Just a guy who rides a bike

Good Thing They Have A Sign

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 22:14:00 +0000

It makes me somewhat uncomfortable that the local Trader Joe's finds it necessary to post a sign reminding drivers that it is illegal to run down pedestrians.

Grease That Hub, Bub!

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 03:03:00 +0000

It was time once again for that comedy of errors that I call routine maintenance. It's been about a year since I did a major tune-up on my main commuter, Champion, and It was getting to the point where I sensed that it was taking a little more effort to crank the pedals (and of course it's always the bike's fault, it can't possibly be the extra poundage that years of beer reviews and my recent obsession with gourmet food trucks have added to the waistline).

And then there is the temptation to let it go a while, since the last time that I found the effort to pedal had gotten more difficult, the extra energy expended helped me to quickly drop around seven pounds (but I soon could feel it taking it's toll on my knees as well, and decided that I would like to keep those around for awhile longer).

This time, besides the the usual adjusting and cleaning, I decided it would be a good idea to replace the ball bearings in my Shimano XT hubs as well, something I had never done before.

As usual I did a great deal of research before attempting this, not wanting to have to buy a new set of wheels right now. I watched all the YouTube videos I could find and read various books and blogs, I asked ask.com and queried how do I do this? At eHow.

Among the many sources I used, the information was all the same. Shimano hubs, including the XT hubs that I had on my bike, used loose ball bearings, not cartridge bearings as many of the newer hubs do, and the bearings in the rear are 1/4-inch, 9 on each side, the bearings in the front are 3/8-inch, 11 on each side. I also learned that to get to the bearings, I would need a cone wrench (which I already had, since you also need one to make adjustments to your hubs), and a regular box wrench or adjustable wrench. Since I had those, too, I was ready to go.

I planned to get the wheels out of the way first, then I would take the chain, gears, etc off to soak in degreaser while I cleaned up the frame a little. This time, I didn't feel It was necessary to remove the pedals and cranks as I had done this last year and replaced the bottom bracket at that time as well.

I figured the rear wheel would be the most difficult so decided to tackle that one first. I removed it from the bike, used a chain whip and cassette tool to remove the cassette (the gears), and was ready to disassemble the hub.

Since I have now been commuting by bike for five years, I have accumulated most of the tools that I need to do just about anything. I started out small, just doing the little stuff that I could do with regular tools, slowly adding some more specialized tools one at a time as I tackled each task and felt confident enough to add another repair to my repertoire.

Having assembled all the tools and parts I would need to overhaul my hubs, I grabbed the cone wrench and started to grab the adjustable wrench when I noticed that something was different from the photos in all the sources that I had scanned. In all that information, not one mentioned that the new Shimano hubs were somewhat different.

My hub does not use a cone wrench and an adjustable wrench, my hub uses a cone wrench and an allen wrench, which was no problem since I own an entire set of allen wrenches. But soon after this, the surprises kept coming.
I have had these wheels for probably a year and a half, so it's not like I have the newest, just-released technology that nobody else has encountered yet. It seems that the newest Shimano hubs, I am not sure about all of them, but definitely the XT's, the ones that are made in Malaysia rather than Japan, have some fairly significant differences, which I was soon to discover.

Luckily, when I first decided I would overhaul my hubs, I ordered a hundred each of 1/4-inch and 3/16-inch bearings. Sure, if your bearings are in good shape, you can just clean them, but bearings are cheap. If you are going to take your hubs apart anyway, you might as well replace them. I had my 1/4-inch bearings at the ready as I removed the cone (the thing that holds the bearing in place). The first thing I noticed was that technically the hubs still use loose bearings, but they are in a plastic holder. I removed the holder from the hub and thought, hmmmmm, these look smaller than the quarter-inch bearings that I have. The reason for this is that the new XT hubs have 3/16-inch bearings in both the front and the back. The non-drive side, which I was concentrating on first, takes 11 bearings which go into the plastic holder. The drive side, which doesn't have a plastic holder, takes 13 bearings.

I cleaned the cups and cones, re-greased everything, inserted the new bearings and reassembled the rear hub.

The front hub, which I had figured would be the easier one, turned out to be a little trickier. It was difficult to turn the bolts on one side without the other side turning. I was holding one side with my allen wrench, but needed the same size wrench to keep the other side from moving. Fortunately I have a Topeak Alien multi-tool which I carry on my commute that includes allen wrenches among its many tools, so I employed that to hold the other side. Without having three arms, this proved to be a little tricky. Most bike shops are equipped with an axle vice which holds one side while working on the other side, eliminating the need to have additional arms. I admit that I am a man of many vices, but axle vice is not one of them.

After cleaning and relubing the front, I started to reassemble it. This was when I discovered another difference in the newer hubs. When adjusting hubs, the golden rule has always been to leave just a tiny bit of play in the bearings because once it is clamped into place, the compression of the axle will tighten it up, eliminating the play in the bearings. Not anymore. The different structure of the newer hubs seems to have eliminated this step. After five or six tries, leaving just the tiniest bit of play in the hubs, clamping it into the frame did nothing to eliminate the play. Once I learned this fact, I adjusted the hub until it was just right off the bike, and it remained just right once mounted.

I removed the chain and left it to soak with the cassette in degreaser while I went to the store to pick up new inner cables for brakes and shifters as well as new brake pads. When I got back home, I started to put everything back together. I had everything back on the bike but the chain. I thought the chain was in pretty good shape. It hadn't been skipping or anything, but after soaking in the degreaser solution, which removed all of the gunk and loosened everything up, when I went to put it back on it didn't even come close to fitting on the teeth correctly. Generally, the gears and chain wear together, so that it is usually a good idea to change both unless you are very diligent about checking your chain wear and replacing it when necessary, but that didn't seem to be the case here. I think the large amount of buildup on the chain kept it together enough to prevent the gears from wearing out badly enough to need changing.

Anyway, it was obvious that I wasn't going be able to reuse this chain, so I had to go buy a new one. First, I went to the nearest bike shop, which is one that I don't really care for, but I'll buy parts there when I need to. This was on a Sunday, and this shop seems to be where most of the locals go to buy their kids' first bikes. I worked my way towards the service department, where the chains are at, dodging toddlers on training wheels on my way there. When it became obvious that I wasn't going to be helped anytime soon, I headed to the second closest bike shop. I was waited on promptly at this shop, so I got my chain, walked home and installed it.

Finally, I had the whole thing back together, took it for a test ride and everything seemed to be working fine.

At least next time I will remember how these new hubs work. As for the 1/4-inch bearings, a couple of my bikes have the old style hubs, so they won't go to waste.

FORGET ALL YOUR CARES

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 23:47:00 +0000

AND GO, DOWNTOWN!

Having a week off and no funds to do any traveling, the S.O. and I had a stay-cation (I can't believe I am using that particular portmanteau, seeing as how I hate it and all. If you ever catch me saying "mandals", you have my permission to shoot me.) One of the things we did was to explore Downtown Los Angeles a bit, as there were a couple places we wanted to check out, and having lived in the area for over thirty years, it seemed like it was time.

When I used to work as a messenger for a type shop (delivering by car, not bike, which may have gone a long way in developing my dislike of driving) I used to go into Downtown every day, which even 25 or so years ago was an unpleasant experience by car. The S.O. and I went by bus. The Santa Monica freeway express bus is only $2 each way, and even though we spent eight dollars between us for the round trip, it's still much cheaper and less stressful than driving and paying for parking. Until now, I had never considered the possibility of going downtown "for fun."

Since multiple places I wanted to visit involved eating, I had a light dinner the evening before. We got off the bus at Union Station, which is just one block from our first destination, Philippe's, who claim to be the originator of the French dip sandwich (one other place in L.A., Cole's, makes the same claim).

Philippe's is one of those places where the lines are always long, and I'm talking DMV long. The food at these places may not be the best, but it is at least unique (Pink's Hot Dogs and Tito's Tacos are two others who I would put in this category) and after awhile they become local landmarks. Did I kick myself for waiting 30 years to try this place? Naah, though I would go there again if I was in the area, and now that I have been there I feel like a true Angeleno (although I don't actually live in the city of Los Angeles).

From there we wandered around Chinatown, though after just having eaten a pork sandwich and potato salad, we didn't sample any of the food.

From there, we walked to historic Olvera street, the oldest part of downtown Los Angeles, where I accomplished one of my goals I set for myself during this time off, and that was to buy a luchador mask, and on Olvera Street there are many to choose from among the cheesy souvenir carts.

Then, the S.O. wanted to go to The Last Bookstore, so we headed there. Along the way, I noticed that the downtown area is getting a bit more bike friendly than I remember it. Of course, the things I noticed were related more to parking than riding, but it's a step in the right direction. It will be a long time before drivers accept bikes on the streets in Los Angeles, but they are making strides in adding bike lanes on several downtown streets.

