Arrrghh - Reflections on Winter so far

I haven't posted for a bit. Unfortunately my trip to Kansas last week turned into a sick fest. After my swim in Wichita my sinuses went nuts. I stopped in Lawrence, KS home of the outstanding Free State Brewing, but was too sick to make it out the door for beer. I felt well enough to go for a roller ski the next evening but was sick again the following day. Roller skiing in Kansas, now that was interesting. In the Minnesota, roller skiing is tolerated. Enough people do it that to yell out every time "hey buddy where's the snow?" would quickly get tiring. In Kansas I got the feeling that absolutely noone had a clue what I was doing. I was also made greatful for all that 3 rivers park district does for us up in the Mpls area. They generally keep trails free of debris during the peak roller ski months and design trails that are relatively safe to use. In Kansas city the trails were full of little stones(which bring roller skis to an instant stop, the skier usualy continues at the same speed with the obvious consequence), and had some interesting curves and downhills.

Anyway winter so far has been a complete bust. I feel good about the skiing I have done, but have yet to get on real snow and have still to get really excited by skiing. I am in Iowa just now and it is pissing down rain, this time last year they had over a foot of snow down here and I had a great day skiing north of Iowa City. Things do not look good for getting any snow soon. For the last few years we have all wondered if the year would arrive when the snow just never came, we all know that this will happen eventually, skiing in the Midwest will probably not survive climate change but surely we can get a few more good years before it all ends.

Beer of the Blog: I had the distinct pleasure to have some Summit Great Northern Porter on cask this weekend. This is one of Summit's best beers in it's carbonated form, the cask just made it smooth.. Really easy to drink with a pleasant malty flavor and all the right chocolate notes. If you ever come across this at a festival, or if Summit follow through on their plan to offer cask beers to some bars, then this beer should be on your must try list.

A Weekend on Snow - A return to reality

Well as I hoped they had snow made at Elm Creek, so over the weekend I got on snow for the first time since March. I've got to say it great to be back on the white stuff. Roller skis are fine for a couple of months, but I know from past experience that rolling gets old after a while. The past few years I've picked up roller skiing in September and when the snow arrives in December I am usually even still a wee bit sad to see the end of roller season. Anyway they served their purpose in that this has been the most natural start to my season yet.(ignoring the man made snow which is clearly not natural). I feel good out there, skating I feel like I've got balance I never had before, and my classic technique is no worse than the end of last year. It remains to be seen if I can translate any of that into speed though.

It is hard to get excited about ski season though, the temperatures are back to our usual global warming December temps. So highs in the 40's and barely freezing at night. While skiing on a short 2K man made loop beats every other activity out there, compared to skiing on real snow on a big trail it's a bit like the difference between swimming in a pool and open water swimming.

Oh and my post last week on swimming, turns out it is to good to be true, I am currently in Wichita, KS where the gym I go to has this weird pool where I seem to swim a good 10-15 seconds slower than in my pool at home. Anyway here I had only taken 20 second off my 100yd time which would put me in the 1.45 range, this is still a big improvement on my swimming over most of the summer, but not quite holy crap worthy

Beer of the Blog I've not had too much great beer recently. So I'm going with a beer that was at least memorable. I tend to enjoy having a beer while I prepare dinner each night. The other week while Mrss Brewski was away on business I was preparing the half pints meal. I had an Aventinus Eis -Wiessen bock. I am not a huge fan of Wheat beers but thought I'd give this a go. The flavor was kind of like a cross between a bad bannana drink and mineral spirits, only I think this stuff would actually do a better job of removing the paint from brushes than mineral spirits. Yes it's a bit potent. It was a fun meal with several rousing renditions of "Here we go round the Mulberry Bush" but I don't think I would rush out and buy another bottle(unless I was painting my house).

My Home Depot Rant & the Return to Whitneys

I had my first run in two weeks today at Elver Park. I can't wait to get back here when this trail is covered in snow. There are some nice looking hills here, all they need is some snow making equipment and this would be one majorly nice park. No trouble from my achilles tendons, that and I have to say running at a 9-10 minute mile pace is so much more enjoyable than running at a 6-7 minute mile pace. Thank god for the off season.

My afternoon was less enjoyable however, I had to visit that great sponsor of US olympic atheletes, The Home Depot. Actually I view the Home Depot the same way I view US democracy. The basic idea is very sound, and the store almost carries exactly what you want, but in the end you make do with an item that is similar to what you were looking for because they don't stock what you really want, and just don't get me started on the complete lack of assistance in this store, or the fact that each store is laid out completely differently. Thank god for Menards....

Skiiing is on tap for me if I make it home in time tomorrow.......

Beer of the Blog: I returned to Whitneys for the Barley Wine I really wanted to try last night. Again another very decent effort. Very smooth, a nice coconuty flavor mixing in with some vanilla and some chocolate. A nice beer, some more malt charecter would have been nicem but could just as much made it too overpowering.

Holy Crap - That Time clock must be wrong

Everyone has their weak link for me it's swimming,(although some people who know me would also suggest personality). I am one of those people who have proved that swimming does not really factor greatly into the final results of a triathlon. I once came out of the water in 140th + position only to make it back up to 10th after the run. So I am currently riding a crest of ego at having put in a holy crap worthy 1.20 for 100 yds at the pool yesterday. Thinking that there must be a mistake I instantly swam another 25 yds and got a 20 second time. Huh either I have actually started to reap the benefits from the lessons I got this summer or the clock on the wall at the pool is wrong. As a caution I should point out that I frequently feel like I'm making progress a swimming only to then enter a race, or swim next to the fish like couple at the pool and realise that I still have a long way to go. If this keeps up I may actually be able to do a flip turn without ending up 12 ft underwater at the end of it.(I avoid flip turns in the shallow end)

Beer of the Blog: I am down in Madison for work this week so stopped at JT Whitneys. As with my last visit I found some nice beers. First up was a Belgian Blond called Blond Omen. This was pleasant enough, it seemed a bit thin which is probably in keeping with style. It also had what was described in the beer guide as spiciness. This spiciness tasted a bit too much like a wheat beer to me, and not enough like a Belgian. But nonetheless I could have drunk another of these beers.

Next was the American Bitter which was on the handpump. This was very nice, It is always good to find a good cask style beer. (I know enough about brewing to assume that because its on a handpump it means its cask conditioned). It's flavor was real nice, subtle minerally a hint of hops but nothing overpowering. It was poured using a sparkler so was cascading beutifully when served. This was just a nice beer. My only complaint is it seemed just a touch too warm which generally means it has sat in the beer lines for a bit before being served. No signs of oxidation though.