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.
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:
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.
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.
Hey there, ROCK Racing Readers!
My name is Patrick Albert and I have been a member of ROCK Racing for a while now. I asked Chuck and Robin if it would be cool to write an occasional post, and they said yes. So here goes nothing!
Some of you know me, and have seen me at a few races, and have been on some adventures with me but for those of that are wondering "Who the hell is Patrick Albert?" allow me to introduce my self. What seems like a hundred years ago Chuck and Robin needed a third wheel for the GOOMNA race in Highland, IL. I volunteered because I had some experience in all the disciplines. I warned Robin that I might not be fast enough for them though. She assured me that it was all good, and we would have a fun time. At this point I barely knew Robin and had never met Chuck, we all really clicked together and later they asked me to be a team member. Occasionally I feel bad because I don't race that often, but what I lack in Adventure Racing credibility I make up for with Adventure credibility.
You see a couple years ago I created the 100+Project dedicated to 100 or more mile adventures, during which I try to raise a little money for the St Louis chapter of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation. If you want to read about how I came up with the idea for the project you can read about it here. So far I have Skateboarded 107miles, Rode the 241mile length of the KATY trail on a recumbent bike and paddled my kayak in the MR340, a 340mile paddling race from KC to St Charles on the Missouri river.
Most recently, for National Adventure Day I rode from St Charles to Jeff City and Paddled back to Hermann, Mo.
I like Adventure more than I like racing, so Chuck and Robin will still do all the heavy lifting taking care of all the race reports, and I'll occasionally throw something out there about the latest Adventure we are embarking upon. Some of the activities that I like to do include, kayaking, stand up paddleboarding, land paddling, skateboarding, mountain biking, gravel riding, trail running, and the list goes on.
I hope you enjoyed the videos, and I look forward to sharing more Adventures with you in the future!
October 12-13 was National Adventure weekend.To honor such a great weekend we decided to
attempt the Triple Crown of Mountain Biking.
What is the Triple Crown you ask, well it’s just like in
horse racing, it’s 3 different tracks, but unlike horse racing, you do all
three in one day.
We started and finished the ride at the Weldon Springs
Mound, took the Hamburg and Katy trail to Klondike, while there did the
Hogsback loop, rode to Matson Hill, yes that means we had to ride the 2 mile
uphill to get to the park, rode all of the Matson trails, then rode to Lost
Valley and got to ride all the new single track there.When we made it back up the hill to the
Hamburg trail, we rode back to the mound.
Here is a short video I shot while at Matson Hill.
Below are some pictures we took during the Epic event, and
no one even got hurt, there was a bit of blood and lots of dirt, so all in all,
it was a great day.