After this it was time for our second meal of the day at Wurstkuche, the first of the new sausage and German beer places, and it seems that they started a trend, as they seem to be popping up all over the place. If you had told me a couple of years ago that German sausage and beer joints would be the next big thing I would have told you "Sure, right behind the big plaid shorts with black dress socks and wing tips fad", but I have to admit a fondness for sausages, having grown up in the Detroit area, where Kielbasa is one of the four major food groups. And the bratwurst at Wurstkuche is among the best I have had in quite some time. I would even consider making a special trip to go there again.

Amazingly, I learned that a trip downtown can actually be fun, and it can easily be reached from Santa Monica without resorting to the automobile.

CONTEMPLATING AND CONSOLIDATING

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 21:15:00 +0000

Once again, I seem to have let this blog get away from me. In an effort to kick it into gear again I'm going to try something new. Since I don't always have enough time these days to sit at the computer and write, I'm going to try to write more frequent posts from this here iPad. With various other projects that I am working on as well as our annual shake-up at work, my time once again is scarce. Just when I thought there was no way they could consolidate the company any further, they surprised me once again. Technically, I was correct in assuming that there was no way that the company could further consolidate. What I didn't foresee was the possibility that our company would consolidate with another company.

So now we have even more work, which is good paycheck-wise, but is bad time and health-wise. With the awards season quickly encroaching, this is shaping up to be one of the worst yet. But, as the company is fond of telling us every time they spring more bad news upon us, "The good news is, you all still have jobs."

Now that we have more than 100 people crammed into our medium-sized office, our office bike rack got kicked out of its spot and was relocated to the front of the office. On the positive side, there are now regularly four bikes parked at the rack. On the not so positive side, lacking any empty space, many seem to find the bike rack area the perfect place to stash empty boxes, broken chairs, etc. But for now, at least, we still have our indoor bike parking.

Carmegeddon or Karmageddon?

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 03:36:00 +0000

If you live anywhere near the Los Angeles area, I'm sure almost all you hear about these days is "Carmageddon", the name given by the press (I'm sure some Bakelite-pompodoured local "journalist" is proudly patting himself on the back for coming up with that one, who cares if it has been the title of a video game since 1997), because they have to assign some stupid name to anything that even remotely resembles a news story, and refers to the fact that this coming weekend a ten-mile stretch of the 405 freeway is going to be closed for the weekend starting Friday night, reopening in time for the Monday morning rush hour.

To hear people talk you would think they were being tossed in a Mexican prison for the weekend. "Oh my, what are we going to do?" "I can't believe they are doing this to us!" "Think about the children!"

Just who is saying these things? Probably the same folks who for years have been saying "They need to do something about that 405 freeway! It's terrible!"

The reason for the closure? To make it wider. I am not sure how people expect them to make it wider without having to close it at least for a short time, particularly since making it wider involves tearing down the Mulholland bridge which crosses the freeway.

People are so used to being treated like privileged citizens with their smoke belching crapmobiles that the news of having part of the freeway closed leaves them scratching their heads, "Duuh, since thar ain't no other ways to get about besides the auto-mo-bile, what is we-uns to do?"

Sure, some people will have to figure something out. Such as health care professionals who are counted on to be at work on the weekend. I've already read that hospitals are renting rooms for the staff whom have to travel from one side of the hill to the other. That doesn't sound so difficult now, does it?

For those that are worried about such things as "Oh, my God! How am I going to get to the golf course?" Well, I guess you're on your own.

Sure, chances are traffic will be pretty bad on a lot of surface streets, mostly because a lot of people will refuse to give up what they perceive to be their God-given right to drive their car wherever and whenever they damn please.

Many refuse to take public transportation around here and consider it "beneath" them. I take it fairly often and it gets me where I need to go. I have heard reports that the MTA is going to waive the fare on those couple days. We'll see if that will actually coax people to try it. Of course there will be those who will try public transportation without doing any research first and slow things down by playing 20 questions with the driver. "Where does this bus go?" "How much does it cost?" "How do I get to such-and-such?" "How much for the first-class section?" "How long does it take?" I see this fairly often anyway, so I would expect an increase in this type of behavior considering there will probably be a fair amount of bus newbies.

It's practically all everyone is talking about at the ol' water cooler. Of course it is a welcome relief from "Did you see "Idol" last night?

I expect my bike ride home on Friday to be a bit more treacherous than usual, but I will just exercise extra caution.

Maybe people should just explore their own neighborhoods instead of automatically jumping in the car for no reason.

Do I think this situation will get more people to ride their bikes those days? Probably not, and if there were a lot of people riding that usually don't, I suppose that could be a hazard in itself.

But the thing that scares me the most: if there is this much panic and chaos when people are given a month and a half advance notice of the closure, when the time comes that we are faced with a natural disaster, lord help us all.

Dogfish Head Theobroma

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 03:08:00 +0000

Beer Review: Supplemental

Bar Date: 070411

From Dogfish Head of Delaware, those mad scientists of brewing, comes Theobroma, a beer that may not sound appealing to hear the description, but it all comes together to form one of the tastiest brews in recent memory (perhaps a close second to the Firestone Abacus, but a totally different style altogether).

This, like others in their "Ancient Ales" series, which includes Midas Touch and a couple others, is based on an ancient recipe. Reportedly, Theobroma is based on chemical analysis of pottery fragments found in ancient Honduras.

It is brewed with cocoa nibs, cocoa powder, honey, chile and annatto seeds.

The aroma reveals the honey and a hint of the chile along with a mild alcohol astringency. Being 9% ABV, I took this out of the fridge for an hour or so, since I have found that the beers that are higher in alcohol tend to work better when allowed to warm a bit.

I opened the bottle and got out a stopper to save the rest after pouring a glass.

It poured an attractive reddish-copper color that looked even better when held up to the light. There was very little head upon pouring. The first sip uncovered the chile and chocolate, and a slight honey flavor. This isn't nearly as sweet as you might expect. All the flavors are quite subtle, but come together to make one delicious whole.

Back to that stopper… upon finishing a .25cl glass, I decided to have another before storing the rest for the next day.

Carbonation is low, the mouthfeel is very silky and creamy.

I am ashamed to admit this, but this was so tasty that by the time I went to place the stopper in the bottle, the bottle was completely empty. It didn't really seem to have the effect that you would expect a 9% beer to have, but man, was it tasty. I would definitely have this again. Joe, "the beer guy" at my local Whole Foods said there are only 9 cases in California, and he could be right. I didn't see this one at BevMo. At around $10 for the bottle, it seems well worth the cost.

Highly recommended, except for the drinking the whole bottle part.

Five Years

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 03:45:00 +0000

My five year anniversary of commuting by bike has come and gone without much brouhaha. And thinking about it, that's just as it should be. I don't expect any major accolades just because that's the way I choose to get about these days. When I was commuting by car, I didn't do an annual post proclaiming "Twenty-five years of commuting by car! Hooray for me!"

But, on a more personal level it does have some meaning to me. Even though I was going to the gym on a fairly regular basis before I started this, it wouldn't surprise me if I would have been through a cardiac episode or two by now just because of the stress. After the morning drive, I would arrive at work with my stress level already elevated, and believe me, once at work it had nowhere to go but up. My blood pressure was higher than it should be, and I was quite the grouch the entire time I was at work. I don't claim to no longer be a grouch, since at this point I probably won't change my entire personality anytime soon, but at least I am more of a "friendly" grouch.

A couple weekends ago happened to be one of the 2-3 times a year where I rented a car. We had a function to attend in downtown L.A. in an area where I didn't feel I wanted to leave the vulnerable Vespa sitting for any length of time, so Budget Rent-A-Car it was.

We picked the car up at noon, and since the show we were going to wasn't until evening we decided to run a few errands while we had the car, including making a Goodwill run, going to a camera store other that the one I usually go to, taking the S.O. to a couple places she wanted to check out, etc.

All of these things were within 6-7 miles of home, but since we had an automobile for the day, we used it.

By the time we got home from these errands, my nerves were frazzled. For one thing, just the claustrophobia that is the nature of the automobile was enough to cause an anxiety attack. It is rare for me to be in such a confined space. Sure, I take the bus when I need to, but it doesn't have the same feeling of being trapped as when I am strapped to the seat in such a small space. Even with air conditioning, it doesn't do a lot to stop the sweat from saturating the back and legs.

I am not entirely internal-combustion free. As I have mentioned before, I have a Vespa. But the Vespa doesn't create the same feeling of isolation, of being trapped in some sort of small pod as being in a car does. At least two-wheeled vehicles afford some connection with your surroundings.

I think it is this feeling that makes some people believe that they are basically in a "rolling house" and that they should be allowed to do anything they want because they are in a "private space."

I recently saw a story about the possibility of banning smoking in vehicles, since this can cause almost as much distraction as cell phone usage. One of the drivers was incensed, saying something along the lines of "They shouldn't be able to control what you do in your private space!" Well, unfortunately you are not in a private space. Any stupid thing you might do in your so-called private space can affect many people.

