You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'Beer by Bike' tag.
We’ll be riding the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Nov 28th. It will be a little different from our normal format. Meet at the Art Museum at 10am, we’ll do a couple hours of riding. Afterward, we’ll be heading to Philadelphia Brewing Co’s Holiday Open House. Maybe we’ll throw a lunch stop in there somewhere too, who knows. We will also be discussing and planning an exciting potential future ride. Hope to see you there!
I love technology. Most of the time. Lois and I share a Google Calendar, where we organize our lives. It is an amazing tool, and works wonderfully. Most of the time.
Unfortunately, we both neglected to add a calendar event this Saturday. And it turns out that we have a wedding to attend at the same time that we are supposed to ride to Iron Hill. So I’m sorry to say that it looks like I will not be able to do this ride. I’m scrambling trying to organize for it to happen in my absence, but I haven’t been able to get it worked out yet. So, there is still a chance that some people will be riding to West Chester, but I can’t guarantee it. Yet. So if you’re reading this and want to lead the group, contact me. Or if you really want to ride and are planning on being there regardless, let me know. I’ll make sure you get the info you need to do the ride. I’m really sorry for this late notice.
And if nothing happens this Saturday, I will try to set something up for next Saturday (Halloween!!). I don’t want to break our streak of monthly rides completely!!
Is there anyone as excited about this weather as I am? This is beer drinking weather.
I had the rare pleasure of getting out last night to the Foodery for a man date. It was my first chance to really rock my Beer by Bike wool jersey. And first time for my cool weather gloves too. Sure, it was only 4 blocks away, but give me a break! I wanted to gear up and ride!
I enjoyed 2 wee heavies in light of the cooler weather, Duck Rabbit’s and Geary’s. Duck Rabbit consistently impresses me, and this was no different. Well balanced with a gentle bitterness. The Geary’s was perhaps more traditional with a syrupy sweetness, cloying and boozy. And I must say, I think I prefered it’s malt assault. I don’t know much about the brewery or their beers, but they are from Portland, ME. Yet another reason to go visit that town. Put it on my list.
Mark your calendars! This month we’re going to be riding out to Iron Hill in West Chester for their Gathering of the Gourds festival on October 24th. As much as I don’t like pumpkin beer, I do love the autumn, and this will be the perfect way to celebrate it. It will be a long ride, and it will go later than usual, so I would suggest figuring out your return plans ahead of time. I will do my best to arrange some motorized transportation for the way home, but I can’t guarantee it. If you’re planning on riding home, bring some lights, as the sun sets early and the suburbs are dark at night. The fest starts at 2pm, so we’ll plan on leaving from the Art Museum around 10am. The route will be very similar to the one we took to Victory Brewing. See you all soon!
As of Friday night, it was looking like our ride might be rained out. Even Saturday morning, I was all ready to get drenched en route to the Art Museum , expecting to wait in vain for anyone to show up. But though the skies were ominous, the rain was holding off. So starting with two friends who met at my house, we snowballed across town, meeting several people at Honey’s, and more on Spring Garden St. By the time we left, we were 13 strong, ready to brave the Ben Franklin Bridge and the Camden streets.
Though the roads were bumpy, and there was one flat, the ride wasn’t really bad at all. A leisurely pace, traffic played nice with us, and before we knew it we were there. We were fortunate enough to have Chris Lapierre, the head brewer of the brewpub and cyclist, on the ride with us. Many thanks to him for several pitchers of his beer, and for a special tour of the brewery. Other than the tour, the highlight of the afternoon (for me at least) was when Chris shared a couple bottles of sour beers he was working on. I love sour beers, and both of these were delicious and complex.
The ride back was more of the same, only hotter. And there was no rain on either part of the ride. So it ended up being a great day. About a 30 mile ride, some great beer, and awesome views of the city. Lets do it again sometime!
As is my usual style, I’ve neglected to announce this month’s bike ride. Never fear, however, this August will find our thirsty little legs taking us once again into the Garden State. Next Saturday, August 22nd, we’ll be riding to the newly opened Iron Hill location in Maple Shade, NJ. It should be a relatively flat 15 miles each way. However, it will be a high traffic ride, so be sure to bring your helmets and quick wits. To keep the plans consistent, we’ll be meeting as usual at the Art Museum. 10am. August 22nd. See you then!
I was surprised to arrive at the Art Museum in the wee hours of the morning to find people already waiting. In a strange turn of events, 12 riders were all up and ready to roll out right at 8am. Who said bikers are never on time?
The ride was pretty epic. It was a hot day, but fortunately most of the route was shady. And the quiet morning streets of the mainline almost made some of the harder hills enjoyable. Almost. It wasn’t actually a hard ride at all, and maybe I was the only one, but I’m far out of shape and found myself dropped quite a bit. Regardless, we all managed to stay together and roll up to the Victory Brewpub 5 minutes after they opened.
We took over the table in the corner, covered with a copper lauter tun top, and ordered up various flights of various beers. I went with a flight of special edition Pils brewed for the Craft Brewer’s Conference. Lunch, beer, air conditioning, it was the perfect Beer by Bike. We split up for the ride home, some rode back, some caught a train, and some were fortunate enough to hitch a ride (guilty as charged).
The total mileage was about 37 from Art Museum to Victory. And it was easy enough, and awesome enough, so don’t be surprised if you see this ride repeated at some point in the future.
I’m trying out a seperate Twitter account for Beer by Bike: www.twitter.com/beerbybike. I’m on twitter personally, but I would like to start using it to promote this blog, and the corresponding rides. We’ll see how much I keep on top of it. I’ve been using TweetDeck at home, which lets you post to multiple accounts. I’m also going to try one of those rss feed publishers, to let the twitterverse know when there is a new blog here. This post will serve as the first test case.
In my quest to convert the ride formerly known as “Beer of the Bike,” I’m going to start using this blog to announce upcoming rides.
And to kick it off, what better ride than a nice long one out to Victory Brewing Co in Downingtown, PA on July 25th. It’ll be a long ride, so we’ll be leaving early. I’ll post the times and details once I figure them out. But expect to meet at the Art Museum bright and early! And plan for some hills out in Chester County. For the way home, you can either ride back, hop on the R5, or arrange a ride. It will be about 35-40 miles each way.
Life is busy these days. I’m weeks away from being father to a third girl. I’m working way more hours than I want to. And I’m sleeping far less than I should. But I suppose I should get used to that.
But I am finding myself often in the country for work, which I’m making the most of. I’ve been able to schedule lunch at Sly Fox one day and Victory another. I hadn’t been to Victory before, so that was a treat.
And I’m in the car much more than on my bike, which annoys me to no end. But there’s no avoiding it right now. That is, until I’m able to ride a couple hundred miles within a couple hours, then maybe we’ll see.
Except for Beer of the Bike, where we rode to Earth Bread and Brewery last Saturday. I’ll update there soon.
Expect some changes in both sites soon, Beer of the Bike will soon be known simply as Beer by Bike. The fate of this site is still up in the air.
And speaking of which, check out the awesome birthday gift Lo got for me!
