so long XTC, thanks for everything

Last week, as I told you, I decided to buy a new mtn bike. Here's a picture of her! (you can click on it to enlarge) She's a Specialized Epic. Isn't she pretty? She should arrive sometime in March. I can't wait! I'm so excited! I was able to get a pro deal on the bike from specialized through the racing team I just joined: the International Christian Cycling Club or ICCC or IC3. We were able to get more than 40% off! It was a sweet deal. I guess now I have to race for the team this year. If we got bikes through their deal, we are obligated to race in at least 4 races this year. That's cool though, I'm looking forward to racing. I think this bike will help me out a lot too. I'm used to riding on a hard tail and last year I got torn apart on the downhills. A full suspension will really help me.

This bike has a sweet front fork (Fox F100RL) and a pretty high tech rear shock. It's the new 'brain' shock by fox and it is suposed to ride like a hardtail until you hit a large bump, then the shock activates and acts like a full suspension. Last year was the first year for the 'brain' and its downfall was that the first bump would really jar you because the shock was still stiff. This year they improved it so that the shock will absorb the first shock. I test rode one and it really works. Pretty impressive. This bike also has hydraulic disk brakes which I'm excited about. I'm used to mechanical discs and I think these will be much nicer and hopefully not as noisy.

I hope that I'm able to place better at races this year with my new bike. Not that I need to win to have fun, it would just be more fun. I think i'm going to fit my old mtn bike for my fiancee so we can go riding together more often. That will be sweet too!

BuffaloHead

Wednesday night my roomate and I went to the Sun and I had a pint of the Buffalo Head Stout by mountain sun. It was a good beer. Sweet, but not too sweet. They added some juniper berries to the batch which gave the beer a very slight earthy finish. I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't looking for it. It was a good stout, but nothing fantastic. Before we left we purchased a growler of brokeback stout. I'll have to try that and let you know what I think.

cherry dip

Last week I went to the Mountain Sun and tried their new Cherry Dip Stout. It's made in the same manner as their Belgian Dip Stout (with lots of milk and dark chocolate) except they also add a bunch of dried cherries to the mix. This beer was fantastic! It's on nitro tap so it is extra smooth. The chocolate makes the beer slightly sweet, but still slightly bitter. And the cherries add a very slight tartness to the beer. Amazing. I think this is my favorite beer I've ever tasted.

sappy valentine post

Consider yourself warned...
Last night, for valentines day, I had made plans to take my sweetie out to dinner and then watch a movie at her house afterwards. Not too ambitious or overly romantic plans, but a nice night out none the less. I left work early in order to be able to pick up a movie from Redbox, buy a couple roses and not have to rush to pick up my date. However, I also thought I could squeeze in some work on my tax returns before I left. You see, I was trying to see how large my return would be so I would know if I had enough money to buy a new moutain bike by the deadline (today, I'll explain more later). So, I still thought I left with plenty of time, went to McDonald's and got a movie (March of the Penguins) and then headed to Safeway. I was running a little behind schedule, but thought I still had time to buy some roses. Of course, safeway and its parking lot was packed! I ran in, nervously looking at my watch, grabbed 3 roses, and ran to the self checkout line (I noticed that the roses each had their own barcode sticker on them). There was no one in line at this one and the two ladies using it were almost done (yes!), I think they were preparing for a date night themselves ;-). Finally it was my turn and I quickly swiped my roses, saving my safeway card for last. No surprise, the roses didn't register and a clerk had to come assist me. After he got that worked out I swiped my safeway card and the stupid thing said that I had to wait for help again! I was starting to lose my composure at this point. I finally got out of there and raced over to pick up my beautiful date. The time was 6:30 when we left her place (the time I made our reservation for) and we still had to make it all the way to Buca di Beppo near Flatirons mall! We walked in there about 25 minutes late and the hostess said she had to give our table away because we were more than 15 minutes late! I couldn't do anything except stand there and stare blankly as my heart was bombarded with attacks and feelings of failure. I had ruined Valentines. However, my wonderful fiancee wasn't dissapointed by it at all and reaffirmed her respect and affection for me. She's amazing. :-) We got a table surprisingly fast and continued to have a great dinner. Afterwards we went to her house and watched our movie, which I think she was a little dissapointed in, but she still didn't let it ruin her valentines. It's not over yet though. In my selfishness, I tried to finish my tax returns while watching the movie. She didn't even complain once. She even helped my try to figure them out after the movie when I was confused and frustrated by them. AND, she was even sick during the entire night. So, I never finished my taxes, but I did acomplish keeping my sick fiancee up too late. I felt like I had totally ruined valentines day, but she still thanked me for a great night and reaffirmed her love for me. I don't know what to say, she is incredible. I'm glad am going to marry such an understanding and supportive woman.

