Great Day!

Rode bike to Pisgah... brewing an Imperial IPA.  BIKES AND BEER...nuff said.

Beer... yes, beer!

Beer... my one weakness! And this year Megan decided it was time to exploit my weakness by giving me a beer brewing kit for Christmas with an Imperial IPA as my first beer.  I am very excited to be able to brew my own beer and also nervous at the same time.  What if I screw it up, nobody likes bad beer, especially if a great amount of time and energy is spent to brew it oneself.   Anywho, the whole process started last night with the preparation of the yeast. For an imperial ipa you need mature yeast.  So I had to boil some of the powdered stuff (DME) and mix in the yeast vile from the refrigerator after shaking it really well in a growler.   Then, since we keep our house cool, I brought the growler to our neighbors.  He keeps his place at a minimum of 70 degrees. Our yeast will mature at Jimmy's from 24-48 hours before returning home to be added to the brew.  Once I brew my wort I will have to turn the heat up to 64 degrees for 7-10 days to enable the yeast to ferment; hence adding alcohol to my brew and cheer to Megan for having a warm home.  After that you will receive an update and pictures of the bottling process.  And then 2-4 weeks after bottling I will be enjoying a frothy adult beverage of my own concoction and you will hear all about it right here on my blog.  I can't wait!!! Cheers!

Why do I ride?

Yesterday, I blogged about bicycle commuting, but after reading my Aunt's comment stating that riding my bike to work sounds a lot like work, I started to realize that maybe I left something important out of my blog; the passion.   Riding a bike is the pulse of my life! I love to ride a bike, for me riding a bike is like breathing,  When asked how I do something on a bike it takes me a while to explain, if I can.  Usually, I have to do it to break it down into an explanation, like breathing, I don't have to think.  I ride all different kinds of bikes and my favorite type of riding really depends on my mood.  Speaking of mood, if I spend too much time out of the saddle my mood starts to suffer.  Luckily, I married a woman who has good feel as to when I "need" to ride my bike and the sense to kick me out the door when I need a ride!  There is nothing better than feeling the wind in my hair generated by the power in my legs.  Riding a bike gets my blood pumping, my adrenaline flowing and my brain surging with endorphins that make my world right!!  Freedom and bliss, oh yeah!!

My passion for riding a bike started when I was very young...                                                                       

My first bike looked very much like the one to the left.  It was your typical Toys R Us bike that was set up with training wheels.  I remember riding it around the apartment complex with the training wheels bouncing back and forth, back and forth.  Then one day my mother took me to a nearby parking lot.  I remember being nervous and excited at the same time.  In that parking lot she removed the training wheels from the bike (I'm sure she was nervous and excited as well)!  The next thing I remember is that she was running along with me while I am pedaling the bike, breathing hard and encouraging me to keep pedaling and shouting and yelling and telling me to keep pedaling and shouting and yelling to keep pedaling.  Then I realize that her voice is coming from very far away and I turned around to see where she was...

Well, this happened a couple of times before I was able to get the bike going and keep it up all by myself without any assistance.  From that day on the bike had replaced my feet.  As long as I had a choice the rubber that touched the ground was manufactured by the biking industry instead of the shoe industry!!

At some point I was hit by a car and the yellow bike was replaced with a blue one.  And then the BMX craze hit the nation and the banana seat was replaced with a BMX seat, the bars were replaced with BMX handlebars, the tires were replaced with BMX tires, pedals were changed, grips and pads were added to the bike to make it ride and look like my friends cool new BMX bikes.  From that time on we would ride through the neighborhood looking for things to jump off.  Curbs at the end of driveways made excellent places to launch from, especially in my neighborhood where there did not seem to be a standard curb height.  One of my best friends fathers entered him into a "professional" BMX club and he got to race around a track with a helmet and stuff.  Well, it wasn't long before we were throwing our bikes over that fence and riding the track.  Unfortunately, that track was several miles away and against the law, so we built ramps to launch off using wood scavenged from our tree fort building project.  It wasn't too long after that my Frankenstein bike started to suffer the consequences of major abuse and I landed face first into the pavement due to the failure of the handlebars.  Soon thereafter my mother realized I needed a better bike if I was going to be keep out of the emergency room and away from broken bones.  

