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So I’m walking through the local brew store and happened upon this interesting little bottle. Ya, I’m a sucker for a funny beer label. What also caught my eye was that it was a Porter. Most holiday brews tend to be ales so I was more than happy to be back with a dark beer, where I belong. I missed you too Porter.

Don’t be afraid, it’s really good

Porters were named after their popularity with 18th Century river and street porters in London. Porters generally use dark malts in the brewing process and a stronger Porter would be considered a Stout. Guinness actually used to call their Stout an “Extra Superior Porter”. Enough with history lesson right! Well this Porter comes straight from the good old UK out of the Shelton Brothers Brewery. They actually produce a “Butt Porter” year round but this is their holiday rendition.

Mmmmmmm

This brew starts with a surprisingly light mouthfeel considering it’s dark body. Malts and oats are mainly used to create the gentle but warming flavors. Along with these comes the taste of subtle winter spices that are gentle but pleasant. This is definitely a holiday brew you’ll want to come back to over and over. If you’re a fan of darker drinks this one won’t let you down. And even if you’re not, it’s only 6% alcohol so you won’t be paying for it the next morning.

Half empty?

And if you’re wondering, the word “butt” actually refers to a large, 108 imperial gallon(~129.7 US gallons) cask that’s used to condition ales. Who knew?

There. Made it through the entire post without a butt joke. That was tough! I had this one after the Turnbull ride on Saturday morning and it was just the right drink after a windy, cold ride. Also(I should have mentioned this before) when you’re drinking your stronger and more flavorful holiday beers it’s best to let them warm slightly after coming out of the fridge. The cold tends to mask a lot of the taste so be patient and you’ll be rewarded. You’ll really be surprised at how much more tasty your drink is. Keep a look out for Santa’s Butt and grab it if you see it. Ah crap.

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Before I answer this question, a little background on my weekend’s ride:

Redline Mono 9 enjoying the sun and dirt. Look at the paint sparkle.

This ride started out harmlessly enough. It was a nice climb up Marshall Canyon for some fun singletrack at the top of the canyon. Along the way we went through multiple tiny streams, climbed up fireroads and some singletrack. We rolled in and out of tree coverage all the way up the trail and got to the top. (Mental note, this is an excellent trail to ride during the hot days of summer… and spring and fall.) There were some steep climbs but they were all very short, which is a plus for someone who hasn’t ridden in a month! When we got to the top of the mountain we had a couple of choices to make. Of course the easy choice was taking the singletrack, hehe, back down to the main trail.

As we started down the fun singletrack I couldn’t help but think how sweet it is to ride a new trail. There are so many fun little surprises and our guide, Tim, was excellent in giving us a heads up as to what was coming up. As I got more into the singletrack I started to feel as though I was finally getting into the flow of mountain biking again. Oh, what a feeling! Then, it happened.

WB fork is doing well, a little bit of top out, but I’ll get that adjusted

We crossed a mini-stream and began climbing up the other embankment when a sharp bang resonated through the forest (hyperbole). As my ears registered the sound my mind had already come to the realization that a MAJOR mechanical issue had occurred. I looked down to see… well, I don’t know what I saw. I was confused as I’ve never seen anything like this before. I jumped off the bike and ran up the embankment to a flat part of the trail. I called out loudly to Tim, now about 30 yards ahead, and moved over to the side as my buddy David rode up behind me.

What I saw appalled me and brought me to my knees, more hyperbole. If your sensitive to gruesome, broken bike components, I’d skip this next picture:

The front chainring blew up!

It has been officially confirmed. I’m a masher. A spinner would have gently chosen a lower gear to climb up the embankment but I’m no spinner. I held my high gear and ripped apart my front chain ring while tackling that short embankment. Since I was running a 1×9 I was also out of luck. I had no more front chainrings for my chain to run on. Off came the chain and now my pedals spun freely. I spent the rest of the riding coasting, kicking, pumping and running my way down the hill. Thankfully it was mostly downhill so I still got to enjoy the trail.

