Monday, October 11, 2010

Kona and Weekend Wrap Up

October is my favorite month. It is apple season and I loooooove apples, especially cider, but MOSTLY Cider Donuts!!! mmmmmm......the best around here are up at Outhouse Orchards, which is off of my personal HIM bike course. I am wanting to do a ride for the donuts one of these weekends.

First, Dogfish Head from Delaware brings out their seasonal beer, Punkin Ale, which if you haven't try it yet, is in my opinion, the BEST Pumpkin spiced beer out on the market. I recommend taking a pint glass and dipping the rim in shallow water then dipping it in cinnamon sugar, then pouring the beer in. It is seriously heaven!

 (source)

And more on the beer front. Friday night my friend and I brewed an Apple Triple. Go HERE to read about the Tripel Style. In short, it is a high gravity Belgian Ale that involves a shit-ton of malt which means a LOT of alcohol, usually between 7 & 10%. Well, because we added apples, and because there was NO rain this past summer, the local apples this year are small, but PACKED with sugar.

More sugar = more happy times for yeast  = more alcohol. Our final gravity? 1.095. What does that equate to?
13% beer!!!!!!

Yeah buddy!!!!.....might need to shock it with some more yeast in a few weeks to kick start it again. Those yeast cells are gonna be tired after chomping through that much sugar.

On the workout front, running is SO FREAKING EASY right now due to the 0% humidity we have in the mornings with the cool temps. I love running in this weather! I knocked off an easy 4.5 miler Saturday morning.

Sunday morning I set out to find some new roads and knocked off a 40 mile ride. I made it to tony New Caanan, CT and found a few good roads that are perfect for some time trialing. Here is my route. I just loooooove my S2.

Finally, let's talk about Kona.

The day was somewhat ruined when Chrissie Wellington pulled out before the race even began. Bummer. She got the flu. Major bummer! Chrissie is a class act and thought it to be best to let the healthy folks duke it out. So the #2 woman who was expected to be Chrissie's competition, Mirinda Carfae, let it rip on the Marathon and won. Next year is going to be an EPIC battle for the women's race, something we haven't seen since Chrissie started dominating Kona.

On the men's field, I didn't expect Macca (Chris McCormack) to pull out a win like he did. And what a way he won it!!! He pulled some gutsy moves on the bike and they paid off. He had to get as much time on Crowie (Craig Alexander, the past two year winner) as he could on the bike so he could hold him off since Crowie is the best runner out there. His strategy worked, but not without some fireworks! The 2nd place finisher, Raelert, caught Macca within the final 10K, then Macca basically mind fucked him and pulled out the win. Raelert's lesson learned? DONT hit the aid station with 2 miles to go. Boy did Macca exploit that stupid move! It was game over from that point on. BEST men's finish I have ever seen since I started following Triathlon and Kona.

Congrats to Mirinda Carfae and Macca! If Macca returns, its going to be one heck of a 2011 Kona, especially if Lancey boy shows up to lay down the law on the bike.

23 comments:

  1. So I am by no means a beer connoisseur. I do however know a good beer when I taste one and I can appreciate ALL of the hard work that goes into creating new great tasting beers.

    Your triple sounds glorious. Honestly wish we lived closer so that I could sample that beauty.

    Had an opportunity to try the dog fish this weekend but passed, for some reason pumpkin ales never appealed to me until you described it. I will definitely try this seasonal delight.

    Thanks for the recommendation. Nice job on the run man. I honestly love love love running in this weather in the mornings. Beautiful scenery with the trees turning and being able to breath while running never hurts too ;)

    Keep up the good work man!

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  2. Always amazed at how different all the pumpkin beers are. If you haven't tried it already, give Weyerbacher's a try. I enjoyed that one.
    I despise the "Harvest Moon". I just recently threw out a bunch that had been sitting in the fridge since last fall. Yup, that bad. (IMHO)

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  3. MMMMmmmm... new beer to try :)

    I just had my first Ichabod beer from New Holland (their pumpkin beer). So good!

