General Disbelief

Blaaaaddddoowww

2011-08-18T11:18:00.002-05:00

Brewed up a Rye Pale ale that came out pretty well. Nice and smooth and clear too. Made a citra hop heavy pale too but it came out weird. VERY lemony / citrusy, possibly overcarbed but it lightened up over some time.

SMASH #2

2011-03-28T21:46:00.002-05:00

10 pounds Maris Otter Pale Malt Grain, mashed at 155 Fahrenheit

4 ounces of Willamette hops with 2 ounces @ 60 minutes, 1 ounce @ 20 minutes, and 1 ounce @ 5 minutes.

American Ale Yeast, and no gravity readings as I didn't have the hydrometer. Oh well. Vicious fermentation though, the krauzen clogged the air lock and I only yielded 4 gallons this time!

I'm going to buy a motorcycle

Two in the bottle

2011-03-13T20:09:00.004-05:00

Bottled the SMaSH 2-row & Northern Brewer beer, and the Extra Pale Ale. Nailed the efficiency which I think is the mash tun. Augie says its the grain bill but fuck him. Tall bastard. Anyways, on the EPA I notched down the hops in the bittering and added it to the flavoring side to give a little more twinkle in its step, nahi'msayin?

=6.7% ABV with 48 IBU to the SMASH
=6.1% ABV with 42 IBU to the Extra Pale

Next up: Maris Otter / Golding IPA & Another stab at the stout with some Rye in there

SMaSH Brew: 2-row & Northern Brewer

2011-01-29T12:27:00.002-06:00

mash tun is beauty.

11# 2-row gain

Hop schedule: Northern Brewer
.5oz @ 60 minute
1oz @ 15 minute
1oz @ 10 minute
.5oz @ 5 minute
1oz @ 1 minute

American Ale II Yeast

Last weeks:

8# 2-row base
2# german vienna
.5# crystal 10l

hop schedule: Cascade
.75oz @ 60 minutes
.5oz @ 30 minutes
.5oz @ 15 minutes
.25oz @ 5 minutes

Rogue Pacman Yeast pitched @ 68F

BU:Gu .64

And now for something completely different.

2011-01-10T07:17:00.000-06:00

NAHBS, Goat, Beer

2011-01-05T20:34:00.000-06:00

I'm going to the NAHBS this year. To the non-dorks, the grand ol' opry of expensive bullshit, the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. Works sponsoring part of it, and Ali got my tickets for my birthday. Awesome.

Working on the mash tun, hopefully it will be operational soon.

Ordered my scratch & dent Nomad Carbon today.

2010-12-12T12:50:00.000-06:00

Might do the Colorado Trail this summer. 300+ miles between Durango & Denver. soon...

haven't brewed shit

2010-09-29T10:18:00.002-05:00

but I received 5 pounds of hops from my brother so some hop hounds are in store for this winter. Hopefully Two Dummies will be brewing soon again. The co-brewmeister in charge built a mash tun, and maybe we can make a sparge tank too. GET SOME.

Brews I've been keeping myself busy with. The Lagunitas beer is GREAT. Try it if you find it.

No one knows where Osama Bin Hidin'

2010-06-02T23:11:00.003-05:00

I've been busy working 2 jobs and riding bikes and shit, so I haven't had time to waste my time updating this.

Bottled the Frankenbeer (it's horrible tasting), made a Russian Imperial Stout that missed its mark making it just a Russian Stout and Augie and I made a Milk Stout (not fukken vegan!)

The RIS was pulled from a Stone clone recipe...

15# 2-row
1# amber malt
1# roasted barley
1# black malt

buncha hops, look up the schedule.

I only achieve an original gravity of 1.064, and if I had decent efficiency (mine was 50%) I'd have gotten around 1.085. Oh well, so it's not imperial. Still 90 ibus, and 5.6% abv.

The Two Dummies Witbier didn't work so well. It got a stuck fermentation. Oh well. We fell about 5-7 points short on our final gravity, with a 1.023 final. We bottled it and it tastes good.

Both should be ready in two weeks since they've been bulk aging for a while now.

