Announcing . . . The Beer Olympics Project

I like beer.   Whether it's a Porter on a crisp evening in October, a Mexican Lager served in a plastic cup at the all-inclusive in Mexico , or a session offering at the local brewpub,  drinking a beer imparts an experience that is to be savored.  To sit and drink a beer can be a rite of passage into manhood (see National Lampoon's Vacation when the Griswold men enjoy a beer),  the mark of sophistication (I don't always drink Dos XX . . .), or a post race refreshment.  But mostly it's about enjoying a simple pleasure.  I mean, who doesn't enjoy standing in front of a sizzling grill with a pint in hand?   I am admittedly partial to Colorado Beers, but I am always willing to sample beers from beyond the state borders.  Clearly, it's a great time to be a beer drinker in the United States.

The Griswolds share a beer 

Lately I've been thinking about "Flagship" Beers.  By this I mean those beers that are the signature beer of a  craft brewer (a brewery that produces less than 6 million barrels annually).  Although they may have limited distribution, they are usually available in many restaurants and sold at liquor stores within a given region. These are go to beers so when the choice at a restaurant is  limited to Bud, Bud Light, Shock Top, and say, Fat Tire, well . . . there really isn't much choice, is there.

 So I'm announcing a special project for the coming weeks and months called the Beer Olympics.  It will be an opportunity to sample and compare some of the more popular "flagship" beers being produced in a tournament style format.  I'll start with eight beers and have them face off in a head to head competition, with the preferred beer moving on to the next round.  In the end, there will be only one.  One victorious and glorious beer.  The Champion!
In truth, this Olympics isn't really about finding the "best" beer.  It's about drinking beer and reflecting on the qualities that make a particular beer enjoyable, but mostly just about drinking beer.  I chose beers based on the extremely scientific process described below:
1) I've had the beer before and I like it.
or . . .
2) I haven't had the beer before, but it's one I'd like to try.
and . . .
3) I know that I can find it at my local liquor store.
and . . .
4) I'm sure that it's pretty popular.
In an effort to be as objective as possible, all beers will be sampled in a blind taste test.  They will be evaluated on a short set of criteria including: aroma, balance, mouthfeel, and finish.  Here are the contenders:
Fat Tire (New Belgium Brewing, Ft. Collins, CO):  If the Columbine is the state flower for Colorado, then Fat Tire could very well be the state beer.
American Amber Ale (Rogue Ales, Newport, OR): A popular beer with a large distribution in the Western United States.
Stone Levitation Ale (Stone Brewing, San Diego, CA):  San Diego may have the best concentration of Craft breweries of anywhere in the United States.
90 Schilling Ale (O'Dell Brewing, Ft. Collins, CO): This beer doesn't get the same amount of attention as New Belgium, but it produces some of the finest beer in the state.
Alaskan Amber (Alaskan Brewing Company, Juneau, AK): The Beers from the Alaskan Brewing Company have enjoyed increased popularity and distribution over the last several years.  The company web site says that the Amber is an alt style beer that is the result of a slower fermenting process that occurs at lower temperatures.
Mass Transit Ale (Bristol Brewing, Colorado Springs, CO): A nearby brewer with a variety of quality beers (Compass IPA comes to mind).
Avalanche Ale (Breckenridge Brewery, Breckenridge, CO): The Breckenridge Brewery's best selling beer.
Red Rocket Ale (Bear Republic Brewing, Healdsburg, CA): A self-described Bastardized Scottish Ale brewed in Sonoma County.
The seedings are random and break down as follows in this illustration:

Over the coming weeks, I will be posting the results of the head to head competitions.  When they are completed, I'll move onto the semi-final round, and so on.  Once this category is complete, I'll be doing some other "events" in the Beer Olympics.   Possible categories include: Holiday Beers, Fruit Beers, Stouts, Hoppy Beers, Mexican Beers, and Belgian Style interpretations (there seem to be a dearth of these out there these days).  I'm always open to category or beer suggestions, so fire away!