My buddy Tim, who normally rides an Inbred 29er, noticed how on his Yeti 575 (a 26″ bike) he had to pedal a lot earlier than I did when we were coasting along. He mentioned something about 29er momentum and I knew Tim was a true 29er convert.

Marshall Canyon might have won this time around but I promise you that I will be back for more.

Please note that a bashguard and new bolts were added to the Redline’s stock setup, I never had issues before with the stock ring.

UPDATE: Click here to read the probable cause of the failure.

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Saturday morning, the MtnBikeRiders crew were all spread out riding various trails. Jeremy was at Marshall Canyon, Lance as you’ve already seen was at Turnbull Canyon and the rest of us stayed local and hit up the Fullerton Loop.

Khoa, Moe, Priscilla, and I met up with one of my buddies, Joe, who is is wanting to try out mountain biking. Moe was very accomodating by providing Joe the Trek Remedy to use for his first adventure.

Here we are at our first of many rest stops.
RL, Priscilla, Joe, Moe and Khoa.

At another rest stop, which is basically the half way point.

The trail has a few of these signs that say “Bicycles watch downhill speed.” Posing next to those signs makes for a perfect Kodak moment…

On one of the extra credit portions of the trail, Priscilla, Joe and Khoa decided to tackle a pretty steep climb with a nice pay off on the back end. I ran over to where they would be coming down and got some action shots.

From what I understand, this was Joe’s first mountain bike experience. But to be honest with you, he didn’t ride like it was his first time. The dude has some handling skills and pretty much climbed everything we hit.

Here’s Khoa after taking a massive jump and doing a back flip in mid air…too bad my camera didn’t catch it…

We had a great time out there. As always we just tried to enjoy as much of the trail as we could.

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After planning a road ride with my riding buddy, we opted to go for a mountain ride instead. Come one now, how do you pass up a fun mountain ride for the road? I just couldn’t do it. After watching my friend Ryan install the derailleur cables on my wife’s bike I was able to replace the failing cables on my Heckler and even managed to remedy a brake rub problem I’d been having for at least three months. More on those fix tips in the future. I sure have missed being on a ride without mechanical problems!

One of many doubletrack climbs

One of the things I like about riding with my friend is he’s a sport class racer(and improving) so he really challenges me to push my limits but in a fun an recreational way. We also hooked up with his entire SC Velo team to ride and, man, is riding with XC racers ever humbling.

Checking out the view

After the recent rains there was a lot of green grass that made for some beautiful climbs. There’s a ton of tight switchbacks that require your full attention. This was part of the reason I didn’t really get any ride shots in. Every time I’d whip out my camera the crew would be off and pedaling again. Dangit!

Looking back down after the climb

Most of the climbs were moderately steep but there was a lot of loose rubble. The trail has some surprisingly fun downhills that were fast and twisty. Somebody had built up some jumps along the downhill but they looked half-assed so I chose not to risk it. Lots of exposure on this ride though. At one point I almost didn’t catch my brake in time and barely missed launching off a sheer drop. Yikes! I had been on this trail with RL, Priscilla, Jeremy and Moe before but was shown a new singletrack this time out. It ran for about a mile but followed along a hillside with some serious-consequence exposure. At the same time it was littered with jumps and drops. Wow, my heart was pounding after that! It was the perfect end to a great ride.

The Heckler wins again

This ride was all about enlightenment for me. I never new how liberating it could be to install and setup a derailleur on your own! Fixing my nagging brake problem was an added bonus. But on top of this I found I was able to hang on some seriously technical and long climbs with the sport level riders(the Semi-pro fellas left us in the dust). After the ride I found myself reminiscing about my first mountain bike ride and realized just how far I’d progressed. Think about your first ride and you’ll realize the same, I think. Weather it’s your bike handling or your stamina that’s improved, it’s so satisfying to know you’ve finally become the rider you were hoping to be when you first started. And if you’re not there yet, at least your on your way. This is why we ride…and boy do I love it!

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One of my old riding buddies got me this a few years ago. I bust it out every Christmas…wouldn’t you!?

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