Third beer is a Milk Stout brewed 3 weeks ago. and it's got lactose in it. Weird and not vegan! bwahahaha

7# munich malt
2# wheat malt
1# crystal malt
.75# roasted barley
.5# chocolate malt

3/4 oz of simcoe hops @ 60 minutes, and you're bumping. toss in some stout or irish yeast and you're ready to go. ends up probably around 4% abv. a light stout, by any ideas. but yeah, this one will get bottled in a week, so then the true nature of the abv will be told!

anyways, while you're drinking, watch the follow me video. you can find it online but you should buy it.nobody rides alone.

Personal Brew #006 - Frankenburper

2010-04-25T21:49:00.004-05:00

I had a bunch of stuff lying around that I guess shouldn't be kept lying around. That's cool, I didn't have shit to do on Friday anyways. So I fired up the brew pot, and got mashin'.

Punched it all into hopville's calculator . A great little web application.

5 pounds Pale Malt, Maris Otter
1 pounds American Two-row Pale
1 pounds German Wheat Malt Dark
1 pounds German Rauch Smoked
8 oz Belgian Special B
8 oz American Chocolate
8 oz Belgian Caramel Pils
8 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L
5 oz American Crystal 60L

Batch size: 5.0 gallons

Mash: 4 gallons of water @ 115F (15 minutes) then 150F or so (tried to keep it between ~149 and ~153) so that I get a good amount of fermentable but still some body. I figure it being super dark will give it enough flavor without it being motor oily.

Sparge: rinsed with about 3 gallons of 185F water to give me a pretty full brewpot.

The citra dryhop will be dropped in to give it a little zest once it's finished off. I'm debating putting it into a secondary. I'm somewhat interested in doing a primary only since it'll be dark the light yeastiness won't be as big of a deal.

OG: 1.054 (Actual measured) (range: 1.050 to 1.058)
FG: 1.014 (Expected) (range: 1.012 to 1.015)
Color: 24° SRM / 47° EBC (Brown to Dark Brown)
Mash Efficiency: ~75%

hops:
boil 60 mins 1.0 oz Columbus
boil 10 mins 1.0 oz Willamette
dry hop 7 days 1.0 Citra

Bitterness
57.8 IBU / 12 HBU
Alcohol
5.6% ABV / 4% ABW
Calories
184 per 12 oz.

Pitched a Belgian Abbey Ale II liquid yeast pack, and it's been bubbling since Saturday at 1:15am. A really dark krausen on it, but who knows.

Up next: Two Dummies: a witbier. god knows when though since I am working 60+ hours a week now. Then I'm going to think about brewing a bigger beer or something for brew not bombs. I'm maybe thinking an all grain version of the English Mild recipe, or something akin to RustWagen beer.

Red Rye Ale, Two Dummies Brew #005

2010-04-14T13:02:00.002-05:00

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Nottingham
Boil Size (Gallons): 6
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.051
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 1 week
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 2 weeks

Grain:
7 lb. American 2-row
1 lb. American Munich
8 oz. American crystal 120L
4 oz. Belgian CaraMunich
2 oz. Belgian Special B
1.5 lb. Flaked rye
1 lb. Rye malt

mash 60 minutes at 150-158

1 tsp irish moss at 15 min.

Hops:
.5 oz. Columbus (13% AA, 60 min.)
.5 oz. Columbus (13% AA, 20 min.)
.5 oz. Columbus (13% AA, 10 min.)
.5 oz. Columbus (13% AA, 2 min.)

Yeast: Nottingham

Augie got this recipe off homebrewtalk.com, and this is the first all grain we did. We used my new 7.5 gallon SS pot, courtesy of 3333 N Kimball's Joong Boo Market. It was good. We did 4 gallons mash water which is right around the 1.25 quarts water / pound of grain. Then we heated up extra water to sparge with. The rinsing way is better than letting it sit in the water. We rinsed the 2-row with 2 gallons, and the specialty with 1 gallon. We actually beat the expected original gravity which was 1.050, and ours was 1.051. Good to know our efficiency is proper. Cooled it down in the tub, pitched the yeast, and we're set to go!

About 16 hours later, and the krausen is just starting to form.

IPA clone of Burning River Brew #004

2010-03-23T17:11:00.002-05:00

Type: Partial Mash
Date: 3/19/2010
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (3 Gallon)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00
Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 30.15 %
1.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 10.05 %
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 50.25 %
0.63 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.33 %
0.19 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 1.91 %
0.13 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 1.31 %
0.75 oz Cascade [7.40 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.25 oz Northern Brewer [10.40 %] (60 min) Hops 20.3 IBU
1.25 oz Northern Brewer [10.40 %] (45 min) Hops 18.6 IBU
0.50 oz Northern Brewer [10.40 %] (30 min) Hops 6.2 IBU
1.25 oz Cascade [7.40 %] (1 min) Hops 0.6 IBU
5.00 gal Chicago, IL Water
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

Mashed real grain for the first time, and I'm dryhopping this guy too. The fermentation is going crazy with a nice smooth roll going on in the fermenter. Hope to get it into the secondary by Friday for another week with the dryhops. Ready to drink May 1st.

