A group of friends and us went up to New Glarus Brewery for the release of the Unplugged Series “Cranbic”.
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The beer is very good, just a bit sour but as expected. Its not over the top like the Belgian Red or Raspberry Tart.
While there, I was able to purchase a smoked beef tongue from the local butcher shop.
update…My biopsy came back OK. So no cancer so far, just an odd healing wound on my neck.
Im in Florida to prepare for a renter from Canada. I drove straight through the 18 hours from Chicago to Lago. Not a tough feat if you have enough Red Bulls.
This past August at Food for the Soul
I was looking forward to having a heapin’ plate of soul food from Food For The Soul in Clearwater, but sadly it closed.
By the surprise of the locals I asked for info, they didnt frequent it so i guess I know why its gone. I was directed to Raco’s Chicken which has other good stuff. Heres my lunch of oxtails on rice, collard greens, mac/chees with a side of fried gizzards which didnt make the car ride home. It was real good, the oxtail was like a juicy pot roast, due to the high fat content.
The gravy was basic but a good match for the seasoned rice. The mac/cheese was much better than Ive had at other places. I asked if it was sweet, like all the others I’ve had… he looked at me like I had a second head. He was also disgusted to hear of sweetened mac/cheese. The greens were tart and their homemeade hot sause put it over the top. The gizzards did not look like anything to be considered until i tasted them. They were pale deep fried but when I had the first one, they were so well spiced that the breading did the job it should, just adding flavor. They marinade them prior to frying and it held up to the oil. They truly did not make it home. The cornbread is really good and sweet but the bottom was overcooked for me. Some may like that but I like my ‘bread soft and underdone. Sad to be without one restaurant but glad to find another.
If the hair loss isnt a big enough sign of getting old, the skin biopsy is. Got my first one on Saturday. The mole on my neck since I was a child started acting up with soreness, discoloration, and swelling. All major signs point to bad news but still could be something simple like an infected hair folicle or a pimple close to the mole. Like George from Seinfield, the dermatologist didn’t give me a “get out of here! That’s what I wanted to hear: “Cancer? Get outta here?”
He did say that even if it was bad news that it was probably caught early enough. So, I gotta wait for the call…
The photo doesnt do it justice..its pretty gross looking.
While on our trip to the Team Scat ride (that does’t seem to happen anymore), we stopped off for beer…go figure.
First off we hit The Grumpy Troll in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. We have been here before, actually rode there on the Military Ridge trail back in 2005. Their beer was nothing special as I recall but we figured since we were going right through town around lunch, it was time for even an “ok” beer. They have a odd display of a moon shiner above the bar.
This time the beer was pretty good. They had a Ginger Tart Beer that tasted similar to New Glarus’ Berliner Weiss..which i didnt like very much. However, the Dark Belgian was pertty decent @ 9%.
Next stop was the Old Man River Brewing in McGregor, Iowa.
The Oktoberfest was fair but I did like their Dunkel. The environment is really nice and new. The bartender grew up in the area and was able to answer alot of my questions regarding the Pink Elephant supper club and a kids museum that used to be in the area.
We rode our bikes to the Agusta Bottoms beer festival this weekend. Best beer by far was the Pumpkin Barleywine from Buckner Brewing in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Most entertaining booth….Ofallons
It was cool to ride our bikes to a beer festival.
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Cyclists with Man-Bags
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I’ve pretty much forgotten about this blog for the last 6 months, time for an update.
I just clocked in with 1200 miles this past week. Not too bad for halfway through the year. Theres still a chance to pull in 2700 or more if I can keep it up.
Friday, I did my annual long 4th of July weekend ride. It started my second year of biking when I was going through a divorce. I had been up late the night before, had a number of beers and then got up early to ride. On my way out to Mineral Point WI to ride the Cheese County Trail, I wolfed down some greasy fried chicken. I was only 35 and fairly new to riding any distance at all let alone how to nurish any kind of endurance exercise. It was only about 90 degrees out and getting to the 31 mile marker was pretty easy, even on a limestone trail. Then about the 40 mile point, I started to crash. Feeling drained and fluctuating between hot and cold sweats took its toll on my ability to ride. I eventually made it back to the parking lot, logging in my first and most brutal metric century. Since then I took more consideration to my training and nutrition before long rides. I’ve logged 70-80 mile rides feeling pretty well but suffering leg cramps.
Getting ready for the July 4th ride, I signed up for a 76 mile ride out in Hampshire which turned out to be incredibly windy and finished with a very sad average of under 12mph. I really felt beaten after the ride. While my legs did not cramp up during the ride, I felt they were constantly on the brink of it at any moment. I was downing potassium/magnesium suppliments which probably helped save me. Still my legs were sore for days.
Last week while searching for ideas/suggestions to help overcome the cramping, I found Hammernutrition.com. Reading the description of their suppliments for fatigue and anti cramping, I took the chance and placed an order. I got it in time for the Friday ride which I planned to do 90 miles on the I&M Canal, and old limestone tow path. Following the directions and making sure I kept hydrated and stretched, I was able to do that ride in a little over 6.5 hours. The best part was afterwards, I didn’t even feel like I had ridden that day at all. I did take it pretty easy and resisted forcing a higher average but to feel that great afterwards to me is amazing.
The 2 products I used were the Endurolytes and the Anti-Fatigue tabs. I’ll keep testing them on long rides and I hope they continue to amaze me.
Not such a great start to the new year. I’m not too sure about a ride today as its 22 degrees out now with a possible high of 33 and snow. Winds are pretty strong as well. I did get my 2000 miles in thanks to a trip to Florida. 2008 was a rough year in general and the miles took the hit. Not a bad place to finish up a last ride of the year. This is at a beach access point in Naples.
Bad Zune!!
On a positive note, the Z2K9 issue with 30gb Zunes has been resolved. On 12/31 around 2am, many Zunes stopped, rebooted and froze at the boot screen. I know the time as I was driving home from Florida and listening to a podcast when it happened. I thought the 60gb drive I had installed simply died and was going to have to replace it or put the old 30gb drive back in it. When I got home, one of the girls Zunes was sitting out at the same screen.
I checked online and found many other people with the same issue. Nothing helped, I opened it up and disconnected the battery and even replaced the original hard drive with the old 2.5 software on it. Upon rebooting it started, then updated the drive software, rebooted, and froze. So, I figured it was a time clock issue but concerned how it would be fixed as there was no way to communicate with the brick. Later in the day, other people started to discuss that since it was a leap year that it might just resolve itself after midnight. Sure enough this morning they start fine. Anyway since I took the time to open it up, I figured I’d change its look and replace the buttons and back from a white case I bought.
Still having an issue with my hacked one so I’m using my first one while I travel to ski at Cascade Mtn.
UPDATE,
I resolved the Zune issue by reformatting the drive. I bought a external usb enclosure to do it, needs to be FAT32.