Cancer Sucks Freedom Swim Race Report

Keeping with my trend this year of "going long,"  I found myself driving down Wadsworth early on Sunday morning.  My destination was Grant Ranch and the inaugural Cancer Sucks Freedom Swim Race.  There were three distances available to participants: 800 meters, 1.2 miles, or 2.4 miles.  Each distance was also divided into two categories: Wetsuit/ No Wetsuit.   I decided that if I was going to swim 2.4 miles, I really wanted to make the most of my $25 entry fee, so I opted for the no wetsuit category. 
We stayed the night with some friends who lived only about 15 minutes away as it turned out, and I arrived well ahead of time.  At least this allowed me to grab a patch of concrete next to the pool to spread out my towel and other things (Tip: when spreading out your towel with the soul purpose of sitting on concrete for 30-45 minutes, fold it into fourths and sit on it this way.  By being folded, it provides much more cushioning than a fully spread out towel).  I sat down and spent the better part of an hour just people watching.  There was an interesting mix of folks at this event: High School Swimmers, Triathletes, and well, just plain swimmers.  There were a lot of folks that were with their families which was fun to see.
At about 7:15, the race organizers had a brief meeting.  The swim was planned as a fundraiser for their 16 year old daughter who was diagnosed with non-hodgkin's lymphoma this past year.  She was also swimming and said a few words just prior to the start which was met with great applause.  All told, there were over 200 participants at this event, which is just awesome.  For me, this race wound up having added meaning because a close family friend was also diagnosed with this illness just a couple of weeks ago.  This is something that I think is really special about the endurance athletic community.  They are always stepping up to rally around a cause.
The race started in waves and they allowed us 2.4 swimmers to have the honor of going first.  This kind of makes sense given the time limit for swimming at the lake, but I also knew that it would be somewhat humbling as I would be passed by the 1.2 mile swimmers and the 800 swimmers a few minutes after we got going.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that the overall winner of the 2.4 mile swim, a woman who started 5 minutes after I did, passed me twice since the course was a 2 lap swim!
I jumped into the water with just about 3-4 minutes before the start of my race.  I adjusted my goggles and took a few strokes just to get a feel for the water.  My goggles were leaking just a tad, but I tweaked them and called it good.  I positioned myself at the very back of the group and waited for the start.  And then, we were off!
Within about 100 yards, it was clear that my goggles were going to be a problem.  I rolled onto my back and drained them, and attempted to get a tighter seal on them.  No luck.  I kept swimming but every few minutes, I would have to pause to drain the lake water from my goggles.  Finally after nearly 3/4 of a mile, I managed to get a good seal, and they didn't bother me for the remainder of the race.

 In a swimming pool, I have probably covered this same distance a handful of times, but I had never done a OWS swim of this distance before, so I really didn't know what to expect in terms of how hard or easy it would be.  I knew that I had the aerobic conditioning to do it but I wondered how sore or exhausted I might be from swimming that far.  It probably didn't help that we were out at a party until after midnight on Saturday, so I was operating on about 5 hours of sleep.   I took my time on the course, and really tried to focus on getting into a rhythm, and being sure that I had good technique.  For the most part, this worked well.  I believe that the rhythm aspect of an OWS is perhaps the most difficult of all.  Apart from trouble with the eye wear, there are kayaks, other swimmers, seaweed, etc. that can knock you off of the steady routine of swimming.  I did have some trouble with this at times, but if I worked to stay focused a little more, I was able to keep distractions to a minimum.  I was pleased because I was swimming in a straight line, and sighting fairly well.  As a result, I was able to put my head down and swim for a good chunk of time without having to look up and check my whereabouts.  In fact, there was only one point in the entire race where my line was off a bit, but that wasn't because  I was swimming crooked.  It just happened that I overlooked one of the midway buoys and so I had to swim over about 30 yards to correct myself.  I doubt if that cost me more than a few seconds time.
I passed through the first lap after about 42 minutes.  Not very fast, but I didn't mind.  I had been taking it easy, and without a wetsuit, I wanted to be sure that I conserved some energy for the second lap.  I also had a slight pain in my left ankle, which was making it a little difficult to kick properly, and so I'm sure that wasn't helping with my pace.  At any rate, I pressed on and got into the second lap.
About halfway through (just after my slight course correction), I noticed that I really wasn't breathing very hard, and I wasn't all that tired considering that I'd already been swimming for over an hour.    It occurred to me that I must really be "taking it easy" on the swim, so I decided to push a little bit harder.  I did this for the rest of the swim, although by that point it was too late to generate a negative split.  I reached the finish of the race around 1hr 27 minutes.  Not very fast, but I wasn't really trying too much.

