Back to the Beer

It's been a while since I've posted about beer. I am here today to remedy that situation. A friend brought over a sixer of Annie's Amber Ale from The High Noon Saloon here in town.

Yes, I am drinking out of a Mason Ball jar. Yes, I am drinking before noon.

As you can see, the ale is a very nice Amber color. It has a clean taste that allows the flavor of the malt to come through. Though not overpowering, each sip ends with a bit of hops. I truly believe that the can has taken away some of the flavor as I've had Annie's Ale from the tap, but for a camping trip or some tailgating, I would much rather have a sixer of this than one from the large breweries.

Not only has it been a while since I've posted about beer, it's been a while since I've posted period. I had to jet out East last minute at the beginning of the month, resulting in a few missed posts. I will be on the road this weekend as well as the first two weekends in October. So for the next three weeks posting will be non-existent at worst and spotty at best. Don’t worry though, anything I do post will contain the same poor quality you have come to expect.

Now on to the bikes. With all the travel, I've watched much less of the Vuelta than I've wanted. Add to that the fact that I don't have NBC Universal Sports and the internet was being dumb Saturday, I've seen four stages over the last week and a half. Never fear though, if you are in the same boat as me I'm here to get you filled in and up to speed.

Mark Cavendish won stage 13, solidifying his hold on the green jersey. To show his excitement at once again riding away from the field, Cav bunny-hopped the finishing line:

Watching the last few kilometers on YouTube makes it easier to see. After the stage, Cav accused Tyler Farrar and Wouter Weylandt of working together to prevent him from earning points during an intermediate sprint. If that was a driving force behind his celebratory hop, I think an endo would have been a bigger slap in the face (as well as having historical significance).

In stage 14, race leader Igor Antón crashed and had to abandon, leaving Liquigas rider Vincenzo Nibali in the lead. I unfortunately did not see any of the race changing carnage as the website I usually watch races on decided to show snooker.

Stage 15 provided the riders with a perfect day for racing:


Beautiful.

What made it even more beautiful was that I was watching the broadcast of the Spanish channel tdp, so every time the commentators got excited all I could think of was this:



Is that wrong of me? Maybe, but it's true.

In addition to the colorful and melodic commentators, the stage provided excitement as Carlos Barredo escaped from the break to claim the stage victory:

To celebrate his win he smashed a front wheel into the face of second place finisher Nico Sijmens. Barredo ‘brushed himself off’ four times while crossing the finish line. He may be feeling like a pimp, but I’m not sure he’s doing it correctly. Must be something lost in translation.

This morning (or afternoon if you want to get technical and talk about the time zone the race occurred in), Rodriguez recaptured the leader's jersey as Nibali struggled up the final climb. Fränk Schleck was probably the biggest winner on the day though, riding himself into fourth on the GC, a mere 2:16 back. Mikel Nieve from Euskatel-Euskadi gave the orange a big boost after the loss of Antón by winning stage 16:

I hope you enjoy the inset of Mikel's smiling face. I figured to offset the beer at the beginning of the post I'd do something a little artsy at the end. Enjoy!