That next Christmas I received the largest gift ever... a brand new BMX bike very similar to the one pictured to the right.  The one here is a brand name bike, which would have been lightweight.  For some reason my mother thought the heavier no-name brand was the safer bet for me.  You see she realized that steel was a much stronger metal than the new fangled chromeolly and wanted me to be as safe as possible!  From that point on me and the bike were inseparable.  My friends and I would spend every waking hour outside school and meals on our bikes.  Either launching off of things or terrorizing the neighborhood!  I remember we built our own BMX (now called pump) track near the KFC and spent time at the official BMX track, fence be damned!  The feeling of flying through the air on a bike is as close as we will get to being birds!  The beautiful sound when the tires leave the ground and go silent and you can hear the wind in your ears until the knobs of the tires roar again.  I remember one of my friends missing a jump and having a double sized purple ass for weeks from slamming it on the seat.  I also remember balancing 2x4's and sheets of plywood across the bars that we scavenged from construction sights for the use in our tree fort projects; the only thing to take us away from riding our bikes around the neighborhood.  Once we hit the end of junior high school bikes kind of faded from the picture and were replaced by skateboards, but bikes would soon return in my high school years in a new and different form...

Bike to Work I Go!

How many people can say that they ride their bike to work?  I do! I do!  If you have never ridden a bike to work yourself you might not understand why we do; when I say we, I mean Bike Commuters. Some people do not have a choice and their only mode of transportation is by way of bicycle.  The NCDOT takes bicycle transportation seriously, as evidenced by their devoted website.  I, fortunately, have a choice, and I choose to ride my bike to work for the sheer joy of being able to ride my bike to work.  Yes, it saves me money and keeps me in shape; two very positive aspects of riding a bicycle to work.  But, one of the best parts about riding my bike to work is the peace of mind it gives me.  My entire day is more fun because I spent my morning commute on a bike and I eagerly anticipate riding my bike home after work.  Do not misunderstand, biking to work does take a considerable amount of effort, but the extra effort is worth its weight in gold!

My typical commute:
The days I ride to work I must wake up earlier than when I drive.  It takes extra time to prepare my gear, prepare the bike, ride to work, and change into typical work clothes at work.  First and foremost clothing must be carefully selected and worn or stowed.  Stowed you ask?  Take today for example:  It was 21 degrees when I left for work and 42 degrees when I rode home.  That is a 21 degree change... it was twice as warm on my way home than it was on my way to work.  So, on my way to work I wore more clothing and some pieces needed to be brought with me that would be lighter weight for the ride home.  For example, my gloves and headband were lighter weight for the ride home; so I would not sweat too much.  The rest of the clothes could be layered under warmer clothes.  The warmer clothing can then be stored in a bag on the way home and added if it cools down on the way home as well; this does happen.

As you can see from the photo to the left I have quite an elaborate bag for transporting my gear to and from work.  Sorry for the blurry photo.  After the clothing issue, the next on the list is to prepare the bike.  Make sure you have enough air in the tires, oil the chain, lock, headlight and taillight.  From the photo up top you can see I have very bright lights.  I like to see and be seen, PERIOD!  I could blog entirely about lights; basically, I have a Planet Bike Strobe on the rear, and a 3600 lumen headlight (rechargeable) on the front.  The next order of business would be food.  You have to pack or plan to purchase enough food to sustain you through the day plus extra calories to compensate for the amount of cycling you are doing.  You do not want to have your engine quit on you, especially on the way home.  Next you must pack everything into your bag, including work clothing and hygiene products you may need once you arrive at your destination.  I keep some outer clothes, shoes and hygiene products at work and carry underwear and socks with me; depends on your situation, you may even be close enough to ride in your work clothes.  Lastly, you need to be sure to leave with enough time to arrive at work and have time to change and prepare for the day at work.  I generally have a 35 minute commute by car and a 45 minute commute by bike with 10-20 minutes of change time depending on time of year.  All of this preparation, including the creation of a comfortable commuter rig takes time and by that I mean lots of trial and error and learning over the years.  If you want I am more than willing to answer questions if you contact me and below I have included some links to valuable resources for your education.