When on the Vespa or on the bike, I still have a healthy amount of fear in knowing the vulnerability that being out in the open like that can have, but it just doesn't cause the level of anxiety that being behind the wheel of an automobile does. As I was sitting in traffic, moving ten feet, stepping on the brakes, moving ten feet, stepping on the brakes, ad infinitum, I couldn't help thinking, how did it ever become ingrained in the mass consciousness that this was a good way to get from one place to another? I have heard people talk about the freedom that an automobile affords. I definitely don't get that feeling. I get the feeling that I am in a small rolling prison and have no idea what exactly I am being punished for.

I have stated many times that I am not a cycling advocate or any kind of environmental zealot, but I just cannot understand the attraction of being stuck in one of these contraptions every single day for what is often hours in this part of the country.

What was this post about again? I guess kind of about the reason I don't think the anniversary of commuting by bike isn't really of interest to anyone but myself, but it does cause me to give pause and reflect on why I started to do this in the first place and the reasons for starting were both fiscal and physical, but at no point over the last five years have I had the urge to run out and buy another auto, and I don't expect to anytime soon.

I Have Some Splainin' To Do

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 03:55:00 +0000

Once again, I have been neglecting my bloggerly duties. The awards season is over, my boss returned to work in April and things are back to some semblance of normalcy at work. It still has been quite busy because of the latest consolidation at the end of last year and sometimes I am too tired at the end of the day to think about writing a new post.

Another thing that is hindering my writing is that I have unwittingly befriended the procrastinator's evil accomplice, CABLE TV. I had long sworn that I would never fall into this trap, but I was sucked in when our internet at home was getting crappier by the minute. It got to the point where it was constantly cutting out and if I had something going on where I needed a dependable connection, such as a work-related online seminar that was mandatory to attend, I had to go to Starbuck's and use their Wi-Fi.

I called the provider to try to sort out the problem, but it seemed that I would be required to jump through a multitude of hoops before even coming close to solving the problem.

I would have tried FIOS if it were available in my area, but no luck. That left me with no choice but to turn to the dark side.

Technically, I suppose it's possible to just get internet only from the cable company, but I hear that requires a lot of hoop-jumping in itself, so I just threw in the towel and got the whole nine yards. Well, I didn't get phone service through them, so I guess I just got the whole seven or so yards.

I won't say that there is anything better on cable TV than regular TV, but it is arranged in such a way that it can cast its evil spell upon you before you even realize it.

I innocently click on a show only to discover that they are in the middle of broadcasting an entire marathon of said show. Next thing you know I am thinking, well OK, I'll start working on my blog just as soon as I finish watching every episode of Man Vs. Food ever made. By the time that is over, it's midnight and time for bed so that I can get up early to watch the Psych marathon, and so on and on.

Another reason for not so much blogging recently is that I was off the bike for a few weeks recovering from a bout of tendonitis in my knee. I don't think the cause of it was biking related, but I didn't want to exacerbate it, and for a few days there I couldn't even walk without excruciating pain, let alone pedal a bike.

I have been riding for the last two weeks now, but trying to take it easy to avoid a relapse. So far, so good. I did skip one day last week when I was starting to feel some twinges in the knee and I have still been icing and wearing an elastic brace on the days when I can start feeling it.

But hopefully the knee pain is behind me and I can try to pick up the pace on the blogging a bit.

I also think things have been stagnating a bit blog-wise. Sometimes there doesn't seem to be much to cover as far as cycling is concerned and it seems that I never see anything new that would merit photographing, so I don't even try.

Feeling that I need something to inspire me to new blogging and photographing heights, I do what I always do… buy something.

In this case my purchase ws a Fuji X100 camera. I am hoping this will inspire to reach a new pinnacle of creativity. Of course I do realize that it is the photographer and not the camera that creates good pictures. But having something that you are happy to carry around with you always helps.

Plus, I hope it will take my world-famous beer pictures up to the next level.

I am hoping that once again, my posts will appear on a fairly regular basis, and I will get right on that as soon as these four episodes of Chopped are over.

I Pick Myself Up And Get Back In The Race

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Wed, 11 May 2011 21:06:00 +0000

You're riding high in April, run down in May...

Hopefully my next post will not involve being hit by a car. But the way things are going I will have to see. This time I was not riding the bike, but walking. I have commented before on the dangers of OWHS, and last week that point was driven home the hard way.

As I was walking home from Starbuck's last Monday, I was crossing one of the side streets. There was a guy who was coming down the side street, planning to make a right turn onto Wilshire. I thought I saw him turn his head toward me, but since he had tinted windows (which are illegal), it was hard to tell. I am used to nobody stopping at stop signs. I can't even remember the last time I have seen somebody actually come to a complete stop at a stop sign. And actually stopping behind the sign is unheard of. Drivers usually drive right through the sign, then slowly roll forward with their head turned to the left to look for oncoming traffic, never once looking the other way to see if anything may be coming from that direction. In fact, they don't even look ahead once they start moving, preferring to keep their head turned to the left. In other words, they move forward without looking forward. Call me crazy, but I don't think people should be moving forward without looking in the direction that they are moving.

Anyway, he was behaving like every other driver so I did not think much of it. Then, when I was directly in front of his car he hit the gas to pull onto Wilshire Blvd. I quickly turned toward his car, and by reflex stuck out my right arm, as if I could summon up Superman-like strength to stop the SUV. He still didn't see me as I backed up, his car still pressing against my hand, jamming my arm and shoulder backwards. "Hey!!!!", I shouted, which finally caused him to hit the brakes and I quickly jumped out of the line of fire.

For 30 seconds or so, the adrenaline prevented me from feeling anything, but then suddenly I felt the pain in my shoulder from trying to hold back a several-ton vehicle, and I was feeling rather shaky once it hit me how close I had been to being plowed down. There was a witness who saw the whole thing and he quickly called the cops, who arrived within five minutes or so, along with the paramedics and an ambulance. They took my blood pressure, checked my pupils, asked my questions to make sure I didn't have a concussion, etc. The police took reports from me, the witness and the driver.

The first thing the driver said when he got out of the car was "I'm sorry, it was totally my fault", so there is no way that he can try to fight it in court now. In fact, he seemed shakier than I was. Which is good, so maybe next time he will be a little more careful and actually stop at stop signs, and be aware that an actual pedestrian in the Los Angeles area is within the realm of possibilities. The witness said several times to the driver "You didn't stop at that sign." and the driver agreed with him.

The officer told me she was through with me, but asked the driver to stay so she could issue a ticket. I am not sure what exactly the citation was for, most likely running a stop sign, but I am happy that he received some kind of reminder to be more careful in the future.

Later that day his insurance company called me, and I told them I had a Doctor's appointment for the next day. My shoulder seemed to be getting better, so my doctor told me to give it a couple days and if it didn't keep getting better he would order an MRI.

That time has passed and my shoulder seems almost back to normal, so the insurance company will get off easy, probably only having to pay for one doctor appointment.

Just two days before this happened, I was crossing another street nearby. This one with a signal. I was crossing on the walk signal, when a woman with OWHS started pulling forward to make a right on a red light. I yelled "Hey!", along with a few other choice words. Once I got across the street, some moron a couple cars behind her started saying "Grow up, buddy. Hey buddy, grow up!" As if not wanting to be run down by a car is a sign of immaturity. I suppose I should just man up and become a pancake on the concrete. In all likelihood he had just pulled out of the bar parking lot that he was right next to. I just called him a moron and kept walking.

I Knew The Guy Was Trouble

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 23:51:00 +0000

I knew the guy was trouble. From his first honk I knew the guy was trouble. On the two block stretch where Santa Monica Blvd. crosses the entrance to the 405 freeway, I ride in the center of the lane because even though only one lane is marked for turning right onto the freeway, the second lane is also used for turning onto the freeway. And on the days when traffic is particularly heavy, cars even turn onto the freeway from the third lane. Because of this, cars that are trying to go straight in the second and third lane try to move over to the fourth lane. Cars in the fourth lane trying to avoid waiting in the lineup of cars to get onto the freeway try to get to the front and then suddenly cut over to get into the front of the line. With all of this going on I feel it is safest to stay in the center of the second lane. The man in the Porsche didn't like this, and showed his displeasure by tooting his little horn, revving his big engine and dramatically sweeping around me, only to come to a stop at the red light three feet in front of me.

I knew the guy was trouble. People don't buy a Porsche Carrera S for the safety, practicality and fuel economy. They buy them to go fast. Even if they are living in the land of stop and go traffic.

I was keeping my eye on him. He was the type of driver who guns his engine as soon as the light changes, only to jump ahead a half a block and slam on his brakes when traffic is once again at a standstill.

