Beer of the Week: World Peace Death Ray Imperial IPA

From Bristol Brewery comes this Imperial IPA called World Peace Death Ray.  Brewed in honor of Nikola Tesla, a one time Colorado Springs Resident and inventor of . . . well just about everything.  At only 8% it has a surprisingly boozy taste that I'd associate with something in the 10%+ ABV range.  The hops in this beer remind me of a "wet hopped" IPA. To me, the beer is absent of bright citrus tones, and instead  steers more towards the "dark side" of hops.  Think wet grass, pine, and the like.  The finish lingers too, giving way to bitterness.  This one isn't sessionable, but worth picking up a four pack if you are a fan of the style.

Boulder Sunset RR & End of 2016 Season

Unlike a year ago,  my triathlon season officially ended not with an epic accomplishment, but with an easy outing that lasted just over an hour and a half.  The last triathlon I'd done  took place a little over 2 months ago at the Boulder Sunrise Triathlon.  I'd planned to do another race in between, but unfortunately it was canceled the week prior.  That, coupled with a return to full time work, pretty much sapped any extra motivation that I've had to train with any intensity.  I've continued to work out, but not with any real direction or sense of purpose.  This is just really a long way of saying that I rolled up to the Sunset version of the race yesterday with nothing more than the intention to participate and finish without feeling completely destroyed.  And that's what I did.

Like the June race, my daughter went with me and we spent the night prior with my parents.  Unlike the Sunrise however, the Sunset race starts a bit later in the morning, meaning that we didn't have to be out at the Boulder Reservoir until about 9:30 in the morning.  When we arrived, I also discovered that there were probably 3 times the number of participants, creating a rather long line of cars waiting to get into the reservoir and park.

Once we were parked, we made the long walk to the packet pick up and began cuing up in several lines to get my race materials and to register Maya for the 5 kilometer stand alone race.  It was fairly hectic as folks were picking things up and I heard the PA system announcing the start of the Olympic Triathlon.  By the time I had all of my things, I had maybe 10 minutes to get into transition and get set up.  Since we'd been stuck in traffic, the transition area was packed to the gills and it took me a fair amount of time to find the right numbered section for my bike.  Fortunately, the rack wasn't too crowded and I was able to get everything set up fairly quickly.  I met up with my daughter and made it down to the swim start with about 5 minutes to go.

My swim went better this time than I did for the Sunrise race.  Although my time was about the same, I felt much stronger during the swim and managed to avoid going way off course.  When I came out of the water, I didn't feel too tired. Time: 16:39 (includes the run up to T1).

I hadn't really bothered to look where I'd parked my bike when I left transition prior to the swim, but fortunately I guessed right with the numbers and turned up into the correct row.  My T1 time says 1:40 and I would guess that' s about right.  Not nearly as fast as a sprint should be, but that's okay.

Coming into this race, I was most concerned about the bike.  I just haven't been riding much.  In fact, yesterday's race was only about my third time on a bike this month.  I decided that I would take it a bit easier on the bike, and that proved to be a good, safe choice.  As I mentioned there were many more participants in the race, and that was quite noticeable on the bike.   Turning onto Hwy 36, I heard a couple of sirens coming up from behind.  I pulled off to the far side and waited for a fire truck and an ambulance to go rolling past.  A few other riders just kept going, but I wound up passing them a short while later.  I never did hear what the ambulance was for, but I spotted it again a little further up the road (pulling over again as it made a left turn in front of me).

Unlike a few weeks ago during IM Boulder (where an athlete died when she moved into traffic), there were no cones along the course and we were riding along the shoulder directly next to cars along the way.  It quickly became clear that if you were going to pass, you needed to look over your shoulder to be certain that there weren't other riders or vehicles coming from behind.  After a minute or two on Hwy 36, I just decided to slow down and took it easy.  It didn't seem wise to do too much passing, and since I knew I wasn't going for a PR, what was the point?  For the remainder of the ride, I focused mostly on keeping a consistent pace without pushing too hard at any given point.  Time: 53:24.

Unlike T1, I did not make a good guess in selecting the correct row to rack my bike.  I jogged down a different row before for seeing my transition area one row over.  Finding a gap, I ducked under the rack and quickly switched into my running gear.  As I came out of T2 (2:00), I felt strong starting the run (much better than I had a the Sunrise triathlon where I struggled to catch my breath) and quickly fell into a steady pace. The first part of the run is a slight uphill, and I quickly passed a number of athletes before cresting the hill and beginning the long out and back stretch along the reservoir dam.

