Alive and Well

Hello buoys and gulls. Long time no post. With all the projects around the house and yard, along with work, and trying to fit in bike racing and training, the ol' blog has been a little neglected. Sorry. Things are going well though. Lots of things to report.

Andy and Becca were here for the weekend a few weeks ago. We had fun, and I made Becca cry (I think from laughing) with a tasteless baby joke.

Mary's season started with strong showings in the first of many aquathons and triathlons. Her next race is an Olympic distance event this Sunday.


Last weekend Mary's parents came for a visit, which is always a good time. We ate lots of good food, and even had some greens from my garden.

Brian and I raced the State Championship road race on Saturday. Brian has a good recap over on his blog. I felt really good throughout the race, except for some cramping on the climb on the last lap. I gave 'er a go at the base of the final climb, which was fun. Normally I get shelled out the back of the pack in road races less then half way into the race, so it felt good to be competitive. Next up is the UWW time trial, crit and road race, where we'll be in full Team Brown Bear livery. Fun times indeed. The fitness is finally coming around, so I expect a decent showing especially in the time trial and crit.

My parents are coming this weekend. Baseball and triathlon spectating are in the cards, along with some good food.

Although I haven't been blogging I've still been scouring the interwebs for cool rare shit. Here's a link to a handmade French tubular tire maker. Francois Marie Boyaux makes world class tubulars, very similar to Dugasts, but 20% cheaper.

Every list I've ever seen rating the best beers in the world has Trappist Westvleteren 12 in the #1 spot. Every list. It's hard to get though, to say the least. Apparently you call the abbey, and some monk tells you what beer is available, and gives a time and date you can come pick it up. You give him the license plate number of the car picking it up. Naturally there is a one case per car limit. 30 euros gets you a case though, which is pretty reasonable for such a mythic beverage. There is an inn across the street from the abbey where you can get one or two though. These are the only legitamate ways to aquire this stuff. I figured since you can get a Cambodian baby on the black market, surely you can get a case of rare beer. Well faithfull readers, after months of searching, I found some. Belgianshop.com has them. $18 a beer and $450 a case, plus another $75 for shipping. Those are not typos.

Hell yeah.