English Mild, Brew #03

2010-03-14T12:54:00.003-05:00

#1: American Pale Ale is pretty gone. We both have 1 22oz bottle left. It's finally hit its stride though, really good and balanced as far as it can get.

#2: Imperial Blonde is done fermenting. Just need some more bottle caps and it'll be good to go. Should clock in around 8%.

#3: English Mild with more grain usage. Using more specialty grains in this one, hopefully it'll be good. This is the first non-kit we have tried. Also a low alcohol beer so it's more about the flavor in this one. I had to substitute in Brown Malt for the Briess Special Roast Malt which might lend itself to being a little different tasting, but the brown malt is supposed to be smoky and delicious too, so we shall see.

beer, bikes, broads

2010-03-13T14:21:00.003-06:00

Going to be doing the third or fourth brew soon. The Imperial Blond is ready to be bottled. Letting it sit in the secondary for a few days to age it proper. An English Mild or Porter or Stout is probably coming up next.

I'm thinking up a Barleywine for my brother's wedding which is about 6 months away. It will include fancy labels, waxed caps, and 6 months of aging.

Other news: I came home from Connecticut to see a new hardtail frame sitting for me. A 1996 Schwinn Homegrown series. Made either by Yeti in Durango, or Control Tech in Seattle. Some of the last USA-built schwinns to ever exist. Sick!

Checked out Revolution Brewery last night and it was pretty good. Some of the beers need more personality but whatever. It made me want to brew a English Mild, which is like a tastier, less strong version of a porter. Not as grody mouth-slime taste as a porter, which I usually don't like. Their stout is eh, I liked their IPA but it needs a bigger glass. Fuck this sniffer BS.

Whoever wants to be part of the 24 hour race team this summer, get at me.

Stride into the quarter

2010-03-06T02:12:00.002-06:00

I'm like, 24 and stuff now man. That is, if you believe in time. It's all part of the cosmic unconsciousness.

Video Nasties #1 hits stands soon. needs probably 10-15 more titles. then I'll get it made up.

Anyways, here's to planes that land properly & free pizza.

R.I.P. Chicago guitar shredder and nice dude all around

2010-02-12T17:31:00.001-06:00

Rest in Peace, Derrick Ponce

Rick played in many bands, I met him through Disrobe along with the many great dudes in that band. He has sadly passed away from a fight with cancer. Fuck you cancer.

1.snoopeez tapeworm-89'-91'
2.bottles flyin'-92'
3.rat bastards-94'-05'
4.generation excrement-96'-97'
5.subjugated-97'
6.district 13[oi'!]-97'
7.mob action99'
8.fleabag-99'-04'
9.pummel the insolent-02'
10.u.f.g.c.-02'
11.uncle brown eye-02'-03'
12disrobe-03'-present
13.[t.b.a.]
_____________________________
also;here are all my metal bands :
intruder-83'
amroth-83'-84'
reign of terror-85'-86'
grynch mob-86'-87'
devastation of our minds-88'
dead by dawn-89'
project x--92'
pontious pilate & the naildrivers-92'-93'
misguided souls-93'-94'
_______________________________
but wait,theres more!:
mary janes defective blues band-93'[blues]
impressions-92'[?][latin,jazz,funk]
los crocadillos-[tex,mex,blues rock]-01'

hug your buddies and go smoke weed & listen to death side.

Indy Fab, what the f*&%?

2010-02-06T12:15:00.003-06:00

Just caught word that Independent Fabrications announced some new bicycle models, oh gee what could be in store? customized lugged titanium, a beautiful old style steel racer? a 29er 1x9 made out of some awesome shit?

No.

I can't even say it. Just go to their blog site and see for yourself.

"The Higgins"

Game over man, game over!!

