November 13, 2013

Aeries February Freeze Tall Timber Trail Run & 12 Hour Ultra Race

So what are you doing on February 1st, 2014, I mean, there isn't much going on that time of year.  I have this great idea, I really think you will like it.  Come to Grafton, IL and run a 6 mile trail run or a 12 hour Ultra Trail Run.  They will both be awesome events with really great schwag.  

This is going to be one of those events that you do once and never want to miss again.  See all the race info below.  

Registration is now open, with a 300 entry limit for the trail run and a 150 entry limit for the Ultra run, there is also a team division for the Ultra, so grab two of your closest friends and hang out in the dark for 12 hours, all you have to do is run a little. 

This race is being managed by the Metro Tri Club, the same people that bring you the Pere Marquette Trail Run.  And the course is very similar to the PM run also, so be ready for a challenge.

Online Registration:
https://runsignup.com/Race/IL/Grafton/AeriesFebruaryFreezeTrailRun


November 11, 2013

A New Kind of Adventure - The Missouri Beer Quest


My new idea, simply explained is this:  I'm going to drink every beer made in Missouri.



So even though my new project idea does not involve racing, endurance sports, trail running or even mountain biking, it is certainly complementary with every one of these activities. 

And it passes the 3 part test defined by Dictionary.com as adventure:

ad·ven·ture

  [ad-ven-cher] noun, verb, ad·ven·tured, ad·ven·tur·ing.
noun
1.
an exciting or very unusual experience.
2.
participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure.
3.
a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.

I had to do some research to start this off and also figure out a way to keep track of which ones have been drunk and which ones were still to go.  A Wikipedia search got me started with a list of 47 Missouri breweries.  More work on Google found between 5 and 24 different beers at each brewery.  Then they have Seasonals and special Brewmaster releases.  I was looking at approx 500 beers.  Dang, more than I expected.  This could take awhile.  I needed some ground rules: Since it's my project I made them up to suit myself.

1. INbev is out, because F^*% them, they are Belgium beer or something now and represent big corporate takeovers, nameless suits and ties, with customers who are only sales numbers.

2. Seaonals and special releases are out, Its going to be hard enough to get to all these breweries, much less try to get there during the right seasons or in time for Brewmaster special releases.  If I do hit one at the right time for a seasonal, I will take credit for it.


Like a good engineer I built an Excel spreadsheet to categorize the breweries by location and list all of the beers.  And like a terrible blogger, I can't figure out how to copy them all into this blog. Several of the breweries I got from Wikipedia are no longer in business, and I have discovered at least one that was not included at all.  I'm sure there are more.  Feel free to leave me comments on ones I missed! But for right now my list stands at 40 breweries, and a total 307 of different beers.  If anyone wants a copy of my updated working spreadsheet, I'd be glad to share with you.
So far I've only 'collected' 16 of the individual beers, leaving me years to plan an attack on the rest.  
Who knows by the time I get through this thing I might finally know the difference between a lager and a pilsner, or a stout and IPA.

Brewery City (Website)
2nd Shift Brewing Company New Haven [1]
4 Hands Brewing Company St. Louis [2]
75th Street Brewery Kansas City [3]
Alpha Brewing Company St. Louis [4]
Augusta Brewing Company Augusta [7]
Bat Creek Brewery Bowling Green [8]
Big Rip Brewing Company NKC [9]
Boulevard Brewing Company Kansas City [11]
Broadway Brewery Columbia [12]
Cathedral Square Brewery St. Louis [15]
Charleville Vinyard & Microbrewery Ste. Genevieve [16]
Charlie's Steak, Ribs & Ale Branson [17]
Cinder Block Brewery North Kansas City [18]
Civil Life Brewing Company St. Louis [19]
Crown Valley Brewing & Distilling Company Ste. Genevieve [20]
Exit 6 Brewery St. Charles [21]
Ferguson Brewing Company St. Louis [22]
Flat Branch Pub and Brewing Columbia [23]
Flying Monkey Beer Kansas City [5]
Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Kansas City [24]
Granite City Food & Brewery St. Louis [25]
Griesedieck Brothers beer St. Louis [27]
Horseshoe Bend Brewing Lake Ozark [6]
Gruhlke`s Microbrewery / Bias Vineyards Berger [28]
John A. Huber Brewing Co Jackson [29]
Kirkwood Station Brewing Kirkwood [30]
McCoys Public House Kansas City [31]
Morgan Street Brewery St. Louis [32]
Mother's Brewing Company Springfield [33]
O'Fallon Brewery O'Fallon [34]
Piney River Brewing Company Bucyrus [36]
Public House Brewing Company Rolla [38]
Rock Bridge Brewing Company Columbia [39]
Saint Louis Brewery (Schlafly) St. Louis [40]
Six Row Brewing Company St. Louis [41]
Springfield Brewing Company Springfield [42]
Square One Brewery and Distillery St. Louis [43]
Trailhead Brewing Company St. Charles [45]
Urban Chestnut Brewing Co St. Louis [46]
Weston Brewing Co / O`Malley`s Pub Weston [48]
William K Busch Brewing Company St. Louis [50]






November 9, 2013

My NADS: An Epic Tale

So you probably remember that way back in October Chuck came up with the idea that there should be a nationally recognized day for adventure.  We thought it was a great idea and so did a lot of other people.  We created a facebook page for people to like and it started to generate  some interest.
Chuck, Robin, Lori and Mark decided they would set out to ride the Triple Crown.  An epic MTB route not to be taken lightly.  You can read about their ride here.



While the Triple Crown seemed like an awesome adventure, I had been thinking about a multi-day adventure for a while and needed an excuse to pull the trigger.  I wanted to do something multi-sport as well.  The original idea was to ride my bike to Jefferson City along the KATY trail, and then paddle back to St Charles.  My friend Cheri had recently purchased a kayak, so I asked if she wanted to paddle with me from Jeff city to Hermann.  She agreed and everything was set!




I am finally finished with the Epic Tale of my NADS, you can read about it at the links below.


Four installments might be a bit indulgent, but I had a lot to say.




I hope you enjoy reading about my NADS!