Thursday, April 26, 2007
The Humiliators at 710 Club Tonight!!
Join The Humiliators as we continue our conquest of the Red River District! We take the stage at Room 710 (710 Red River) tonight at 11pm - we've got a new tune, plus plenty of the ass-kickin' rock you know you can't get enough of... get off your keisters and ROCK!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
bachelor party, mountain bikes and home brew - oh, my!
Rockin' the Bachelor Party
Weekends come and are as quickly gone, but the weekend just past (20-22 April) will go down in the Big Book of Weekends as one to remember! Friday was a day of rest and relaxation in preparation for the days ahead - I took a vacation day and slept till noon... then, after doing the needful, met with the rest of The Humiliators for Collin's Last Night of Freedom. Todd volunteered to DD and he piloted the 'Burb as we made the rounds... first up was brews at Opal Divine's; they were jam-packed and service was tough, but they had some good music cookin, and there were a lot of homebrew folks in for a convention so we got some IPA from one of them... (redacted) ...then we slipped over to Momo's about midnight, where Steamroller played till 0200! These guys are just freakin' awesome! There was a pretty good crowd there, and the room was definitely rocking... as the song says, "There ain't no party like a Steamroller party!"
After everyone was dropped back at their houses, I headed for Round Rock and made it into the sack about 4am, which set the stage for...
Bike Trail from Hell
Saturday morning (barely - try 1145) found me dragging my ass out of the sack and into the shower... Chris and I were going trail riding. He has a brand-new bike, I have my +10yr-old bike, and we have decided that we are getting in shape... so it's probably no surprise that, after partying all night (like the Rock Star I am), I wasn't feeling particularly energetic. This plus the fact that, after a week without cigarettes, I fell off the wagon for one night (drinking and smokes seem to go together) and I was definitely feeling the effects - which is more incentive to stay off of them, oddly enough. The shower did a pretty good job of waking me up, and a pot of coffee and breakfast got me the rest of the way... loaded up the bike and met Chris at his place, transferred the bike to his truck and off we went. We made a quick stop at REI to pick up some gear, then off to Barton Creek...
Now, I haven't been on a bike in waaaaay too long... I'm talking maybe, 5 years? Also, most of the riding I've done is of the urban type - streets, paved/gravel bike trails, back yards, alleys, that kind of thing. So, when Chris told me we were going to ride on the Barton Creek trail system, I was expecting something similar to the trail system in Tulsa - nice wide paths, some nice grades but mostly a good way to get from Broken Arrow to Sand Springs via Downtown Tulsa, without having to hassle with automotive traffic. Not that I am afraid of dirt, rocks, etc. but I was rather expecting a more gradual re-introduction to the joys of human-powered transportation.
I forgot that Chris doesn't do gradual.
We arrived at the trailhead, parked, got the bikes out and geared up... I figured by the looks of things that we weren't going to be cruising on a paved trail, but that was cool... there was a nice steep grade going down to the trail, and once there, we headed right... and then the fun began. The trail was fairly smooth for about a hundred meters, but then it got really narrow, and lots of rocks - some as big as a grapefruit, loose, buried, you name it, and all looking like they want to turn my bike's wheels into a big metal taco... I was bouncing all over the place - no suspension on my bike (it's old, remember?) so all the shocks were transmitted right through the frame... occasionally I would hear some pretty hairy "POP"s from my tires as they skated off of some rock outcropping... and to top it all off, we were having to walk the bikes a lot more than I was expecting to portage around the larger obstacles; I remember thinking, "well, here's another fine mess you've gotten yourself into, Stanley". It didn't take very long before I started to get somewhat synced up with the bike, and actually started having a bit of fun! We still weren't getting much riding done, however... so we decided to cross the creek at one point to find better trails. Remember how I said Chris doesn't do gradual? He decided to ride across Barton Creek (which is flowing rather nicely), and ended up going for a swim with his bike :) Actually it looked rather refreshing, but I contented myself with portaging across... we had a good laugh about it and pressed on. The trail on the other side of the creek was better, and eventually we wound up back at the creek, headed back toward the trailhead. This is the point where my right contact decided to fold up and pop out... I just love putting those things back while in the field :-/
Once that crisis was over, we portaged the creek again and headed back to the trailhead, then past it to the trail that goes up to Zilker Park... much nicer! still some rocky spots and another nice steep grade, but all told, a vast improvement! We made pretty good time although there were a lot more people on this side of the trail, both pedestrian and bicycle, so we had to watch for traffic a bit more. At some point during all this (memory is kinda foggy) I got my front wheel wedged in a crevice and almost went over the front bars... except that i caught them right in the gut, knocking the air out of me and giving us an unplanned rest stop. Once I recovered, we rode outbound for a little more then my body started really complaining about the amount of abuse it was taking... not that we were really pushing, but remember, this is the first ride in like forever! Chris is in much better shape than me, and he was zipping ahead of me and then waiting for me to catch up... good thing he's patient :) I ended up walking the bike up both grades on the way back to the trailhead, but he took them on the bike (someday that'll be me). Once we made it back to the truck, Chris informed me that we had ridden 3.22 miles (funny, seemed a lot more). I actually felt a lot better then, although I am sure most of it had to do with the "runner's high" I was experiencing - hadn't worked out that hard in a while!