Shows, beers, movies

2010-01-29T17:12:00.004-06:00

Some more shows around here. Cococoma @ Cal's tomorrow, the 30th of January. and some other shit, whatever. I saw Hollows at Ronny's and that band is pretty great. They remind me of the sugar pop that Peek-A-Boo Records from Austin, TX delivers on a steady pace.

Peekaboo once had a buy one get one sale on their entire distro so I bought pretty much everything they had. This includes a little known, but beautifully written & produced 7" called "Poopiehead - What's Big, Red & Eats Poopies".

This is some of my favorite music ever..it reminds me somewhat of All Girl Summer Fun Band but way better and hilarious. You could play it for a 3 year old and they'd love it, and so would the most jaded of punxs.

Digression over. Hollows is playing at Hideout tonight, maybe people should go to that, they are entertaining. Last time the drummer missed his cymbal several times which is my favorite part of seeing live musicians play together.

The Hooch Pooch brew #1 is bottled and currently carbonating & aging. 9 days in the carboy and it should arrive with around 5% alcohol. I could figure this out more precisely but I didn't give a shit in the beginning nor do I really that much now.

I'm going to make a magazine of all the movies watched at Video Nasties with short reviews and my ideas on "cinema" and "film" which is that violence rules and it should all be called "movies" unless it's actually on god damn "film".

2010

2010-01-10T23:49:00.005-06:00

I tried to convince myself to start going to some more shows this year, which has worked so far. Went to see Get Up with the Get Down which I had yet to see. It was a good time. I used to go to see bands all the time, that shit was my life until I became a courier then I got so geeked and tired all the time I never did anything else. This has been kind of a decompression time for me.

But now I have this list...
1/16/10: Ronny's, Catburglers
1/16/10: Mopery, Battleship
1/21/10: Empty Bottle, The Krunchies
1/22/10: Hideout, Plastic Crimewave Sound
1/29/10: Cals, Rabid Rabbit
2/07/10: Reggie's, DRI
2/10/10: Double Door, Polysics
2/25/10: Empty Bottle, Hair Police
2/27/10: Ronny's, Kiss Kiss (these guys are good as fuck, old ct buddies)
2/28/10: Reggie's, Magrudergrinder
4/02/10: Empty Bottle, Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.
4/10/10: Double Door, Mission of Burma
5/14/10: Reggie's, Capitalist Casualties

Pretty good so far. Acid Mothers, some good grind and punk bands, some weirdo noise shit. Hopefully everyone will play well and I'll be able to afford to go there.

I have my torches ordered so I can start looking for tanks soon enough. I ended up going with a Harris starter kit. It didn't cost too much and it should be reliable.

Phil, Dylan, Mike and I went up to Madison for the bike swap and scored some bike stuff. Top finds were probably Phil with a Juicy 3 brakeset for $15, and Mike found a nice silver thompson stem for $20! I found a good short stem for my surly and grabbed a 22oz of Stone Double Bastard. Stoked to drink that at some point. anyways, onto bike geek.

I am probably going to get a REBA fork by Rock Shox at some point soon. I have a little more to save up. My posture should be fixed with the 40mm Hussefelt stem from the Madison bikeswap, along with some nice truvativ oversized bars, and I put the XTR front brake on the Surly. All in all, this bike should be doing pretty damn good in it's second year of life.

oh yeah, and red dog disc wheel is alive and well. It looks like shit, suck a fuck.

Get Nasty!

2009-11-18T21:14:00.012-06:00

Chicago's cross season has wrapped up. Bradley Gates placed pretty well considering he did this every lap.

Thanks to Ed White for this picture of me and a buncha babes (I'll include Adam)

Black Friday went off without a hitch at the end of November. Cruel Simon won, damn you Simon!

Haven't really posted about anything since I haven't been doing shit besides picking up dog shit all week.

I am trying to pick up some brazing torches for Festivus, so if you know a builder who wants to teach me the ropes I will give them many beers and many hugs, and I'll provide my own tubing. If you also have any broken old rusted out cruiser frames or a cracked fork or something I will come pick it up off you since I need scrap metal to practice on.

I applied to Independent Fabrications for an apprentice position. Here's to hoping!

ps, here's this for the lovers and haters.....

All the leaves are brown

2009-10-31T12:17:00.003-05:00

Fall is in all its beautiful effect right now. I have never seen fall before in Chicago. Not sure if it never showed up or I'm delusional. Either way 55-65 degree days, lots of rain and falling leaves are pretty rad.