I knew the guy was trouble. It could have been my imagination, but as I passed him several times I had a gut feeling that he was not happy being passed by a bicycle. I was staying to the right as I usually do once I am past the anarchy of the freeway entrance. And I have no doubt the guy was aware of my presence. I have what are probably the brightest lights that are commercially available. And I had the feeling that every time I passed him he had to rev his engine and zoom forward just to show me that his Porsche was indeed faster than my bike.

I knew the guy was trouble. And yet I was unprepared when he made his move. A move so utterly boneheaded that I had no way to prepare for it. It is difficult to prepare for something that has heretofore not even been in the realm of possibilities.

I knew the guy was trouble, and I was keeping him on my radar. I am always aware of the possibility of the "right hook". I was carefully keeping him in sight at each cross street. At this particular cross street I felt I was out of the woods. I was moving along at my usual cruising speed which is probably somewhere in the 15-17 MPH range. The front of the Porsche was almost even with the far side of the street. This was when he decided that he would make his move. he suddenly turned onto the street that I was crossing. At that point it was almost as much a u-turn as it was a right turn. I guess I would say it was kind of an upside-down 7 turn. Suddenly I found my path blocked, and because of the nature of his turn, his car was angled toward me so that even if I was able to pull off an emergency right turn it was unlikely that I would be able to get around the front end of his car. Everything is a bit hazy from this point until the couple seconds it took to find myself lying in the street. For some reason I didn't think to pull out a pen and pad and jot down notes while it was happening. I remember somehow trying to slam on my brakes and turn right. I can't remember if these actions were simultaneous or one after the other. I am fully aware that you cannot make a turn during a skid, but reflexes jump into action when you are headed straight for a Porsche at 15-20 MPH. The guy's actions were so ridiculously stupid that a small part of me hasn't completely ruled out the possibility that it could have been intentional. The only thing that tells me it probably wasn't is that it doesn't seem that the guy would want to risk scratching the paint of "his Precious".

I somehow managed to get Champion more or less parallel with the expensive obstacle so that by the time I made contact I was sliding sideways. If I had hit it straight on, I am certain that I would have sailed over the car and landed on the other side. As it was, I slammed against the steel with a thump, my bike moving from under me to the right, myself sliding down the side of the car to land in the street. The driver pulled ahead about 100 feet or so. I probably should have just stayed on the ground and let them send an ambulance for a couple reasons: 1. If there are no injuries severe enough to summon an ambulance, you are automatically very low priority as far as the police are concerned. And also, the adrenaline that is flowing through the body as soon as something like this happens can mask more serious injuries that may not show up for several hours.

2. If the driver thought my injuries were more serious, he may have stuck around.

A couple people rushed to my aid, helping me gather my things and get to the side of the road. My visor snapped off my helmet and my cycling glasses were about ten feet away from my head. A guy came out of the nearby sushi bar to help me and called the police. A woman stopped her car to help me to the side of the road. She offered to put my bike in her trunk and give me a ride home, but I decided to wait for the police to arrive and file a police report. Of course I knew that nothing would come of it, but I wanted to get it on record. As soon as the driver of the Porsche saw that I was able to stand, I guess he thought I was ok, and he hightailed it out of there. OK or not, he left the scene of an accident that he had caused. The woman asked me several times what I wanted to do, I decided to stay and file a police report. I may have not been thinking 100% clearly at this point. Since the driver had already left I could have just as easily accepted the ride home and filed a report by phone, but in my scattered state, I didn't think that I should leave the scene of an accident. The woman didn't see the actual collision, but just stopped when she saw me in the street. She was very helpful and I appreciated her stopping. As she handed me her business card before she left she told me that her cell phone number was on the card and to give her a call if I changed my mind. It turns out that she is the general counsel for MySpace, and thinking back on it now, I probably thanked her many more times than was necessary due to being rather shook up, but I truly do appreciate her help. The guy who came out of the sushi bar was very helpful as well. He called the police a second time when an hour had gone by and they had not yet arrived.

90 minutes later when the police arrived from the station a block and a half away, I finally filed the report. In the meantime the S.O. had been walking up to meet me, after I had called her earlier to report what was going on. The incident occurred (I don't like to say "accident", because I don't feel that somebody doing something idiotic is ever an accident. There is no way that a person could "accidentally" do something that moronic) about a mile from where we live. She would not let me ride the bike home (the bike seems OK, but I have not yet given it a thorough check), and I thwarted her attempts to get me to stop at the E.R. As we stopped at the wine store/wine bar near our house to get dinner from the Munchie Machine food truck parked in front, she once again tried to get me to get checked out, as she thought I may have a concussion.

"No I don't", I said. "If I had hit my head, my helmet would be cracked. That's what they are designed to do. Look, it's fine!", I said as I held the helmet, turning it slowly in my hands. Then, when examining the back of the helmet, that's when I saw a crack all the way through the foam. "Oh. I guess I did hit my head.", I admitted. I still refused to go the hospital. I didn't want to spend 6 hours and $5,000 in an emergency room to be told that the only thing that could be done about a concussion is to let it go away on its own.

And there is a good chance I had a mild concussion. When I looked in the mirror when I got home, my pupils did seem to be different sizes for a few hours, but eventually they got back to normal. I also suffered some severe road rash, but not quite as bad as when I crashed on my own, because on those couple occasions I went sliding down the pavement, gathering scrapes the whole way. This time, I was prevented from sliding very far because of the Porsche.

Yes, I knew the guy was trouble. Yet here I am with every muscle in my body aching, and scrapes and lumps on my elbow, hip and leg.

Firestone Abacus Barleywine

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 04:11:00 +0000

Beer Review: Supplemental

Bar Date: 033111

While perusing the beer department at the local Whole Foods, the "Beer Guy" happened by as I was reading the label on a bottle of Lagunitas Gnarley Wine.

"Are you a big fan of barley wines?", he enquired.

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm a big fan, but I enjoy them every now and then."

He then walked over to the shelf where they keep some of the fancy beers (unrefrigerated), and with a flourish, waved dramatically at a brown box sitting on the shelf. "This is the best barley wine there is", he said. "It's even better if you let it age. It just gets better."

I don't know how much of the story is true, but he is, after all, "The Beer Guy", he told me that there were only five cases in all of California and that he had one of them.

I kept looking at the other beers, but the intriguing brown box kept drawing me back until finally I gave in and placed it in my basket.

Taking his advice on aging it, I put it on a shelf at home. After letting it "age" for a full 27 hours, I could wait no longer. I put it in the fridge for an hour or so (usually stronger beers are better when they are not ice cold), and finally took it out for the unboxing.

How good is it? Well, despite the $15 price tag, I went today looking in vain for another bottle. I checked Whole Foods again, but the Beer Guy told me that case was gone in a day. I checked BevMo, not expecting to find it so I wasn't disappointed to find they did not have it. But I still have the memory of that one bottle.

At 13% ABV, this really is about the same alcohol level as red wine, hence the "barley wine" label.

It pours what at first looks like a dark brown color, but in the light it shows up a more ruby color. Aromas of toffee, dates, a hint of chocolate, slight oak and malt waft up from the glass. There is no head to speak of, and carbonation is light.

The taste follows the aroma. It has a lot of the qualities of one of my favorite beers "Old Chub" from Oskar Blues Brewery, but it is like "Old Chub" kicked up a notch or two. It also has some of the qualities of another of my favorites "Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean", but to the best of my knowledge that one has never been available in bottles.

The 13% alcohol is not that noticeable, which could be a bad thing, but the beer being a little on the heavy side you will probably not be tempted to pound a few pints of this.

Mouthfeel is rich a creamy. Being barrel-aged, I was worried that it could have to much of an oak flavor. Just like with wine, a hint of oak can be good but I am not a big fan of hugely-oaked wine or beer.

The creaminess on the tongue, the hint of vanilla, the slight chocolate taste, the toffee-like malt flavor all come together to make a beer that is easily in one of my top five.

And if I ever see this again, I will immediately plunk down the $15 for another bottle of this.

Well, I think that's it for now.

Oh yeah, and last night I was hit by a car. More on that next post.

The Recluse Returns

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:28:00 +0000

Since several people (my entire readership!) have been enquiring as to my whereabouts and well-being, I thought it is about time to do another post. It wasn't my plan to go almost two entire months without posting, the time just kind of got away from me.

I have mentioned that things usually slow down at work once the awards season is over, but this year it seems to have actually gotten busier. Not that the awards season was a piece of cake this year (if I hear the words "The King's Speech" again, it might just push me right over the edge).

The main reason for my lack of blogging time is that right before the one-two punch of the holidays and the awards season, the art director (meaning "Boss") of my department went on maternity leave (at the end of October). Because of this, I have had to act as art director in the interim, as well as do my regular work. And though the hours haven't been quite as long as I had expected, it has been rather tiring.

The Boss, who was originally supposed to return on March 7 has now rescheduled her return for April 4. We will see if this holds. I had planned to take a two-week vacation at the end of March and was hoping to get back into the swing of things, including this blog, but since I am still the acting "Boss", I have been unable to get the time off. I'm looking at sometime in April or May to now get some vacation time.