11th out of 12 in this category.  But hey, who's counting?

 It's always fun getting out of the water after swimming for a long time, and even more so when most of the other swimmers have finished and are just standing near the finish line waiting for the awards ceremony to start.  It isn't uncommon for people to experience some dizziness, due to the fact that the body is in a horizontal position during swimming and the heart hasn't had to push the blood vertically up to the brain.  I could be a poster boy for this phenomenon.  As I moved into a standing position, it was a struggle to walk, and I felt this incredible forward momentum, as I stumbled forward out of the water.  This sensation continued for the next several minutes, as I made my way to my towel, and into the locker room to clean up a bit.  By the time I left, the awards ceremony had started.  It turns out the overall winner of the swim completed it in 49m 26s!  By the way, SHE wasn't wearing a wetsuit either.  Simply awesome!

Harvard

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to Cambridge, MA for a one week summer institute at Harvard University.  While most of my time was occupied in classes and seminars, I did manage a few early morning runs and a bike ride (more on that later) before each day got busy. 
Saturday:  Unfortunately, due to plane delays, my arrival didn't occur until about 10:30 at night on Friday (Note: I won't fly with Delta again if I can help it).  Saturday morning, I awoke early and headed out to explore the area around Harvard.  I brought my phone along to take some pictures, but I've also taken the liberty of "borrowing" a few shots from Google Images (thanks to everyone that is a better photographer than I am).  There was some type of problem between my phone's GPS and Strava so after standing around for a few minutes with no ability to locate a signal, I scrapped the application, and just started running (I also tried using it on my second run with no success).  My original plan was to run for about 30-45 minutes, but the total time out wound up being closer to 65-80 minutes due to the fact that I eventually became completely lost.  It took a bit of time to get my bearings again, but eventually I managed to find a familiar looking area, and found my way back to the hotel.  Apart from getting turned around, the run itself was magnificent.   

Looks like a guy with a funny hat!

Tower: Really, really tall

 I started near Harvard square and within the first ten minutes I ran by a cemetery with tombstones dating from the 1700's, and an historical house that George Washington had used as his headquarters (Oh yeah, some guy named Longfellow also lived there).  Not a typical running route by any means.

This Cemetery included the graves of Slaves, Revolutionary War Soldiers, and many others

Nice digs: GW's house while staying in town for the Revolutionary War

 Monday: I went for a shorter run on Monday morning of only about 30 minutes.  I didn't see quite as many historical sites as I did on Saturday morning, but my run took me more into some of the neighborhoods around Cambridge.  Just before I turned around, I came across a large park that had a nice track located inside.  I stopped to get a quick shot.

Tuesday: Early on Tuesday, my colleague and I rented bikes using the Hubway, the bike sharing system for the greater Boston area.  These were just cruiser bikes so there wasn't really any hard core riding going on.  Still it was great to be able to cover more ground in a short amount of time.

We found a path that followed the St. Charles River and rode alongside it for a few miles before returning on the other side of the river.   There were several rowing teams out on the water as well as a few folks that looked like they were getting a lesson.   Wish there had been more time to try that out!

Lots of practice on the St. Charles

 Since I finished my class, I can now tell folks that not only did I attend Harvard, but I was able to do it in only a week!  It just goes to show you, how smart I are.

The Harvard Library, a good place for Book Learnin'