FInally fixed my computer with a new monitor and hooked up the recording gear. Hope to get it together better in the coming months. Anyone selling some digital record input stuff? No? okay.

Not much to update here. Halloween Alleycat in Chicago is a joke, Arturo won but some kid paid to win or something? Lame. Carve pumpkins and go outside while it's not snowing out.

65, Sunny, and I'm inside

2009-10-19T14:46:00.009-05:00

"I'm like, cmonnnn update the blog, then I go to the team site and it's like "fuck I don't want to do this"

North Branch Cycling put on the 4th stage of the Chi Cross Cup yesterday morning. It was a good time. Didn't try to race after getting shut DOWN at Dekalb's race. Molly and myself shotgunned beers while proclaiming how much we hate cross. "It's just not fun". Hilarious. No idea who won what, but everyone seemed real exhausted after the 4's race. I don't know how the 30+ Master's guys do it, because they are screaming fast. Avi did well in his category. Kyle Hagerman of Pegasus caught a bogus flat early onto his race. Bummer, dude!

The bunny of money being set out to feed the great racers of the Chi Cross Cup with hotdogs, dollar bills, hotdogs AND dollar bills, bacon, snickers bars, and hotdogs, dollar bills AND bacon, and god knows what else.

Then tragedy struck as the bunny was pummeled into the tree, wrapping itself taut in the yellow tape of DOOM!!!

Luckily it was set free to roam the skies once again.

I rode the course a little bit, and it was pretty dope. Lots of short lines, with quick turns and barriers in well thought out areas. Pretty hard sandpit and the little hill was very well used. BMX pump track to boot. After a lot of bunny money, dollar dogs, bacon handups, and giving candy to children, we made our way back to Chi proper where I spent my rent money on tequila and mashed taters.

In other news, Phil & I hit up the Des Plaines River Trail on Saturday and it was rad. Picks up around 8000 w North Ave, and goes up to 8800 W Bryn Mawr or so. Lots of single track, some sweet bridges, underpasses, and puddles to run through. A bunch of graffiti spots, too. I recommend it.

Chicago Cross Cup #2: Hopkins Park, Dekalb IL

2009-10-05T10:27:00.008-05:00

Hopkins Park Race was yesterday. Stage 2 of the Chicago Cross Cup...

Got my Surly ready for the SS race the night before, too bad I forgot to fit it to me, so everything was wrong (saddle height, air pressure). Whatev.

Rode on out on the Cruiser, and showed up as the Masters were just starting. Around 10am. Registered and raced for the single speed race at Noon. Pretty sure I got last place, well done. Apparently the bell being rung means one more lap not the race is over. Someone should explain that one, or maybe I need to listen more. I could list the many reasons I couldn't go fast plus the fact I'm not fast to begin with, but whatever. ha!

Anyways, cyclocross apparently is utter hell. Who would have known?

This is the switchbacks on a hill where the Cruiser was parked. These are super tough, and slippery. On my first lap some guy slid down the hill and totally killed all my momentum, thanks that guy. That totally helped my out of shape body be extra fast. Second lap I did get a lit cigarette hand-up though. That helped!

This is Avi [in the skittle leg&arm warmers], the 2009 Officially Unofficial IL St CX SingleSpeed Champ!! Dude killed it.

--------

In other news, my job search is still hilarious and defeating. I did some more work on ol' boy's chain driven machines. I saw the weirdest part I've ever seen in my life so far...

This is a "3" speed hub and 7 speed cassette. Weird thing besides double drives, is that the 3rd gearing on the internal hub is a neutral, so that the freewheel disengages so the chain just spins. I don't understand why, but apparently it's built by SRAM.

Madison, Wisconsin, why must you be so cold?

2009-09-21T08:13:00.004-05:00

What a great little city. It reminds me alot of Austin, TX minus that it's not mind-bogglingly hot in May.

Ali's co-worker got married this weekend, and she was the officiant so we got some free meals and stuff. Let's say this dude is an incredible cook. He designed the menu for the reception, and all the rest of the food was great too. Oh yeah, and New Glarus Spotted Cow on tap. Dude knows how to roll.

Here's the menu. I had salmon, Ali had the gnocchi which was probably the best of the menu.