And what's this got to do with cycling? Well, nothing, but since some have asked, I have answered.

But speaking of cycling, I have managed to ride to work on most days, but since this has been the rainiest winter I remember in the 30 years in which I have resided in SoCal, I sometimes opt for the bus. I have mentioned before that I don't have a problem with riding in the rain, but I do sometimes have a problem with leaving in the rain. When I look out the window in the morning to the raindrops bouncing in the street lamps light, I usually grab the umbrella and head to the bus stop.

The light that I wrote of in my last post way back in January has been working great. And since the time change, comes in very handy on the dark morning ride. As I have contended before, I believe DiNotte to be the best bang for the buck, or in this case "the best flash for the cash", or maybe "the best glow for the dough".

Aside from playing boss, and trying not to get too far behind on the old blog-a-rooney, I have also gotten the crazy idea in my head to try to write a book (not about cycling, but about my several years as a punk rock musician, if I am actually able to remember enough).

I also had one of the best beers I have ever had over the weekend and will have to post a review of that in the next couple days. With that in mind, I will let the suspense build and not mention the name of the beer at this time.

Hopefully, the latest return date for my boss will stick and I will be able to return to business as usual soon.

Slippin' Into Darkness

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 19:48:00 +0000

A couple days ago, the inevitable finally happened. The battery for my headlight finally bought the farm. When I purchased the Air Bike Everlight a year and a half ago, I mentioned in a post that when the battery went I would probably need to buy a new light, since I could not find a replacement battery for it. I inquired at GeoMan Gear where I bought the light if they sold batteries separately and was told that no, they didn't. Yet I bought it anyway, at the time willing to overlook that fact for the sake of saving some bucks (in the short term, but not the long run). I would have purchased a second battery with the original purchase if it were possible. GeoMan Gear now doesn't even carry the lights, long ago dropping them in favor of the Magic Shine lights, which are cheap, bright China-made lights, but for now they are only selling them without batteries because of safety issues with the batteries, there being a possibility of them starting pesky fires and whatnot.

Even if they had non-exploding batteries I would probably not go the cheap-o route again, Generally I like to buy well-designed and well-made products, it's just that at the time I bought the Air Bike light I was a bit low on funds and needed a bright light right away since this purchase coincided with our office moving to Hollywood.

Judging by the threads I have seen for the Magic Shine light on BikeForums.net, this is not a well-designed and well-made product. Many of the threads are tips on how to jerry-rig the light in order to get it to work properly, such as wrapping the batteries in old inner-tube or hacking a water bottle to keep the batteries from malfunctioning in the rain, how to make the bracket that holds the light to the handlebars work properly, etc. Even at 100 bucks, it seems to me that if you buy a brand new product, it should work right out of the box.

Of course this is all hearsay, as I have never owned a Magic Shine, but it definitely seems to be a less-than-quality product.

If I was a bit handier at kludging electricals, I could probably rig up a new battery for the Air Bike light, but if I was good at kludging electricals I would have probably opened my own little electricals-kludging shop by now.

Which brings us in my patented roundabout way to my latest purchase, a DiNotte 1200-plus. At a reported 1300 lumens at full power, it is just slightly brighter that a car headlight (a single headlight, most cars have two, or so I've heard).

I have used DiNotte tail lights for several years and believe that there is nothing better. First the 140R, and now the 300R, which I have had for close to two years now. I mentioned before that bus drivers have opened their doors on a couple occasions just to ask me about my light and tell me how far away they could see me from. Well, it happened again this past week. The bus was on my right side in a right-turn lane and I was in the through lane. Being basically deaf on that side I vaguely heard the words "brightest" and "light". After a few seconds I turned toward the bus to find that the driver was addressing me. His window was open and he said "That's the brightest light I've ever seen. Where did you get that? I thought you were a motorcycle until I got up close." I have also mentioned that I have had a couple complaints from other cyclists that my light was "blinding" them. But, much as any publicity is good publicity, being seen is always good in my book, whether you are being complimented or yelled at.

Indoor Shot — Light Off

I have heard many complain that the DiNotte lights are too expensive, but for the quality and brightness, I think they are the "best bang for the buck" as they say. My new light was in the $400 neighborhood with many other brands being in the $600 neighborhood. And then you have the German Lupine brand lights that are in the North of Montana neighborhood.

One thing I like about the DiNotte lights is that everything is standardized. The batteries they sell fit all of their lights (some of the more powerful lights require the four cell battery, but the less powerful lights can take either the two cell or four cell battery). If you already have one of their chargers and/or batteries all of their lights are available without the charger and batteries. Also it is a U.S. company and the lights are made in the U.S. (I would be completely shocked if every component that goes into the lights is made here, but they are at least assembled here).The company is very good to work with, and though I haven't had to use it, I have heard they have excellent customer service (and from what I hear, customer service is the owner). I ordered the light Wednesday morning after I got up only to find my battery wasn't charged. I had been expecting this because I had been noticing the battery taking longer and longer to charge. I always plugged my battery into the charger when I got home from work around 7:00 PM and it was charged by the time I went to bed around 11:00 PM, when I would then put it on my bike to be ready for my morning ride. More recently I have had to wait until morning to attach it to my bike. But this time it was on the charger all night and still not showing any sign of being charged. Anyway, I ordered the light on Wednesday AM, and when I got home from work of Friday, the light was waiting for me. The shipping was free and it was shipped priority mail, I didn't have to pay for two-day shipping or the like. I think it was about two hours after I placed the order that I received an email stating that my order had been shipped. I consider this to be excellent service.

Since I am writing this on Saturday morning, I have not yet had the opportunity to try the light, but based on past experience with DiNotte, I do not expect any problems.

Indoor Shot — Light On

Another thing I have been thinking a lot about lately is to have a backup head light so I don't have to skip my ride for lack of a head light. I have my flashlights that I used to use, but always keeping the batteries charged and ready to go can be a challenge. LiIon batteries can lose their charge just by sitting and when I don't use the lights often, it is difficult to remember to always put the batteries in the charger. My backup does not have to be nearly as powerful as my main light, mainly good enough so that I am seen and bright enough to spot the major potholes. I am looking for something self-contained so it doesn't have a separate battery pack, and if it could charge via USB, that would be a plus.

I will be reporting back on the light once I get a chance to use it next week, or perhaps even tomorrow night, because I have to go to work in the evening for the stupid Screen Actors Guild awards.

Will have an update on the light soon

Just Checking In...

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 18:37:00 +0000

I'm getting better, this time it's only been two weeks since my last post. Still being in the midst of our crazy time of year at work and trying to get started on a large writing project, which may or may not see its way to completion, have left me with relatively little spare time.

After four weeks off the bike because of weather, health issues and plain old exhaustion, I rode again this past week. We had Monday off for MLK day and I had my usual Thursday off, so it was just three days of riding and it felt good to be back at it. I could tell the time off caused me to lose a bit of strength in the legs, but besides that there were no issues. In fact, it was just like riding... well, you know.

Speaking of MLK day, this is the first year I recall commercials for MLK day sales, meaning the commercialism is starting to creep into even this day. It's only a matter of time before The Mattress King or some other furniture royalty proclaims... "I had a dream... of low, low prices!"

I wasn't the only one at work to take some time off the bike. Many days over the past month or so, the work bike rack sat empty, causing a feeling of guilt in me each time I passed by. Some days there was one bike using the rack. This week was the first time in a while that there were once again three bikes in the rack, probably due to the temps being close to 80 degrees for most of the week. The temperatures have been fluctuating the last several days, but have been pleasant. Today is supposed to reach 81, dropping to 70 tomorrow. The nighttime lows are still getting into the 40s.

I also pushed my getting-up time to a half hour later. When I first embarked upon this riding stuff, it was partly because of the route I had at that time and partly just to avoid major traffic, that I decided to get to work by 7:00 AM. Most of the roads that I rode on at that time had parking lanes on the right, which turned into driving lanes at 7:00. There were very few cars parked in those lanes at the early hour, but one every three or four blocks was enough to keep the traffic in the inner two lanes, leaving me with a makeshift bike lane.

When we moved our office to Hollywood, it started to not make a lot of difference when I left. Last January I shifted my leaving time up a half-hour and noticed traffic being a little heavier, but not too bad. So this year I did it again. I now get up at 6:15 (and may change that to 6:30), leaving sometime between 6:45 & 7:00. I still get to work by 8:00, and since my official start time is 9:00, that still leaves me time to change into work clothes, go down and buy my coffee and relax a bit before starting. I also have noticed very little, if any difference in traffic this time.

I've got a couple of beers I need to review soon as well, hopefully I can get to them this week sometime, but this Tuesday being the announcement of Oscar nominations may make this week one I would like to forget. The plus side of that being that trying to forget about work gives me more beers to review!