On our way to Pluckers for some well-earned chow, we decided that this was going to be a weekly event... stay tuned for more!
Ambrosia of the Gods
Once we had a chance to clean up a bit and get into some dry clothes, we went over to Chris's house to break open a couple of bottles of the Pale Ale that we brewed up a few weeks back... this was the "Quality Control" phase :) Chris put the QC bottles in the fridge and we enjoyed some Guinness while Chris introduced me to Squad Leader, an old Avalon Hill strategy game (think Age of Empires with boards and counters)... after explaining the rules and playing a turn, we broke out the beer.
Drumroll......
Success! It is a very good beer - clear, nice color, good aroma; we were afraid it would be under-hopped, but it seems to be just right; the carbonation was a bit low, but that was to be expected since they were only bottled a week ago - next week will be better! A very drinkable beer that could have been poured from any tap in town... w00t! Now, it is my turn, and I think I have settled on a Brown Ale (think Newcastle) for my first foray into homebrew... it will definitely be fun; I just hope mine comes out this good... but whatever happens, it will be beer!
Weekends come and are as quickly gone, but the weekend just past (20-22 April) will go down in the Big Book of Weekends as one to remember! Friday was a day of rest and relaxation in preparation for the days ahead - I took a vacation day and slept till noon... then, after doing the needful, met with the rest of The Humiliators for Collin's Last Night of Freedom. Todd volunteered to DD and he piloted the 'Burb as we made the rounds... first up was brews at Opal Divine's; they were jam-packed and service was tough, but they had some good music cookin, and there were a lot of homebrew folks in for a convention so we got some IPA from one of them... (redacted) ...then we slipped over to Momo's about midnight, where Steamroller played till 0200! These guys are just freakin' awesome! There was a pretty good crowd there, and the room was definitely rocking... as the song says, "There ain't no party like a Steamroller party!"
After everyone was dropped back at their houses, I headed for Round Rock and made it into the sack about 4am, which set the stage for...
Bike Trail from Hell
Saturday morning (barely - try 1145) found me dragging my ass out of the sack and into the shower... Chris and I were going trail riding. He has a brand-new bike, I have my +10yr-old bike, and we have decided that we are getting in shape... so it's probably no surprise that, after partying all night (like the Rock Star I am), I wasn't feeling particularly energetic. This plus the fact that, after a week without cigarettes, I fell off the wagon for one night (drinking and smokes seem to go together) and I was definitely feeling the effects - which is more incentive to stay off of them, oddly enough. The shower did a pretty good job of waking me up, and a pot of coffee and breakfast got me the rest of the way... loaded up the bike and met Chris at his place, transferred the bike to his truck and off we went. We made a quick stop at REI to pick up some gear, then off to Barton Creek...