Most Important: BE VISIBLE!!
Notice how the flash from my camera is reflected back from the reflective properties of my bag and all of the ultra reflective tape I have on my bike?  Also on the picture up top can you see my strobing tailight?
That headlight up front also strobes for that hard to be seen dawn and dusk time of day.  Please be sure to be seen, don't rely 100% on your clothing or the reflectors you bike was originally equipped with.

The best part about commuting for me is the bike experience!  On the way to work I get to breath fresh air, smell fresh cut grass, flowers, the river, etc.  Part of my morning commute is along the French Broad River Greenway.

Here the path runs right along the river... just awesome!!
On the way home, I usually take a different route that incorporates the Blue Ridge Parkway (America's longest National Park).  Sometimes, when I feel frisky I will take an excursion before I turn off on the main road to my house and continue south on the Parkway, which means I add not only distance, but some significant elevation!!

Sometimes I will just climb 20 minutes or so to the first tunnel.  The Bad Fork Valley overlook is just past the second tunnel.  I like stopping there and turning around because you can see my nemesis, Mt. Pisgah (more about Pisgah rides in the future).  I have gone up six tunnels many times, but only once have I made it to Pisgah on the way home; a 30 mile detour.  On those days I know that I have the time and the weather is just right, I look forward to my post work detour all day long!  Usually, riding to work puts me in better shape because it is a double ride; one to work and one home.  Just plain fun if you like bikes!!!

If you want to begin riding your bike to work there are some wonderful resources available to help you get started.  The Bicycle Commuter's Guide will orient you to bicycle safety, laws of the road, gear, clothing and all sorts of other things you should know and consider before you begin your new adventure.  For fun you might want to look at the Antique Version posted on the NCDOT website I mentioned earlier.  If you are interested in other resources you could look at pages like this one.

Beer and Ice... How Nice?

Pictured above is my home away from home - Biltmore House!   For over 11 years now I have been working at Biltmore; designed by renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt; he designed the base for the Statue of Liberty.  This big castle is my office.  I spend my day moving from room to room talking to people, who are on vacation, sharing my vast knowledge about the Estate and the Vanderbilt's with our Guests.  Basically I help people enjoy their vacation while keeping the spirit of Biltmore alive. Lately the topic of conversation is the weather.  This week we are setting record temperatures for Western North Carolina and most people are freezing their butts off and cannot stop talking about how miserable it is and posting pictures of the weather forecast on facebook.  The other night it was -4 degrees with a wind chill of -26.  Honestly it wasn't that bad, the only difference was that my face stung in the wind and the heater ran nonstop.  This morning on my way into the office I noticed that the Swannanoa river was frozen over.

The three mile drive up to the House is called the Approach Road.  Designed by the father of landscape architecture in America: Frederick Law Olmstead; I consider it his masterpiece, although he is most known for designing Central Park and the Capital Grounds.  So, I decided to pull of the road and take these pictures of the river frozen over, which does not happen often.  The most amazing part was the crunching sound the river made as water pressure was pushing the ice into itself and the banks of the river.  Several people have asked me whether I rode my bike to work in this cold weather or not... My cutoff is usually in the 25 degree range; although on Thanksgiving it was 21 degrees with a windchill of 14 (when I arrived my water bottle was full of slush).  Today I was punked by Steve who works in I.T.  This older guy is an old school rider; rides in blue jeans with sneakers and a sweatshirt!!  I passed him on Amboy road this morning on his bike.  I have had the opportunity to ride with him once or twice as I was passing by on my way to work too.  At 10 degrees this morning was a little out of my comfort range, but I am all set to go tomorrow morning; hopefully it will be 27 when I leave.

While in the big House I decided that Bryan's picture of Biltmore from yesterday was awesome, so while on my first break of the day I set out to create my own ice photo of Biltmore.  Pictured on the top is Biltmore House through the front fountain iced over.  Bryan's photo is slightly different in that he took it in the afternoon where the house was in shadows.  My co-workers got to witness me literally running around (without a coat; maybe I was cold as well) to take these awesome photos of the House in ice.