Belated Holiday Greetings

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 01:21:00 +0000

Yeah, I know. It has been exaactly four weeks since I last posted.

Holidays have come and gone, gifts were exchanged, co-workers were stranded, sick days were taken.

The post-modern Christmas tree at Santa Monica Place

I know that I previously said that this holiday season, unlike previous years, I was going to continue to ride my bike. Sometimes the extra work and unpredictable hours that the season brings makes me decide on the bus rather than the bike, since I honestly don't usually feel like pedaling the bike home after fifteen hours of non-stop stress. But no, I wasn't going to let that happen this year. Notice I said wasn't, not didn't? What I didn't count on was an unprecedented seven days of heavy rain. In the 30 years in which I have resided in SoCal, I don't think I have ever witnessed seven full days of hard rain. I think that last year we had maybe seven days of rain total for the entire year. Most of the time I will ride in the rain, but in rains this heavy and temperatures this cold, along with the busy season at work, I decided I did not need to prove anything that badly.

Not only did adverse weather here affect things at work, but adverse weather all the way on the other side of the country had a negative effect on the workplace as well.

The rainy weather did not seem to deter the tourists from seeing the footprints of the stars

The week before Christmas, things were humming along as smoothly as could be expected. Sure, we were slammed with work, but everything was getting done in a reasonable time frame. I think the latest that we had to stay that week was 7:30 or so. Not bad at all considering my memory of working three days straight with occasional naps in the car in my earlier days in this business. Everyone at work gave it their all and we all pulled together and made it through the week.

Since we had Friday off for the holiday, on Thursday it was goodbye, have a nice holiday, we'll reconvene on Monday and start all over again.

On Sunday night, December 26 I checked my work email to see if there might be any bad news I should know about so it would not come as a surprise on Monday morning. I was not really expecting any, but there it was. A co-worker was stranded in Boston, her flight having been cancelled because of inclement weather. The earliest return flight that she could reschedule was on Wednesday evening. Since she was only scheduled to work Monday-Wednesday, that was going to put us one person down for the week. On Monday we were already going to be short one person for a previously scheduled day off. This makes two down for Monday. I figured we would struggle through Monday and on Tuesday he would be back and we would only be one person short for the rest of the week. Well, on Monday I got the call. The person who had previously requested Monday off was stuck in New Jersey and was unable to get a return flight until Friday, and then only to Orange County rather than LAX, where he would have normally flown to. So that put us two people short for the entire week, not including the person who is already on maternity leave until the beginning of March.

So during the week between Christmas and New Year's, one of the busiest weeks of the year, we were extremely shorthanded, but we managed to struggle through it. In fact, we were only late one night that week. Unfortunately, the reason we did not have to stay late on Tuesday is that every paper seemed to have early deadlines due to the holiday that nobody was previously aware of, meaning that the work that I had expected to keep us there until 9:00 or 10:00 that night had to now be completed by 4:00 or 5:00 that afternoon. So basically we all had to work double-speed that day, getting virtually every ad to the paper just under the wire. But we got out on time, even though everybody was in such a state of exhaustion that they barely had the energy to drag themselves across the street to their cars, and me to walk the twelve blocks to the bus stop. So that is basically my excuse for not riding for the past three weeks.

Then last week, I ended up not going in to work for two days, as pain in my ankle was so severe that I could barely even stand. The Dr. had to try a couple different drugs before finding one that finally did the trick. As I write this, the ankle is still feeling a little stiff and is still slightly red, so I think I should take the bus for another week, making it an entire month that I will be off the bike. So obviously, part of the reason for not posting for awhile is that there was very little bike-related activity in my life lately. Oddly enough, it had been exactly a year since I had seen the doctor with similar problems. I think that this time of year, my body's defenses are in a weakened state, and finally reach the breaking point.

I have to admit, that though I had to spend some time waiting in the doctor's office this past week, the view is not too bad

But what about beer-related activity, you might ask. Oddly enough, there has been very little of that as well. There was a little bit of holiday wine and a brief but torrid affair with Limoncello, but not much beer. I didn't even come close to completing my Twelve Beers of Christmas. I may still be able to do that over the next couple of weeks, as the winter beers will still be around for a bit, since I don't think winter is going anywhere soon.

One thing I noticed is that the chilly rainy weather definitely does not deter the tourists from doing their touristing. The couple brief upportunities that I had to quickly peer through the pane at the world outside revealed a shitload of sightseers. At first I thought there was a special event going on, but upon further inspection it was just millions of visitors milling about.

A gift from a co-worker, the Betty White calendar

This week promises to be another rough one, and I am going to need to come in on Sunday evening to await the Golden Globe results, but fortunately will have Martin Luther King Day off the next day.

As of now, the plan is to start riding again next week, perhaps even on Sunday for the GG awards. I hope to be able to once again regale you with tales of bikes and beer in the near future.

A Couple More Beers Of Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 05:14:00 +0000

This upcoming week promises to be one of the most, if not the most, busy weeks of the year at work. With some movies opening on Wednesday before Christmas instead of Friday as most films normally do, that makes the end of the week extremely busy. Add to that a couple of awards nomination announcements that will make a couple of mornings rather hectic, including me having to be to work at 5:00 AM on Tuesday.

This has me trying to decide how to get to work that day. So far my plans are to ride the bike that day. I guess it depends how well I am able to sleep before 3:30 AM when the old alarm goes off. It is either that or the bus, as I have ruled out taking the Vespa to work since the one time I tried it and saw how long the parking adds to the time.

Well, before I set out on this crazy week, I managed to squeeze in a couple more Christmas beers this weekend.

1. Affligem Noel

I actually made it down to The Daily Pint This Weekend. They didn't have as many Christmas beers as I had hoped but I did manage to try the Affligem Noel, a Belgian Christmas beer.

Wow! This was like holiday fruitcake in a glass. As soon as the glass was set before me, aromas of citrus, spice and malt entered the nostrils.

There was really no head to speak of, which seems unusual given that it was a rather carbonated beer, causing the flavors to dance on my tongue like so many Sugar Plum Fairies.

I could taste lemon zest, orange peel and other candied fruits, perhaps dates and maybe slight cherry flavor. Cinnamon, clove and nutmeg are also apparent. Some might consider this to be quite a sweet beer, but I would consider it spicy more than sweet.

At 10% ABV the alcohol taste is also apparent but not overwhelming. The mouthfeel is light and effervescent.

This isn't something you would want to drink a lot of at one sitting, but I liked it a lot and would definitely recommend.

I saw it in a bottle at the local Whole Foods yesterday evening and considered buying it but decided to get something I haven't tried yet instead.

If you come across it, give it a try.

2. Alesmith Yulesmith

Four or five months ago a review the oddly named Summer Yulesmith which was on tap at The Daily Pint, this review is for the actual Winter Yulesmith that I picked up in a bottle at Whole Foods.

It's malty. It's hoppy. It's got it all! Actually the malt and hops balance each other out pretty well. Aromas of pine and citrus enter the nose at first pour.

Not much head and medium carbonation.

Sweet malt flavors abound with citrus in the background. Piney hops complete the taste.

I am a fan of the Alesmith bottle aged beers, and this one is no different. A good balance of evergreeny hops and sweet malts strike a good balance. I think I have had this almost every year for a few years now, and it is always good. It doesn't change a lot from year to year as some brewers do with their Christmas beers, but there is no reason for them to change it since it is already quite tasty.

I am going to try to get to Father's Office next weekend since they usually have two of my favorite holiday ales, Anchor Christmas Ale and Craftsman Spruce holiday ale. I am hoping they have them both this year.

On The First, Second and Third Days Of Christmas...

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 23:01:00 +0000

My Brew Love Gave To Me...

OK, I said I was going to review the Twelve Beers Of Christmas, so I am going to give it the old college try. Of course there are many more than twelve Christmas/Winter beers out this time of year, but I think I will be lucky to drink twelve of them. I saw that The Bruery, based in Orange County here in Southern California actually has a Twelve Beers of Christmas series, but since they only release one annually and they are only on Three French Hens this year, it will be nine more years before they get through the entire series, so obviously I can't review their Twelve Beers but I can certainly assemble my own.

Christmas/Winter beers have no particular single style but for the most part do share certain characteristics. The winter beers tend to be on the heavier side and higher in alcohol, therefore more warming for the cooler temperatures. Many of them also have added spices or use special hops to give them more of a festive flavor.

I haven't been getting "down the pub" much lately, so haven't had a chance to try any of the Winter beers on tap. These few I will talk about in this post were purchased at my local Whole Foods and BevMo.

So, with no further ado, here are my first three beers of Christmas:

1. Port Brewing Santa's Little Helper

Though this brewery is a little confusing to me, they turn out some good beers. Port Brewing sprung from Pizza Port in San Diego County, but is not the same as Pizza Port according to their website. And if that is not confusing enough, The Lost Abbey brewery is actually the same brewery but is their Belgian-style ale division. Follow me so far?