    I agree. This weather has be absolutely wonderful for running. I keep checking the forecast for my race next weekend and it looks like it is going continue all week long.

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  4. Hi little bro,
    I can't wait for you to do Kona:) Kona is on your wish list, right?

    I need to try those beers. It has been a few months since I have experimented with tasting new beers:)

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  5. You and your beer... too funny!

    Kona was awesome. I don't think Lance can play with the big boys though. Sure he can swim, and bike, and run, but can he put it all together to compete with the likes of Macca and Lieto? Eh... that's questionable! The women's race will be good!

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  6. Pumpkin, Oktoberfest, etc – at beer club last night. All very good.

    Macca won the race when Raelert couldn’t pass with authority. Macca matched him stride for stride and basically said – is that all you got? Raelert was running on empty and answered with a YES, that is all I have.

    Both are great competitors!

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  7. Love all the beer info, thanks! Kona was great, the men's race was unbelievable.

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  8. Never a bad time to try a new beer and since this is the second recommendation of Punkin Ale and my wife loves pumpkins it is a trip to the store for some.....I am still in race recovery I believe.

    New Cannaan is gorgeous and riding your bike through CT must be awesome and make me want to be up there for a ride like that. Enjoy it.

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  9. Love Dogfish Head! and agreed, the Kona mens race was amazing to watch. Can you imagine the mental fortitude necessary to pull that out? I'm not a huge Macca fan, but I have major respect for him after watching that.

    It will be very interesting to see if "Lancey boy" does want to race Kona as a pro. I hope he doesn't just have to "show up" - he should have to go through all the qualifying standards just like everyone else.

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  10. Sounds like a great beer to try.

    I love how Mirinda won the race--what an amazing run!

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  11. Great news on the running! thats awesome...from both a physical standpoint also non fumidity standpoint
    D

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  12. I agree with you on the running in the low temps. Our mornings have been in the 50;s and it is just awesome. All that brutal time spent in the heat has paid off for us all ... gonna have to bookmark this for next year when we all start bitching about the heat again!

    Kona was just well played by Macca. I seriously think he slowed a smidge just to let Raelert catch up. Then he was like, "hey bro you ready to run now?" and Raelert was done. Very cool to watch!

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  13. I was WORKING all day during the race, but man, I'm looking forward to that DVD. There's something about the recaps they do... pop it in the player, jump on the trainer, and I could watch it 3 times through!!

    Glad the running is going so well for you! Send some of those good vibes my way! ;)

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  14. Kona was awesome this year!! I cannot wait to see it on TV in a few months!! I was glued to my computer the whole time! I've gotta get some pumpkin ALe

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  15. I've actually had that beer and it is pretty good, but I actually liked the one I posed about better! :)
    I watched Kona too, and loved it!

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  16. Had some pumpkin ale on Sunday, yum!! I love cider donuts too. Heading the country this weekend so will have lots of apples and donuts.

    Mirinda made it look so easy....

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  17. I was wondering about Lance, I thought he was doing this years race.

    What a race, I do not like Macca, but he race a brillant race.

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  18. oh my, 13%??? The highest I've had was a Molson Brador in Canada, almost fell off my chair.

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  19. I would have to say I think "Brooklyn Post Road Pumpkin Ale" and "Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin Ale" are MUCH better beers. If you like cider and have orchards nearby brew some cider of your own. It is easy and fast. I have about 7 gallons of it a home in bottles. Contact me if you want to know how to do it.

    Kevin
    http://halftriing.blogspot.com/

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  20. ok.. at the risk of sounding like a stalker.. we really aren't that far from each other... I'm just on the other side of the CT border in BETHEL... we should see if we can get Caratunk Girl to get her butt down here for some rides come spring!!! I have a MIL apartment.. she could stay here!!!

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  21. Next year in Kona should be an awesome one, that is for sure...too bad we have to wait 12 months to get there!

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  22. That sounds like an awesome beer! I just started my first batch this past weekend and hoping to see some bubbles in the airlock tonight when I get home. Cheers!

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