------------------------------------------

Madison also had a great selection of beers. They have a ton of microbrews and I picked up a random one that also co-brews with a great coffee roaster, "Just Coffee Co-op""

This beer is called Oscura, and it's brewed by Furthermore

It is brewed with coffee, and honestly tastes good. It isn't the usual coffee stout, or breakfast stout where it's dark, slimy, and delicious. This is amber colored, almost fruity sweet, but also has a good roasted bean taste to it. It's almost like one made a beermosa but with iced coffee instead of orange juice. Really good. Might be a bit expensive, but it's very delicious. I guess it's 5.3% abv. I'd drink this stuff for breakfast.

This dude needs money.

2009-09-15T13:45:00.001-05:00

Hey I'm trying to pick up some work with my skills here. If you need a wheel built, or something tuned on your bike, or a wheel trued or something...I can do it for cheap. Just get the parts you need, and I'll do the work. I have most all the tools needed.

Cool

Pole dawgs

2009-09-14T19:03:00.007-05:00

I heard there was a new court being used for Chicago's small but ever so enthusiastic hard court bike polo players, so I went to check it out. My attendance over the last year has been spotty at best, non-existant at worst.

The court used to be over in Garfield Park which had it's ups and downs. The cops didn't really give a sh*t if a couple goofy looking white kids are smacking a ball around. The downside was actually getting there is kind of a pain in the ass. After living on Avers & Chicago, the west side hood is not very accomodating to bicycle ridin' folk. Whatever.

Anyways, the new spot is at 910 S. Aberdeen near UIC and is pretty dope. It has lights at night, and is alot easier to access, even if it's farther away. The people I met months back are still cruising around playing and getting better while I'm still a total rookie.

Tucker's bike company,Fleet Velo, is springing up too. Buy one.

A couple of us were involved in some picture shenanigans also.

And The Chicago Cuttin' Crew has been up to no good even more. Congratulations to Jeff Perkins for winning the Illinois State Championship Road Race in his Category 4. Dude's are blazing full steam these days. I hope to get a nicer track frame and start working out this winter in order to start next year.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

9/11 was an inside job

2009-09-11T00:00:00.012-05:00

This will only be funny to about 4 people in the world ever but here's to Joe, Emma, Charlie, and Meaghan.

Joe Bernardi said it best:

if you zoom in on the smoke it spells out "spencer is a yuppie now"

Cross starts in 1 week. I have a photoshoot for "Thought You Knew" calendars. Arturo has a race tomorrow in downtown. Get ready to do pushups.

Support their endeavors, I think it's pretty cool.

For Whom the (Wedding) Bells Toll...

2009-09-09T12:16:00.004-05:00

Congratulations to Nick & Ellen Branson for their recent marriage. Shit was awesome, and the after party or "reception" if you are an adult was a good time. I am still waiting for my camera cord to show up but I'll leave it at this for now:

EDIT: Okay, got the cord in the mail just now. Uploaded the pictures to Flickr so just look to your right and click there. Enjoy. Had to cut out alot of pictures because they were blurry.

Chicago Rules

2009-09-03T13:39:00.012-05:00

Cuttin Crew Classic happened last weekend. Augdog, Trips and I spent many an evening eating sausages and discussing how the f*ck to do this thing. It all worked out in the end. We had a minor hangup on main race day, but whatever. Shit ruled. Three Parisians raced. Nikki got a god damned tattoo of it. Around $200 was raised for the CMWC 2011 bid too, so let's hope that happens.

Top 3 for the supercat and alleycat total:

1. Andrew Nordyke
2. Max Riordan
3. Mike Morell

Nikki M took first female, with 25 points for getting the Cuttin Crew Classic tattoo

Sunday's Team Time Trial was a success. 21 people raced in teams of 3, here are the results. The race was from Humboldt Park, to 6300 W Touhy, and back for approximately a 20 mile ride.

1st: TEAM LOOSE: Mike Urbanis, Casey Comiskey, and Dan with a time of 55 minutes, 15 seconds
2nd: TEAM DARKHORSE: Phil Breuer, Adam Hansel, and Brian Ellison with a time of 58 minutes, 0 seconds
3rd: TEAM THREE TO RULE THEM ALL: Nico Cabrera, Arturo Rodarte, and Mike Malone with a time of 1 hour, 2 seconds
4th: TEAM DISCWHEEL: Ben Fietz, Josh Shough, and Kyle Goodmaster with a time of 1 hour 8 minutes, 10 seconds
5th: TEAM ORKENWAY: Tim, Dan, and John with a time of 1 hour 14 minutes, and 10 seconds
6th: TEAM DEERHEAD: Chris, Marcus, and Grant with a time of 1 hour 17 minutes, and 0 seconds
7th: TEAM ABERCROMBIE & FITCH: Mickey, Anthony, and Justin with a time of 1 hour, 18 minutes and 0 seconds

-------------------

Messenger Prom was the jam, hats off to Korby. Everyone looked awesome.