They started out as a very small brewery in the Pizza Port restaurant, but expanded into a brewery which was vacated by Stone Brewing when Stone expanded into larger quarters.

I have also noticed that Santa's Little Helper is quite a popular name for Christmas Beers and is a name used by quite a few breweries, but this review is for the one by Port Brewing.

This is a Russian Imperial Stout in style, and I wouldn't consider there to be anything exceptionally "Christmassy" about it except for the heaviness and alcohol content, which is not to say that it isn't quite a good beer. It pours much like a high-viscosity motor oil, completely opaque with a dark tan head that sticks around for a few minutes. As the Port Brewing website describes it "as dark as the biggest lump of coal Santa can deliver." And I would agree.

Chocolaty malt flavors hit the nose with a slight hint of hops.

The flavor is just slightly sweet from the malt with the aforementioned chocolate flavor at the forefront. There is just a little bit of hop bitterness on the finish and a little alcohol flavor, which at 10% ABV is no big surprise.

Carbonation is on the medium side with the mouthfeel being thick and creamy. I would definitely recommend this as a good example of a Russian Imperial stout, but as for putting one in the "holiday spirit", I can think of others that can put you more in a holiday state of mind.

This beer is also available in a "bourbon" version which is aged in bourbon barrels and is something I would definitely like to try if I happen to come across it.

2. Gift of The Magi from The Lost Abbey

Mmmmmmm.... myrrhy. Another one from the confusing brewery, this does actually contain some Frankincense and Myrrh but I have to admit I wouldn't be able to pinpoint the flavor of either. This is made in the Biere de Garde style, which is a strong golden ale. And at close to 10% ABV, it is strong.

This review is based on the 2009 vintage, which is what they had at the local BevMo.

The aroma is of herbs and spices, with the brettomyces yeast giving it a bit of a musty aroma, which I actually like.

It is a cloudy, hazy reddish-amber color.

And believe it or not, since I was at BevMo picking this one up, I also came home with a Chimay glass which is a bit more suited to Belgian-style ales than my German Steins.

Flavor is spicy with a bit of hop bite. A lot of the familiar Belgian flavors of cloves, cinnamon (since Frankincense is a bark as is cinnamon, perhaps that is what I am tasting), and coriander. It also has a slightly dry flavor and the mustiness comes out in the flavor as well.

There is not a particularly strong alcohol flavor. This one has a bit more of a "Christmasy" flavor than the first beer in this post.

I would also recommend this one. I would probably pick up this one again, though not this year as I still have to sample nine more beers after this post by Christmas.

3. Lump of Coal from Ridgeway Brewing

Though not a bad chocolate stout, I get the feeling that they just took one of their regular stouts and slapped a Christmas label on it. The fact that this brewer seems to have many holiday beers, I don't doubt that that is the case.

For the beer itself, it pours a very dark brown, like most stouts. The small head dissipates quickly. Faint chocolate and coffee aromas hit the nose.

The carbonation is on the low side of medium, with the mouthfeel being a bit lighter than you would expect, not the creaminess of the Santa's Little Helper above.

At 8% ABV, a little less alcohol than the other two beers mentioned in this post, but doesn't really seem that high. Worth a try if it is offered to you, but it just doesn't seem to have anything to make it seem special or limited. A holiday beer in label only.

Hopefully I will be able to make it through all twelve beers by Christmas day. I have one more chilling in the fridge right now and perhaps I can hit the pub this weekend to try one or two on tap.

Hope to report back soon with a new batch of holiday ales!

Bless Me Interwebs, For I Have Sinned

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 06:14:00 +0000

It has been one week since my last blog post.

Yeah, I know. I've been neglecting my bloggerly duties, but as I have mentioned, it has been a rough few weeks at work, which will eventually become a rough few months.

I have also been dealing with a couple of health issues of late, one of which could eventually affect my cycling down the line, the other forcing me to avoid beer for awhile. Neither is anything that could prove to be fatal (hopefully), just the type of things that can happen to us geezerly gents.

I managed to ride the bike to work thrice this past week, but by Friday I was too pooped to pedal and opted for the bus (we are currently on a four-day work week). The three days that I did ride found me dealing once again with my old nemisis, The Wind, and also some chilly temperatures.

At least it is nice that I was able to make use of some of the warmer clothes that I purchased a couple of winters ago and didn't need at all last winter.

The wool knee-socks helped keep the part of my legs that are exposed by my knickers toasty-warm, the only problem being that keeping my bright-white calfs covered eliminates the most reflective thing on my bike, therefore putting me in potential peril.

The new work bike rack has still not had more than three bikes at one time but I am expecting a full house on some days once the warmer weather kicks in when spring rolls around. Wishful thinking, of course, since this year there was not really a summer. It was pleasant enough, but we never really got the kind of weather that makes people want to go out to the garage and dust off the old Mongoose (is that what the kids are calling it these days?).

Last year I ended up taking the bus during the two weeks of Christmas and New Years because of the unpredictability of work hours and the tiredness which ensues because of this. This year I am planning on cyling through the holidays because the combination of no exercise and multiple giant gift baskets sitting around the office at all times led to some less than pretty results once the new year rolled around.

I don't plan on letting that happen this year, but sometimes my plans can be at odds with reality, as this first post in a week goes to demonstrate. I hope it's not that long until my next post.

And coming soon, The Twelve Beers Of Christmas, where I am hoping to review 12 Christmas brews by Christmas day. Since there are exactly three weeks left until the holiday as I write this, that makes more than one Christmas/Winter beer every other day. It's a tough job, but the people deserve to know. And if I make it, it is soon to be documented in my new show "Man V. Beer."

Giving Thanks and Lubing Cranks

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 06:21:00 +0000

Well, lubing my chain actually, but that doesn't rhyme with thanks...

This year, it seems as if I have to dig a bit deeper than usual to find things to give thanks for. Sure, I have my health (to a point), I also know I should be thankful that I am currently working, unlike many right now. It's just that currently the job is running me ragged. Even though this week was only three days long, it seemed much longer than that. Though I guess technically this week started last Friday, all of our deadlines having been shifted to compensate for the holiday. Last Friday was a long, excruciatingly rough day, so much so that the two days off between Friday and Monday seemed like a mere lunch break. By the time Wednesday rolled around I was really dragging.

Case in point: Wednesday morning as I was changing out of my cycling clothes, I pulled on the jeans that I had taken to work. These particular jeans have recently developed quite a large hole in the left pocket. As I was transferring my keys from the pocket of my Rapha knickers to my jeans, I automatically dropped them into my left pocket, where they immediately passed through the hole, traveling down my pant leg, landing with a jingle on the tile of the restroom floor. Stooping down, I picked them up off the floor, stood up and immediately deposited them back into the left pocket. At least after doing this a second time I realized that the pocket was not going to miraculously mend itself, so on the third try I had managed to wake up enough to catch myself and put the keys into the right pocket.

So needless to say, I have been looking forward to this four-day weekend (fortunately, I do get Thursday and Friday off).

For the most part, I am planning on doing a lot of resting, but there are a couple things that I have resolved to do. One of them is to cut my hair (yes, I cut my own hair. I am definitely not a tightwad, but I cannot see giving large amounts of money to somebody to do something to my hair that I will not be happy with anyway. I might as well save the dough and just be upset with myself.)

The other is to do some much-needed maintenance on my bike's drivetrain. Over the past month or so, after several trips in the rain and wind, with sand and other debris blowing about, pedaling my bike has started to become noticeably more difficult (yes, I know, blame the bike when it is most likely the bike's engine that is slowing me down). Nevertheless, whether it is the bike or myself causing the slowness, it doesn't change the fact that the drivetrain could use some maintenance. I am starting to become aware of my chain making a bit of noise as I pedal. No, it doesn't sound like a hamster who has taken its squeaky wheel out on the open road like some bikes that I pass, but I should not be able to hear any sound from the chain at all. Usually I just lube the chain periodically and leave it at that, but this time I think I will remove it and soak it in degreaser for awhile to try to remove some of the sand and grit which has collected on it over the past few wet weeks. Hopefully this thorough cleaning coupled with the rest I hope to get will combine to make for some smooth pedaling in the coming week.

So, on this long weekend, I think probably what I am most thankful for is four days of no work.

Urgent!!! Rack Update.

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 05:27:00 +0000

OK, maybe it's not so urgent. In fact, you're probably getting pretty tired of my incessant updates on the work bike rack.

But today I noticed that it finally seems that the rack is starting to catch on. Just as it took some time for people to warm up to the Santa Monica library bike racks, one by one my co-workers are starting to dock their bikes at the new stand.

At first, everybody had to walk by and look at it, then once they were used to it they started to actually use it.