For lunch today I had a yummy can of soup.  Some one left a container of Cheezy Poofs on the table and after a couple samples I realized that they made some really tasty crackers for my soup... what fun!

After work I went home and got changed for a run before dark.  Luckily Megan was able to make it home in time so we could both run together.  We had a heat wave of 38 degrees today and were eager to take advantage of the warmer weather for our first run together this year!  We noticed that the days are getting longer since we have passed the darkest day... the winter solstice on December 21st.

After a delicious dinner of London Broil (on sale) and sides we headed out to Lowes to buy the parts needed to redo my Mom's old lamp that Grandma bought her as a gift back in 1980... I remember the shopping experience very well and have fond childhood memories of this lamp on Easter, since it has the perfect cavity to hold an egg; we keep a purple plastic one there year round now.  After Lowes we stopped at the Thirsty Monk for a taste of some of their collection of bourbon barrel aged beers on tap this week.
My favorite was Belgium Imperial Stout (Russian Imperial) from Thirsty Dog Brewing.

Beer is definitely my one of my weaknesses.  I can't wait till I finally have the time to put my Christmas gift to work and brew my own beer.  Megan gave me an Imperial IPA kit for my first beer!  Yeah, I sampled one of those tonight as well!  A triple IPA from Greenflash Brewery called Green Bullet.  Some day I hope my beers taste better than the ones I savor! Still can't decide which I liked better... ahhhh, both!

No More Time Clock for Mom!!

On December 31, 2013 my mother punched the time clock for her very last time; officially retired. Of course, when she started working the time clock looked completely different from the one pictured here.  Only my imagination can produce images of the time clock she first punched many years ago.  I am very excited that after 25 years of wage slavery my mother is finally free. (Massa got me workin')  I can’t believe she finally made it! I am very happy and excited for my mother to reach this stage of her life.  What new things will she discover?  How many ideas, thoughts, and adventures were pushed aside throughout the years of her working life?  How could she possible occupy the free time that will now fill all of her days?

Don't worry, I have given her a very large and distinguished to-do list.  At the very top of that list is the most important thing that all of us must do immediately once we have the free time - organize the sock drawer.
I find unlimited free time hard to think about.  It's very hard for me to think of what it would be like to wake up in the morning and not get ready for work 5 days a week.  What would I do with my self?  How long would it take me to finish the list of things that need to be done before I get completely bored?  How many days could I spend reading a book?  Hiking? Biking, etc?  So often I run into retired people who have taken new jobs, or even return to their old job part time just to fill the time and earn some extra beer money.  I think one of the first things I would do is find some places to volunteer, like the Humane Society.

Actually, I sent my mother a date book filled with ideas.  For the first two weeks I wrote things like: no work, no work, rest day, day off, day off, day off, no work... organize the sock drawer... 7 am staff meeting/no wait, no work!   Throughout the book I gave weekly suggestions, on Mondays, of fun and creative things to do like; go to the library, start a journal, visit some old friends, write a bucket list, etc.  On Tuesdays I wrote that she should go to the beach on each and every week.

Whatever she does I glad that she is finally retired and able to enjoy her life to the fullest without any interruptions!!

Pandas are all the Rage!

Many of you may know that this is the year of the Panda!  Specifically of interest to us are the two cubs that were born at the Atlanta Zoo.  Megan has been watching their growth and progress from the very beginning with the use of the handy "Panda Cam"  Very often I find Megan glued to the computer watching the antics of these cute little creatures and their mother.  The girls were born in July of 2013 and now at six months they each weigh 20lbs.  One of the girls has been climbing for a few weeks and her sister just started to climb a couple days ago.  It is now fun to watch the newly climbing cub harass her sister on the top of the climbing structure in their habitat.  Megan told me one day that the mother climbed up there and threw one of the cubs down to the ground.  Apparently panda cubs a re very flexible and do not get hurt from falling, etc.  Megan says the best time to watch them is between the hours of 10am and 1pm.

Hopefully all goes well and we can travel to the Atlanta Zoo soon to watch these adorable cubs in person!