I kind of hate Lovely Bicycle! for alerting me to this, as it's not available in the US, but HonestBrew's Howlers are just sick. Three craft beers in a cylindrical tube that's small enough to fit in your rig's bottle cage. How great is that?
Unfortunately, Howlers are only available in the UK. So no dice here in the heartland of the US. Maybe we'll see something like this launch closer to home. Guess I'll just have to live vicariously through Velouria over at Lovely Bicycle!
Finally! I got to go on the Cruisin' for a Brewsin', and it was even more fun than advertised.
I hadn't been able to go until now because I either worked on the evening of the third Thursday of the month, or we hadn't booked a sitter in time. At last, though, the stars aligned, and I got to see what everyone was talking about.
To say it was fun would be the biggest understatement in town. It's a friendly crew; I knew a bunch of the people who went, but met a few new people as well. Everyone was really nice, and riding in a group in town is always weirdly empowering.
We started out at the Dugout, then took a few laps around the square before heading over to Ebbet's Field, and then popping in to Skinny Slim's for an unscheduled visit before heading into Patton Alley. Cody and I peeled off at that point and headed home, but everyone else went back to the Dugout to finish the night off.
It was extra awesome, you guys. I'm definitely going again, and you should, too.
Holy shit! Turnout for the Cruisin' for a Brewsin' Bike Pub Crawl was a little weak by the end of the summer last year, so I had some concerns about whether they'd reboot it for 2014. It's hard to communicate my sheer delight when I got the invitation via Facebook for the kickoff event, which is taking place this coming Thursday, March 20th.
A few notes on the event: 1) The weather is going to be fucking perfect - current forecast calling for a high of 67 with sunny skies. 2) The route is fantastic, and is as follows:
Depart Dugout at 6:30pm
Lindberg's on C-Street
Trolley's on the Square
Back to Dugout
Each stop usually lasts about an hour, which means we'll be back at the Dugout and beginning to disperse by around 9:30pm. And I absolutely love it when Lindberg's is on the agenda - the trip between downtown and Commercial Street never disappoints.
I hope to see you all there, because it's guaranteed to be a great time.
I know it's the 11th hour (I meant to post this earlier in the week), but the 4th ever Cruisin' for a Brewsin' bicycle pub crawl is tonight. The plan is to gather and grease the shoot at The Dugout between 6:15 and 6:30, and then hit Billiards, Harbell's, and The Flea before returning to The Dugout. As usual, I expect it will be pretty bitchin', and it looks like the weather will hold out until after the bars close.
Yesterday I turned 31, but it's okay because I got carded when I went to the store for beer.
It's also okay because I was the recipient of many, many kind birthday wishes from the people in my life. Plus, Cody gave me a GoPro.
Cody also proposed that we go do something fancy, but all I really wanted to do was check out the Frisco Highline Trail and play with the new toy. Our friend Kenny joined us, and we had a great time.
It was only about six miles from Springfield to Willard, where we decided to turn around because that's where the pavement stopped. It was a quick ride, too quick really. We did our best to prolong it with pit stops for refreshments and snacks, but we were on our way back to Springfield in less than 45 minutes.
I discovered the best way to extend a day on the trail: Fall off your bike.
I was messing around with the new camera, and my front wheel went off the right side of the pavement. I tried to jump back on, but crashed instead. I scraped up my shoulder, both hands, both knees and broke a toe nail in half.
Kenny dashed on ahead to beg for first aid supplies from the Willard City Pool.
Late last month, I caught a lucky break in having my mother-in-law in town to watch my son, which freed me up to attend the second-ever Cruisin' for a Brewsin' bicycle pub crawl. As an aside, I keep calling it a 'bike crawl,' but that seems inaccurate. We are not crawling from bike-to-bike. Instead we are crawling from pub-to-pub via bicycle. Therefore, 'bicycle pub crawl' seems a more apt description.
The event is held every third Thursday of the month until the end summer, which means the next one will be on July 18th. I didn't make it to the first Cruisin' for a Brewsin' in May, but I can tell you with certainty that the second one was totally badass. There were about 50 riders, and it was an awesome group of folks. We started at The Dugout (which seems to be a consistent thread for this event), then hit Lindberg's, Patton Alley, and Farmer's Gastropub. We spent about an hour at each spot, meaning that I was home and in bed by around 11 pm, which allowed me a good night's rest for work the next morning.
This month's schedule is posted on the Mother's Brewing Company website (they co-sponsor the event). It's set to start off at The Dugout at 6:15 pm, followed by Ebbets Field, Mother's, Skinny Slim's, then back to The Dugout.
It's bound to be a pretty rad time. I'll be there. You should too.
Finally! I got to go on the Cruisin' for a Brewsin', and it was even more fun than advertised.