I think that the three bikes at the rack today were the only three in the office, probably due to the chillier temperatures we've been having. Sometimes there are five or six of us who bike to work on any given day and that is probably about how many bikes can comfortably fit in the rack, though it could probably hold a couple more in a pinch.

I still need to find a mat to put under the rack, which is difficult to do during this busy holiday week, but I will work on finding one as time allows.

The Rack Is Back...

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 04:51:00 +0000

...And Assembled

I mentioned in Monday's post that our new work bike rack arrived after returning the damaged one that came a couple weeks earlier.

Well, on Tuesday I took some tools with me to work, since the two screwdrivers that comprise our work tool set weren't going to cut it for bike rack assembly. While I was awaiting the information I needed to start my work on this busy day I decided to assemble the rack. It was only six bolts, so it was no great feat to slap it together.

The original plan was to install it right in front of my desk, but with the recent "restructuring" of our company, there are going to be more people moving into our office meaning they are going to add more cubicles which will mean not enough space in that area, so the boss decided to put it by the windows overlooking Hollywood Blvd. Since we are on the third floor and the rack is directly outside of the boss' office, I think this is sufficient security.

The view from my desk. The rack is by the windows in the distance.

So far it has been met with as much enthusiasm as the new Santa Monica Library bike racks when they were first installed. This is probably a sign that we have been spoiled by being allowed to put our bikes wherever we could find space, usually in the direct vicinity of our desks. This will no longer be an option once the additional bodies start occupying these spaces. As of Wednesday afternoon, my bike was the lone one at the rack. When I asked a co-worker why he didn't put his bike there, he said "It's so far to walk", another sign that we have been spoiled by our current arrangement. It's not like our office is that huge.

Now I have to find some type of mat to put under it, as our boss seems to have some worries about the carpet getting dirty.

Christina Aguilera, Nice Rack

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 06:20:00 +0000

It's not what it sounds like, I swear!

This morning was the day they redelivered our work bike rack (and it is nice) after their attempt to deliver a damaged one.

This being Hollywood, carrying the rack the half block from where the delivery truck parked to our office was fraught with obstacles that most people in other places probably don't have to worry about, such as weaving our way through a large crowd of people sardined onto the sidewalk awaiting the arrival of Christina Aguilera, who was to receive her star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame, which in turn was tied in to this evening's premiere of her new movie "Burlesque".

We got the rack upstairs, but since our office toolkit consists of two screwdrivers, I need to bring in some wrenches tomorrow to assemble it. Besides this, there is still some discussion as to where the rack will ultimately go. It will definitely be inside, but may be at one end of the office, rather than right in the center.

Futher details on the rack to come.

My Top Isn't Copper

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 04:46:00 +0000

I don't keep on going... and going...

You may have noticed that the old blog-a-roonie kind of got away from me last week.

No sooner had I done my post last Monday on The Worst Day Ever, when a mere 24 hours later, that previous day was no longer the worst day ever. And it's not like I didn't ride the bike the rest of the week. And it's not like I didn't drink any beer during the week. It's just that I couldn't work up the energy to get the camera and photograph the beer, let alone write about it.

Yes, at work we are heading full steam ahead into our busiest time of year, only this year because of a recent "consolidation" we have more than double the work of previous years. Add to that various maternity leaves, sick days, vacation days, etc. and what do you have? One crazy week.

Since I work in advertising (just like Don Draper!), more specifically for movies, the push for Oscar® nominations along with the crappy big-budget holiday films, we are generally swamped from now until about March when all the awards are finally over.

At least I was able to ride the bike the rest of the week after my shaky start on Monday. In fact, I think that cycling went a long way in getting me through the week with what passes for sanity for me.

Don't get me wrong, I realize I am lucky to be working in these economic times, but dragging myself home from work and collapsing in a heap in "my spot" does not lend itself to working on my blog.

I have mentioned before that given the choice, I would much rather do the full-time job that I don't get paid for (this blog) than the full-time job that I do get paid for, but that won't pay the rent and whatnot.

We will see how this week goes. I think Tuesday's are out as far as posting goes, seeing as how last week I left my apartment at 6:20 AM and returned home at 10:00 PM. After I scrounged up something for dinner, it was about 11:00 PM and time for bed.

I will try to keep this blog deal going during this time, though it may be a bit sporadic from time to time. But I will bring you all sorts of bike (and beer) related goodness as time allows.

Worst. Day. Ever.

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 05:56:00 +0000

Worst. Day. Ever...

I am sure The Comic Book Guy would probably agree with me. In facet, this crappiest of days did not even begin today, but around 11:00 PM last night.

That is when I realized, that for some unexplainable reason, an important email that i had to send on Friday evening did not go through.

Since this was an email concerning payroll for our freelancers, it was important to get this to the payroll department ASAP, especially since this week the payroll had to be in early because of Veteran's Day on Thursday.

So, after a night of sleeplessness, at 5:45 AM I sprang from the sack, shaved, showered, shat, suited up and split in 11 minutes flat. I had pulled on my riding knickers, walked to the window, thought "Oh, crap" as I looked out at the rain coming down. That was my fatal mistake. I have said in the past that I usually try to avoid looking outside before I leave. If I get outside with my bike and it is raining, I usually figure "what the heck, I'm already out here, might as well keep going."

But today, having to make a split-second decision, I removed the knickers and donned the jeans, grabbed the umbrella and headed to the bus stop.

For those of you not familiar with the Los Angeles bus system, there are two types of buses, the regular "local" buses, and the "rapid" buses, not exactly express buses, but with fewer stops than the regular buses. I can either walk one block to the stop for the "local" bus, or four blocks to the stop where both the local and rapid buses stop.

Most of the time when I walk the three extra blocks to the rapid stop to double my chances of getting a bus, inevitably a bus passes when I am midway between the two stops. So today, I walked to the corner to wait for a local bus. After seven or eight minutes, I gazed down toward the other stop. I didn't see any buses, so I figured if I ran to that stop I could probably get there before a bus showed up. So, I ran toward the stop full speed, with a near miss at the exit to the McDonald's as I sprinted past as a motorist trying to juggle various, McMuffins, Macs, Coffees, Fries, Hash Browns and delicious deep-fried pies while trying to get past the chest pains didn't think to look for somebody that might actually be walking on the side-"walk".

I managed to swerve around him, sprinting across 26th street, just as the local bus was pulling up. So there I was, sweating like crazy, trying to catch my breath as the bus driver looked at me like a narcotics enthusiast who was "coming down" as I boarded the bus that would have come by the stop I was originally at approximately 45 seconds later.

Once I got to work, I looked for the email I tried to send on Friday but it was nowhere to be found. I made a new email and attached the time sheets that I had tried to previously send. In my groggy fervor, and thanks to Microsoft autofill, I accidentally copied a Tom in our office rather than the Tom at the home office I should have sent the files to. Since I didn't want the wrong recipient to see these confidential files, I had to log on to his email to delete them, but in these days of iPhones and whatnot, I wasn't sure if the message may have already made its way to his phone. I sent him another message asking him to please delete the previous messages without looking at them if they happened to have been sent to his phone. Of course, for most, this would just serve as an invitation to view the messages, but he said it was not on his phone, and seeming like an honest sort, I believed him.

So, after all of this, I am still not positive that I submitted the info in time. If a couple people end up not receiving there checks this week, I am not going to be the most popular fellow in the office.

And shortly after arriving at work, the skies became blue. After taking care of this emergency, I went down to get my morning coffee and, feeling sorry for myself, purchased a blueberry muffin as well.

I have been trying to avoid the morning muffin, but with the way the morning was turning out and me wishing I had ridden the bike, the muffin was the high point of my day.

Contemporary Crafts Market

noreply@blogger.com (larrabeee) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 04:37:00 +0000

...at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium

The S.O. got free tickets to this event, which was going on this weekend. She wanted to go here to get ahead on some of her holiday shopping since she prefers to buy unique handmade gifts for friends and family rather than gift cards purchased at the CVS as I tend to gravitate towards.

These sculptures were near the entrance, which reminded me a lot of Peggy Hill's sculptures, "Probots" on season 8 episode 9 of TV's "King of the Hill", "Ceci N'est Pas Une King of the Hill".

Since I went with the S.O., I didn't ride but we did walk there, so it is still in keeping with the carfree theme of this blog.

Whenever I go to something like this I usually see it as a challenge to find something bike-related to stick in my blog. Lately it seems fairly easy since bikes are apparently "in", at least as far as design and style goes.

At this event it seemed a bit harder than usual to find anything bike-ey. There seemed to be a lot of horse-themed art, but not a lot of bike designs. But looking harder I managed to come across a few items. Wire and steel seem to lend themselves particularly well to bike art, but I did manage to find one bike in textile form.

Of course, this is not directly related to cycling per se, but I like bikes in art form as much as I enjoy riding them, and I think bikes of all types are appropriate in this blog.

And as an added bonus, I once again happened upon Southwest Man, who seemed to be in the market for yet more turquoise jewelry.