***
So, I never figured out what my tax return would be so I had to resort to just praying and asking God if I should by a new bike and if He would provide the funds for it. I think that's what He was longing for me to do, but I kept resorting to my own wisdom and other sources for confirmation. I thought if my return would be enought to cover it, I should buy the bike. I even asked my fiancee to pray for me, but He didn't tell her. He wants me to just trust Him and Him alone. When I finally quieted myself and listened to Him this morning, I felt that He told me to go ahead with the purchase and not to worry abou the money. He is so good. When will I learn to go to Him first every time?

black gold

I've been busy over the last week or so, but I have been slacking here on my blog. I've tried several more of the delicious stouts at Mountian Sun, so I will summarize them here now.

Stone Brewing, CA: Stone Imperial Stout:
This imperial style stout was very strong (around 10abv) and therefore served in a half pint wine-style glass. At first taste it was very thick feeling and very sweet tasting. The sweet taste gave way to many complex other tastes during the extremely long after taste. This was a very intense beer experience. However, after getting a little over half-way through the beer, the sweetness was overpowering the rest of the beer and giving me a unpleasant feeling in the gut. I did enjoy this beer though.

Mendocino Brewing, CA: Black Hawk Stout:
This stout was a more traditional stout. It was very good with a nice body. It was hard to taste it after drinking the Stone Imperial Stout. That one sort blows your taste buds for the rest of the night.

Zomby Woof Stout:
This one is by the mountain sun and is the driest stout they make. It is very similar to Guiness and has a low abv. I did enjoy this one, though it was not my favorite.

Korova Cream Stout:
This is another mountain sun beer. It is tapped on nitrogen and is extremely smooth. They use milk sugar to make this stout which gives it a very creamy taste. This was one of my favorite stouts because it is so delicious and drinkable.

Avery Brewing, CO: The Czar 'o3:
This is another imperial stout and probably the mightiest of them all. It is very strong and robust. It is extremely thick and sweet with flavors of toffee, plums, dates, and mocha. Apparently they saved this batch from last year and have been aging it for a year. This one is very complex. Don't expect to taste any other beers after this one. A great after dinner beer.

Deschutes Brewery, OR: Obsidian Stout:
This was one of my favorite stouts from last years stout and I could not wait to have another this year. They tapped this batch yesterday at 4pm so I had to head over there last night to make sure I grabbed a pint before they ran out. This is and excellent stout. I can't say anything else...

Dogfish

Last week I went to the Mountain Sun with some coworkers for lunch. I tried the Chicory Stout from Dogfish Head Brewery in Deleware. The stout was average. Nothing special to speak of. The service was terrible though. It took me about a half hour to recieve my beer. It ended up being free though :-)

IDiot!

I just want to write to say that my fiancee is amazing.

I however, am an idiot! I always find some way of sticking my foot in my mouth whenever I'm talking to her. OK, not every time we talk, but very often. I don't know what it is... I'm just not very good at predicting how my words will affect her.

She is amazing though. Every time I hurt her in this way she always forgives me. I don't know why she puts up with me, but I'm glad that she does. I don't deserve her, she should have ran screaming a long time ago. One of the coolest things she ever said to me though is, "I know you're not perfect, but I don't expect you to be. I want the imperfect you."

The Crown Jewel

Last night I went to the Mountain Sun for the first night of stout month. I went with a good friend of mine and we shared a couple our thoughts over a couple stouts. The place was packed full of beer lovers so we hung out at the bar. We started the night out with a half-pint of Usurper Russian Imperial Stout. Mountain Sun touts this brew as the crown jewel of stout month 2006. It was the 200oth batch of beer brewed and mountain sun and it was collaborated on by all of their brewers. It's been aging for 6 months and it has an ABV of 10. It's only served in an 8 ounce wine glass style glass apprently because of its value and strength. At first taste I was amazed at the complexity of this "barleywine". There were tons of different flavors to explore with each taste, making every sip a unique experience. I was very impresed with this beer, it was phenomenal.

We finished up the night with a half pint of Double Chocolate stout from Young's Brewery in England on nitro. This beer is alway great, one of my favorites. After the usurper however, it tasted very simple and sweet. It was also comparatively, very smooth. The nitrogen tap also increases the smoothness of the beer. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the usurper, but it was excellent none the less. I think I will have to have a full pint some time without preceding it with an usurper.

Mud Water

Happy groundhog day everyone! That movie by the same name with Bill Murray is one of my favorite movies. I'm not sure why I don't own it...


This holiday also signifies the start of one of my favorite months of the year. Stout month! That's right, the Mountain Sun pub in Boulder declares February "stout month" every year. They save their best stout recipes until this month and reveal them all at once. They make about 8 - 10 of their own stouts and also bring in a bunch of delicious stouts from other breweries as well. Now, I really enjoy drinking beer, but stouts are probably my favorite style of beer, so I get really excited about stout month. I can't drink more than one or two per visit though, so I'll have to go a bunch of times this month in order to experience them all. Hey, maybe I should keep a record here of the beers I try and what I though of them...