Now, I haven't been on a bike in waaaaay too long... I'm talking maybe, 5 years? Also, most of the riding I've done is of the urban type - streets, paved/gravel bike trails, back yards, alleys, that kind of thing. So, when Chris told me we were going to ride on the Barton Creek trail system, I was expecting something similar to the trail system in Tulsa - nice wide paths, some nice grades but mostly a good way to get from Broken Arrow to Sand Springs via Downtown Tulsa, without having to hassle with automotive traffic. Not that I am afraid of dirt, rocks, etc. but I was rather expecting a more gradual re-introduction to the joys of human-powered transportation.
I forgot that Chris doesn't do gradual.
We arrived at the trailhead, parked, got the bikes out and geared up... I figured by the looks of things that we weren't going to be cruising on a paved trail, but that was cool... there was a nice steep grade going down to the trail, and once there, we headed right... and then the fun began. The trail was fairly smooth for about a hundred meters, but then it got really narrow, and lots of rocks - some as big as a grapefruit, loose, buried, you name it, and all looking like they want to turn my bike's wheels into a big metal taco... I was bouncing all over the place - no suspension on my bike (it's old, remember?) so all the shocks were transmitted right through the frame... occasionally I would hear some pretty hairy "POP"s from my tires as they skated off of some rock outcropping... and to top it all off, we were having to walk the bikes a lot more than I was expecting to portage around the larger obstacles; I remember thinking, "well, here's another fine mess you've gotten yourself into, Stanley". It didn't take very long before I started to get somewhat synced up with the bike, and actually started having a bit of fun! We still weren't getting much riding done, however... so we decided to cross the creek at one point to find better trails. Remember how I said Chris doesn't do gradual? He decided to ride across Barton Creek (which is flowing rather nicely), and ended up going for a swim with his bike :) Actually it looked rather refreshing, but I contented myself with portaging across... we had a good laugh about it and pressed on. The trail on the other side of the creek was better, and eventually we wound up back at the creek, headed back toward the trailhead. This is the point where my right contact decided to fold up and pop out... I just love putting those things back while in the field :-/
Once that crisis was over, we portaged the creek again and headed back to the trailhead, then past it to the trail that goes up to Zilker Park... much nicer! still some rocky spots and another nice steep grade, but all told, a vast improvement! We made pretty good time although there were a lot more people on this side of the trail, both pedestrian and bicycle, so we had to watch for traffic a bit more. At some point during all this (memory is kinda foggy) I got my front wheel wedged in a crevice and almost went over the front bars... except that i caught them right in the gut, knocking the air out of me and giving us an unplanned rest stop. Once I recovered, we rode outbound for a little more then my body started really complaining about the amount of abuse it was taking... not that we were really pushing, but remember, this is the first ride in like forever! Chris is in much better shape than me, and he was zipping ahead of me and then waiting for me to catch up... good thing he's patient :) I ended up walking the bike up both grades on the way back to the trailhead, but he took them on the bike (someday that'll be me). Once we made it back to the truck, Chris informed me that we had ridden 3.22 miles (funny, seemed a lot more). I actually felt a lot better then, although I am sure most of it had to do with the "runner's high" I was experiencing - hadn't worked out that hard in a while!
On our way to Pluckers for some well-earned chow, we decided that this was going to be a weekly event... stay tuned for more!
Ambrosia of the Gods
Once we had a chance to clean up a bit and get into some dry clothes, we went over to Chris's house to break open a couple of bottles of the Pale Ale that we brewed up a few weeks back... this was the "Quality Control" phase :) Chris put the QC bottles in the fridge and we enjoyed some Guinness while Chris introduced me to Squad Leader, an old Avalon Hill strategy game (think Age of Empires with boards and counters)... after explaining the rules and playing a turn, we broke out the beer.
Drumroll......
Success! It is a very good beer - clear, nice color, good aroma; we were afraid it would be under-hopped, but it seems to be just right; the carbonation was a bit low, but that was to be expected since they were only bottled a week ago - next week will be better! A very drinkable beer that could have been poured from any tap in town... w00t! Now, it is my turn, and I think I have settled on a Brown Ale (think Newcastle) for my first foray into homebrew... it will definitely be fun; I just hope mine comes out this good... but whatever happens, it will be beer!
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