Blonde Ale:
5gal with US05 yeast, and 4lbs Strawberries.
5gal with US04 yeast, and 5lbs Raspberries.
IPA:
Both 5gal fermenters got US05 yeast and the same amount and variety of dry hops (Simcoe, Citra, Cascade, Amarillo and Summit)
One of them will get Oak cubes for one week. :D
I'll report back with the results soon.
THE NEW BIKE!!!
Well, if I'm going to be getting into this whole "gravel grinder" business, I had better upgrade from my 9yr old 29er mountain bike. Enter the Macho Man.
All City Macho Man Disc. Steel frame, disc brakes, Shimano 105 and clearance for 42c tires. NICE!
I was looking at ALL of the options, with no budget in mind. This bike was near the top of my short list despite being a full $1000 cheaper than a couple of the other bikes on that list. The other two were the Salsa Warbird 105 and the Raleigh Tamland 2. Both sounded like great bikes, and I was planning on riding all three, as well as anything else that was available. So far, I had ridden a Cannondale CAADX (horrible!) and a couple Trek's, including the Boone 5. The Boone was great, but really didn't have any soul. Hard to explain, but that's how I felt.
So, I take a look on Craigslist, just out of curiosity what might be around, and there sits El Macho, less than a mile from me, but in a seemingly smaller size than I require. I ride a 55cm LeMond roadie, and my Medium (17-18") mountain bikes are on the small side of perfect. The Macho was a 52, so I contacted the seller, expressing interest but that I would need to check geometry numbers and get a good test ride. Amazingly, he was the same size as me, with a bit longer inseam. Turns out the 52 for All City has a 55 top tube. Perfect! After a very short test ride, I was totally sold on the bike. Everything just felt right about it. I knew I could quit looking, and start negotiating.
Well, after a low ball offer, and some back and forth, I gave him $100 less than his asking price. This didn't seem like all that great of a deal until I really thought about it, and realized I had just gotten a $1550 bike, with $100 set of extra tires for $1100. The bike was only a month old, and didn't have some much as a scratch on it! SWEET!!!!
Now, I start riding it as often as possible. A few small items start to pop up that need adjustment for my liking. I pull the kids in a Burley most of the time. Any little hill or headwind, and I was hurting with the road gearing. 46/36 chainrings and 12-28 cassette. I looked at all of the options, and decided to order a 9spd XT derailleur and 10spd 11-36 mountain cassette. These are reported to pair nicely with the 105 shifters for much wider gearing. They both just came today, and I started the swap. The only hiccup is that the XT der. doesn't have the threads for the cable adjuster like on the road derailleurs. Back to looking for options.... I decided that a Jagwire Rocket II adjuster, reported to fit nicely into the hole on the XT would be a good easy way to go. I was going to put an inline adjuster in, but the former option just seems like a clean option. So, if Amazon Prime pulls through, I'll be rockin' in a couple days. The XT is on, but the shifts aren't perfect with out the micro adjustment I need from the Rocket II adjuster. That, and I don't have a cassette removal tool...yet.
The only other things that I have changed are the seat and bar tape.
New seat is a Brooks Cambium C17. I like it pretty well so far. My longest ride was about 2hrs on gravel, and it didn't bother me. Still need to tweak the position a touch. The bar tape was put on prior to said ride; I chose Salsa Gel Cork tape, in natural color to match the saddle. It's close enough to look good, and seems like it'll work nicely. It's got a bit more cushion than the stock stuff. I probably should've used the stock stuff for another month or so, and then done the swap. Oh well, it's only $20.
Cheers.
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