Banff Film Festival

Two weeks ago I went to Cleveland with Traci for the Banff Mountain Film Festival @ the Allen Theatre downtown. We had a great evening of munchies Mustard Seed Market and Chipotle, and drinks from Willoughby Brewing Company. Their Rye and Red were on tap and were quality beers. They were nothing fancy, but definitely better than a macrobrew. To put it another way, I would try some other microbrews before I went back for either one, but at a social function, you have to appeal to the masses...

The films were all about mountain sports and outdoor activities, which is right up our alley. As is the usual, the film makers went for the "extremes" in all the disciplines such as a deep water climbers swimming out to arches in New Zealand (I think) and free climbing. and a guy on BC Canada creating "trails) of 2.5"-3" boards and having three feet vertical drops to another at 90 degree angles. Something that nobody else, maybe one or two others, can actually do. Nothing like making people think they can't really participate in these sports! I'm done venting, but it was still a great series of short films. If you ever get the chance, you should check it out if it comes by your neck of the woods.

School is almost out and I am off to Texas for a week, but after that, riding, climbing , and camping should all pick up.

Spring is here!

With the bike finished, it has been a little hard to find time until the past week. Temperatures have hit the 50's and even some 60's this weekend, so Wednesday is the first time I had a chance to ride outside this year. It was wonderful. It was quite apparent that we have had a lot of precipitation this year and the Spring Peepers were out in force! This is probably my favorite time of year and could not image living in Florida or Southern California and missing this...

Beers and Bikes...

Ah...

An evening around the apartment riding inside, then having a couple of beers, and then putting the finishing touches on my new cyclocross bike. I don't think there is a better thing to do on a Wednesday night. I had to cancel the red headset and stick with a regular black Chris King. It looks fine anyway. Here's the finished product.



I may actually ride into school today since it is supposed to be around 50 degrees tomorrow. A new product we at the shop are excited about is the new SKS "Race Blades" fenders that can be set up to be removable. Pretty cool design that can hang out in the closet when the weather is nice. I'll see all of you Ohio folks this weekend as I will be down for some great Jazz at the Blue Olive in Canton on Friday night.

Biology News!

Some things have popped up in the news recently which I find pretty cool. A grad student out west captured footage of a wolverine in the Sierra Nevada mountains outside of Reno, NV. It's the first documented siting in quite some time (I think 40 years). Instant publication would be wonderful! Other researchers in Ithaca, NY are testing a vending machine for crows. Imagine the money that could be made from pigeons in the big cities!

http://www.wireless.is/projects/crows/

(thanks for the link Erin)

That's all for now as I am off for lecture...

New Bike Parts!

Nothing makes your bike happier than outfitting it with a whole new component group. The rest of my components cam in and I had a chance to install them before heading down to Ohio for the end of my Spring break. I had some plans for some long road rides, but weather would not cooperate, just like it has been doing all winter, so I tried out the new SRAM Force group on the trainer. The preliminary thoughts are that SRAM got it right the first time with this group. The shifting has a stiffer tactile response than Shimano and after a couple of minutes, you get used to the double tap system. I was not surprised with the functionality because I have been a SRAM proponent since the inception of Gripshift (and yes that dates me a little.) Overall the bike is much sweeter, and break was great for all the galivanting around town off the bike. Now if only my headset would come in, then I could gush about the 'cross bike...

Fishing and Biking

With this week being my spring break (yep Feb. 23rd to March 2nd!) I've had some free time to get some more riding in and headed out ice-fishing. With a cold front moving in, and the lunar cycles indicating poor fishing, we didn't do so great. We had a great 20 minutes around dusk, and then nothing. It's still great to get outside in the middle of winter and stay active. The photo's from Doyle Lake outside of Chelsea, MI. It's hard to complain about 30's and sunny in February, but I am ready to ride outside.


The biking inside has been getting boring inside lately as I am impatiently waiting for my parts to arrive. Just a gripe, but one of the worst things about working in a bike shop (besides working when you would rather be riding) is that employee orders always seem to take forever. If I was a normal customer, I would be a little upset it took so long. Two and a half weeks seems excessive, but apparently they came in today, so my SRAM group will no longer be bored...

Welcome to the Blog!

So if you've made it this far, you're probably someone I know. If you're not, stick around, it may be interesting, especially if you like stories of bike rides, the tall fishing tale, or are looking for some interesting homebrew recipes. If you do know me, I'm sure I haven't seen you in quite a while, so here's a chance to catch up with what I have been up to over the years.

Growing up fishing led me to go to grad school and I studied fish behavior. Since grad school, I have been teaching biology at EMU in Michigan and have been riding my bicycles more every year. Since I no longer have to live on ramen and Kraft Mac and cheese, I've gotten back into brewing beer. So if the stories of a self proclaimed coffee, beer, and bike snob pique your interest, stick around because it may get interesting.

By the way, the start of this blog is thanks to my sister and brother-in-law's own blog. Feel free to thank them (or razz them) on the link to their blog.