Josh and Molly got prom king and queen, which ruled.

Trips being mad awkward on stage. Keep freaking out the squares.

French Polo kids about to ride the trials course in my yard. Awesome.

Full results can hopefully be compiled soon. More pictures at Chi Mess Prom.com and on my flickr

Thanks to 4Star, and all the CCC sponsors for a great weekend. Next year!

Stay High

2009-09-03T11:42:00.006-05:00

I read, and encourage others to read Shockstar, another site kept by a one Ben Shockey who I do not know but apparently is balls to walls on a mountain bike.

Anyways, reading his site today, I saw he linked to a friend who has some fucked upform of ALS, and is a former triathlete. Now my disdain for triathletery because of their lack of respect of bicycles often is unfounded if not completely ridiculous. Dude clearly don't give a f*ck. Probable ALS. Definite Hilarity

Jackson Park cyclocross race is coming soon. September 20th. I might be at a wedding in Madison which will be cool and all, but I'd rather be drinking beer and yelling. We'll see

Canadian cycle Courier killed

2009-09-02T14:00:00.003-05:00

Cycle Courier Darcy Allan Sheppard was killed Monday night by a car driven by former Attorney General of Ontario Michael Bryant.

My thoughts go out to him and his family. He left behind 4 children at the age of 33.
Story

Slow Down, Pardnur

2009-08-23T22:44:00.003-05:00

Things have been super slow round here. Almost went back to delivering food but couldn't stand it. Made $35 though so I have some food money atleast. This is getting old. Printed out a bunch of resumes and stole an envelope to put them in at Kinko's.

Cyclecross season is coming...practice starts this Tuesday morning @ Montrose & California. Pretty excited for that atleast. I must abolish the summer bummer beer gut I've been growing over the past few months.

Matt from Iron Cycles was telling me they are trying to get a ChiCrossCup race going there this fall. Hopefully

Not stoked at all on the job search but if I can get anything other than some shit outside it'll be cool. Mainly because this isn't my idea of a good time...

Oh yeah, and the motherfucking Cuttin' Crew Classic is on for this weekend. 7PM @ Cal's Friday, High Noon on Saturday at Blue Frog

Over and out.

Hamm's for breakfast, Hamm's for dinner

2009-07-26T22:30:00.005-05:00

After a great drunken cross mount onto my road bike which looked more like a bicycle tackle than a running mount, I decided to swap bikes and try to get some dirt jumps in today. Trips, Jen (in from MPLS for the week) and I all headed over.

Well, somewhere along the way we forgot it's Sunday and the place was packed with 5 year olds riding the wrong way on everything and getting in the way. After a few frustrating takes at doing the jumps, and the wetted down reconstruction, we took off. Guess Sunday is the off-day for everyone that is at all skilled.

Here's some random kid being WAY better than me on the jumps.

Going to check out Saw Wee Kee if possible this week. Or just dirt jumps and the Metra tracks.

Heading to Boston for the NACCC or whatever you want to call it. Hope Jacob gets his ass beat for totally screwing up. Really want to get to the Palos Meltdown, but it's the day after Messenger Prom. My camera is dead, so nothing to report on the photo end.

I did bake a great pie the other day, though.

2009-07-12T22:05:00.005-05:00

Ripped it up a bit in downtown at the spot. Forgot my camera of course but snapped some pictures on Trips' phone right before we left. You can't see the 8 feet of sick air we were getting because it was a camera phone.

and my ugly mug

Hopefully this kicker will get better with time, and the real launches will start. There is enough to tweak your front tire while mid-air though, which rules.

Found this dope graffiti mural too. This is an entire underpass wall, so probably 30 feet wide by 10 feet tall.

Jeeeeezzzz

2009-07-08T18:05:00.005-05:00

Figured out how to get this in here. Josh goofing off in Minneapolis woods earlier this year. More to come..

Side note: Al Urbanski is one fast mofo.

Go see Guilty Faces / Bad Antics on tour right now. Get them drunk and shake their hands.