Minneapolis had it's own recreational rides going on this weekend, including Saturday's "Dead Brewery Tour".
HereNT has some photos.
Advertised as an easy 20 mile swerve through Minneapolis and St Paul, I figured this would be a perfect ride for the kickbike. I ride the kickbike in Critical Mass fairly regularly, which often ends up being around 13 miles door-to-door, so I figured 20 miles was totally doable.
Met up w/Doug, Jay, Pete, and a few others at Molly Quinn's - Doug saw the kickbike parked outside and didn't believe it was mine until I started unlocking it. Funny. Paul had emailed and said he'd join, and I was getting ready call and give 'im hell for not showing just as he pulled up. In the 5 or more years that I've known Paul, this is the first time that we've actually ridden together!
Paul rides a purple 1992(?) Bridgestone XO-1, a total cult bike. As Paul informed me, the bike's designer Grant Petersen later went on to found Rivendell bikes, with the Atlantis being the direct descendent of the XO-1. Interestingly, there was another purple XO-1 on this ride ... pretty crazy considering there were only 1000 of them made.
As for the ride itself, it got off to a questionable start when someone flatted only a few blocks from the start, and then the all-too-predictable rain started in at the same time. Thankfully, the rain subsided soon enough, and we all dried off pretty quickly once we were on the move again.
The beer stops were frequent, free, and um, frequent. The first was somewhere in the woods across the river from Fort Snelling, where we hung out long enough to toss one back and bullshit a little, but not long enough for the bugs to get too unbearable. From there, it was off to the first actual brewery stop, somewhere in St. Paul ... honestly, I forgot the most of the breweries we stopped at, but oh well.
A fellow who hadn't been on a bike for 12 years won a prize for something (most improved rider?) while I won an award for "best legs" for riding the kickbike. This was a dubious honor since the prize was a can of spray on nylons - a product that I didn't even know existed. This product doesn't seem to be intended for those with leg hair (although I'll have that shaved off for the triathlon in July) and it needs to be applied generously to cover up trail dirt. The can claims that "Rain, perspiration, pool water, surf ... even bed sheets won't take away your instant Spray On Nylons." Hmmm. Do people really use this junk?
HereNT later commented that my calves make it look like I have Popeye legs. While I don't take offense at this (actually he's not the first to make this comment, and at least he didn't use the word "freakish" like others have) I do wish it weren't so - my upper legs are by no means small, but when wearing shorts the calves are what shows. Guess I'll have to ride harder and build those quads and hammies up even more!
At some point Doug got initiated into derby when he got sucked into some sort of ride around in circles derby-type game, and got totally and unexpectedly derbied - he became the proud owner of a nice saucer-sized bruise on his arm.
Oh, and I got to play the part of the dumbass inexperienced cyclist who doesn't have the gear to support his own ride. My rear tire (a 12" recumbant tire which I had previously considered to be bombproof) flatted, and I didn't have tire levers, patch kit, or pump. I always carry this stuff on bike rides longer than a few miles, but for whatever reason I didn't have them today. Dumb. Many thanks to those who helped me (Paul, Jay, Swervy?) get going again.
The last brewery stop was at the old Grain Belt brewery-turned-library on Marshall in Northeast. I think this was also the longest beer stop, with Dustin(?) supplying some mighty tasty homebrew sweet stout. Yum.
By the time the rided concluded w/drinks and dinner at Town Hall in seven corners, it was nearly 8:30pm and we'd logged some 36 miles over the course of about 8 hrs. HereNT's GPS said we'd spent some 3+ hours covering those 36 miles, and another 5+ at the myriad stops.
But I'd paid the price - my legs were totally blown out - by the time I got home my bike computer read 40 miles, way further than I'd ever gone on the kickbike. It's now Tuesday, and my legs are finally feeling normal again, the stiffness in my ass, hips and legs is mostly gone!
posted by equipoise at 10:59 PM
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