Day 2 was a Friday and we were supposed to spend the day on the mountain bikes somewhere in western Virgina, not West Virgina, but the west side of Virgina. Nobody commented on how ‘perty our mouthes were’.
So after Jamie and I rented some sweet Giant Yukons from the local bike shop we met up with Todd and Stacy for some riding on some wicked single track about a half hour down the road. The ride started off well enough. We lost Jamie at a crossing and then I went back to find him where we ended up pedaling up some wicked technical rocks, think Sour Dough but stupid sharp instead of baby head smooth, and Scott came back to catch us there. We turned around to follow the whole posse and low and behold about 2 miles back up the trail, the 2.1 tire on the Yukon failed me with a blasting POP.
So the trip was planned to be about 11 miles or so and I’m pretty sure we rode about 5 by being lost, trying to find the trail heads and then finally hiking back out for me. The rest of the crew got the ride, I got some quiet time waking a rental bike through the woods. All and all still fun.
Friday night Brook, Jamie, Michelle and I rented a crib in the town of Winchester in the historic district, right up the street from the nightly supper spot which was a bad ass pub. It was the Union Jack I have to say it was one of the best pubs I’ve been to ever! Ordering beers, the madness started, Todd suggested the Victory Brewing Vertical Epic. Holy cow, it is the best beer i’ve ever had, seriously, the best beer. I’m not sure of the availabilty of this fine and holiest of liquids but if you can find it, steal, beat down or simply purchase this beer. I would give the tasting notes for it but I can’t do a better job than the link above. So buy it and worship it. The pub had an amazing beer list from around the world but heavy on the big boys from the good ol’USA. My second and third beer was a light hearted Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. A standard on any hop-head beer list, light and easy drinking with the ever present punch in the throat of citrus flavor and hops. The fish and chips at Union Jack were off the chain and matched the superior beer list to a T. If you are ever in Winchester, VA, you are stupid if you don’t find the Union Jack and eat, drink and drink some more.
The recurring beer(s) of the week was the spectacular offerings from Troegs out of Harrisonburg, PA. With a mass contingency from PA at the wedding, PA beer was well represented out of Troegs, though my memory is a bit foggy of all of them we had, we have to thank Scott’s sister for picking them up for us on her way to VA. I’m pretty sure this fine beer doesn’t make it east of the Mississippi but IF you’re back on the east side, I would recommend drinking them all. Especially the ones you can’t get anywhere but the brewery. It’s almost worth the trip just for the one offs. But I’ve never been to PA cept for an airport crossing or two so I can’t really be trusted on the subject.

The outstanding beers I can recall were the Troegenator, a mega tasty double bock that can and will kick your ass. Then the ultra hop head offering called the Nugget Nectar which is like an amber on hop steriods (with the specific flavor you’d expect from an ale called “Nugget” anything. The amazing Flying Mouflan, which kicks the crap out of most beers. It’s similar to the Nugget but much “bigger” in flavor and malts.
OK enough about beer and MTB, I’m going to finish my Gordons here in Lakewood and go do something else now.
Cheers, till next time…

DC Metro Blurry, originally uploaded by Steve Mitchener Xvelo Designs.

Got into DC on Wednesday last week and was promptly greeted by Scott and Mally to prepare for the big wedding this past Monday. Got some touristing in on Weds evening before a delicious but horribly served supper in the Ethiopian district at Etete. Food was super good but it took them 2.5 hours to serve us while everyone around us sat down and were fed and out before they even noticed we’d been out of water for over an hour. After that it was back to Mally’s parents in the back woods of Virgina for some sleep before coming back into the city for some exploring around the houses of the criminals (politicians) Took the Metro in from the outer burbs and did the Smithsonian Nature and Science all day with a brief coffee at the end we were back to the burbs for some copious beer drinking thanks to Scott. I’ll have a full beer write up tomorrow. All for now. Cheers.

Colorado Trail Section 2 (5 of 6), originally uploaded by Steve Mitchener Xvelo Designs.

Scott and I went for a three hour tour today to check out the second section of the Colorado Trail from South Platte to Buffalo Creek. We ended up taking Foxton road out of Conifer to South Platte which is about 30 minutes off of 285 so not that far. We parked at the trail head and headed UP. Typical front range trail design, straight up for about 2.5 miles and then rolling up to mile 10 which is the intersection of some road and the CT. Back was supposed to be mostly down but the climbs in the cold through the burn area were a little tougher than they would have been on a warmer day without wind. The down hill section coming into Chair Rock kicked the shit out of me, I got caught in the slot car wash that is most of the trail at speed and couldn’t pull out of it. Good thing my head was there to slow me down. Damn, need another helmet now. Anyway twas a good day we ended up with close to 21 miles with ~2100 feet of climbing, the Garmin said 2638 but it’s wrong most of the time but it did feel like it if that counts. So about 1.25 hours in the car back and all was well. Enough for now, click on the pick above to see the rest of the shots from the ride.

Here is a link to the technical info courtesy of my Garmin 301: Garmin Connect

Some miscellaneous photos of the Tour DaVita: Twas a great time and I’m already greasing the wheels for next year by propagating the rumor that it will be in Washington state. It’s such an amazing ride and purpose that everyone who sees this blog should do. The main mission? Say healthy! Even if you don’t ride a bike or have a blog about bikes, get one and ride it. You will be better off for it!

The photos above were taken by team Paparazzi. They seemed to follow us everywhere, almost like we were famous, but not quite.

Nice Guy…, originally uploaded by Steve Mitchener Xvelo Designs.

Good people meeting in Fremont Michigan. Twas our first day and we finished the ride about 1:00pm and the tents weren’t set up yet and there were only a few people ahead of us. So instead of heading to the DT tank in the “dry” park, we headed into town for some beers and food. This fine gentleman represented the town for us, he made his single speed bikes from left-overs at the local salvage yard and was super pleased to tell us all about them. I’ll eventually write more but not now.
Cheers…

Going to Michigan tomorrow to pedal a bike. Tour DaVita to be sure. Will have a dumptruck worth of photographs when I return with a full rundown on the mosquito state or the inferior car state…Whatever the motto is.

Michigan ( /?m?????n/ (help·info)) is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning “large water” or “large lake”.[1][4]
Michigan is the eighth most populous state in the United States. It has the longest freshwater shoreline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair.[5] In 2005, Michigan ranked third for the number of registered recreational boats, behind California and Florida.[6] Michigan has 64,980 inland lakes.[7] A person in the state is never more than six miles (10 km) from a natural water source,[citation needed] or more than 87.2 miles (140.3 km) from the Great Lakes coastline.[citation needed]
Michigan is the only state to consist entirely of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is often dubbed “the mitten” by residents, owing to its shape. When asked where in Michigan one comes from, a resident of the Lower Peninsula may often point to the corresponding part of his or her hand. The Upper Peninsula (often referred to as The U.P.) is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile (8 km)-wide channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The Upper Peninsula is economically important for tourism and natural resources.

Trail Day um Blurry, originally uploaded by Steve Mitchener Xvelo Designs.

A photo down the valley from trails day at Green Mountain in Lakewood Colorado.
This is my first attempt at using the fake tilt-shift technique in PS4. Doesn’t actually do what a real lens does but it took 10 minutes and I didn’t spend 1500 bucks on glass.
Technique copied from: Here
Try it…its fun!
Check it out here in a bigger size: Flickr
It looks way better there.