My run was slower than typical for a sprint, but that was okay given my race philosophy for the day.  I slowed by about 10 seconds after each mile running 8:03, 8:09, and 8:19 over the course of the out and back run.  Time: 25:48.

Crossing the finish line, I was glad to be done as the temperature was starting to heat up. My total time for the race was 1:39:34.8 which was good enough for 15th in my age group (out of 33 participants) and 89th overall (out of 520 finishers).  Certainly not my best outing, I feel good about how it all went down.  Afterward, my daughter and I celebrated by heading into Boulder for some t/ acos and a stop for her first pair of cross-country racers.  Kudos to the folks at the Boulder Running Company!  They were friendly, helpful and made for a nice buying experience for my daughter and I.

End of the season: For the first time since last December, I'm not registered for any upcoming races.  I have a few ideas about the coming year, but there's still a lot of time to relax and think.  Spending this past season doing shorter races was certainly a departure from what I've typically done and I think that's been a good thing.  I've gotten to spend the summer trying new things like paddle boarding and yoga, and I've definitely gotten a lot more down time when it comes to training.  There was definitely something wonderful about weekends that weren't filled with 5+ hour training blocks.

And that's been fine.  But . . . I didn't get the same level of satisfaction or stress relief from this season as I have in year's past.  I'm not saying that I need to do another Ironman next year, but I do believe that the longer, slower stuff is more suited to my nature. I enjoy the contemplative time that "going long" provides, and I think it helps me to feel more balanced and relaxed.  And so, as the summer turns into fall, and then rolls into winter, I'll keep these things in mind when planning my 2017 season.  You can expect a few longer events, perhaps a spring marathon, maybe a century ride or two, and when it comes to triathlon, probably something in the 70.3 range.

Beer of the Week . . . Chubna!

It has been quite a while since I did a "Beer of the Week" Post.  Fear not dear readers, for this does not mean I've forsaken fine beer (the extra 5 lbs. I'm carrying around this summer will attest to that).  I picked up a couple of cans of this special edition brew a few weeks back and last week, I finally had a chance to dive in and enjoy this beer.  Chubna is the love child of two beers from Oskar Blues, one of the preeminent craft breweries not only in Colorado, but across the nation.  They're often recognized as the first craft brewery to begin putting their beer into cans, which had previously been unheard of in the world of smaller breweries.  Oskar Blues' most well known beer is none other than Dale's Pale Ale which enjoys are large distribution throughout the country.  While I enjoy Dale's Pale as a quaffable summer drinker, you can find a lot of interesting tastes if you go deeper into the brewery's catalog.  For example, a unique and delicious offering is the oddly named Old Chub.  It's a Scottish Strong Ale and if you don't like a Wee Heavy, you probably won't like this one all that much.  However, those with a broader palate will appreciate this beer and its caramel and toffee overtones.  It might take a few cans to acquire this taste, but it's definitely worth the investment. Another Oskar Blues Beer that is worth trying is Gubna.  It's a continuously evolving imperial IPA that changes from year to year based on its hop profile.  In its current rendition, the Oskar Blues web site describes it as having "black currant notes and subtle citrus overtones."

So what if Old Chub and Gubna got together and had a baby?  Well, for one thing, it would be a damn big baby!  The kind of baby whose birth shows up in the local news headlines like . . . WOMAN GIVES BIRTH TO A 12.6 LB BABY.  In the beer world, that baby is named Chubna:  An Imperial Scottish Strong IPA.  Chubna offers a unique drinking experience that is augmented by being aged in bourbon barrels.  The can comes in at just under 20 oz.  and for my drinking experience I honored its whiskey-like heritage and put it in a small snifter shaped taster glass sipping it over the course of an hour or two.  The combination of styles goes quite well together, with the strong malts in the Scottish Ale balancing out the hops from the IPA side.  The Bourbon aging is subtle, but the high alcohol content and the brown sugary flavors make this beer one worth drinking slowly.  Unfortunately, Chubna may already be gone by the time you read this. If you happen to find any out there, buy three cans.  Drink one, save one, and send one to me! Either way, keep an eye on Oskar Blues as they are constantly coming up with unique beers that push the limits of the beer experience.  A couple of their beers will probably meet up and bear some interesting offspring in the not too distant future.  Cheers!