The blog is moving

After a good amount of time in the blogger world I thought it might be nice to have a place of my own. If you're into the blog, come check it out over at fieldwrench.com. Thanks for reading.

Pictures of Barrells

 After we finished up in Cincinati James and I only had a short drive to Louisville  for the race this coming weekend. Since the drive was so short we were able to add a little distance on and take a tour of the Woodford Reserve Distillery in Versailles, KY. This turned out to be a good use of a detour. (Note: if you're looking stories/pictures that involve bikes in any way, this post is not for you)

 Fermentation tanks that hold 7500 gallons of mash, yeast, etc. This is #1 of 7.

 Also a strange change from the breweries I have been to where all the fermentation vessels are sealed. These ones are open to the air and the tour. Hello future Bourbon.

 Then we got to the still room. There were three of them all made of copper.

 

 A closer shot of one of the stills.

 After the soon to be Bourbon goes through each still they check it in these windows.

 And then it goes into barrels.

 Which head off to age for a while.

 The barrels are rolled from the still house to the aging house by way of this metal railed barrel roller. It's all gravity fed so as soon as they go on they roll down the way to be aged.

 Aging house from the outside. Build in 18.... something.

 Inside. Very cool to see all of the same barrels with different dates on them.

 Since Woodford ages their Bourbon for 6-9 years the date range was pretty wide.

 More barrels!

 At the end of all of this learning, we got to taste the real thing. As a bonus we also got a "bourbon ball" truffle. 

Not too shabby for a day off.

While they were racing

 More cities and more bike races have happened. All in all the team is having a good year. Most of our riders have won a race or two.

Including, of course, Erica Zaveta who scored her first UCI win in St. Louis.
(phtocredit: Velonews)

 And wherever we go the compound remains more or less unchanged. That or I'm using an old picture.

 Sometimes the staff also joins in the fun. This is head mechanic James getting in on the action.

 My action has mostly consisted of taking photos of costumes. This was a couple of weeks before Halloween so maybe it was just a dry run.

 While we were in St. Louis we took in some of the tourist type activities. Mainly the Budweiser beer factory.

 Where you can still purchase your Bud Light Lime hoodies in time for Christmas.

 Here our tour guide explains that they use flavorless wood to help condition the beer. This explains quite a lot.

 Moreover the tour was cool for the architecture.

 Of which I took several pictures.

 I'm also happy to report I did not miss this photo opportunity.

 Enormous fermentation tanks. All of them are about two stories tall.

 According to this clock it is never Miller time.

 Apparently this fox was the mascot for  Bevo a malted milk drink that Budweiser produced a while ago. It was not very popular.

 So they stuck with Beer.

 The bottling line.

 We also got to check out the stables on the tour. We learned that aside from making beer Budweiser employees also vacuum horses.

After that we went over to the St. Louis Zoo. Both because we had extra time and because it is free.

 Can you imagine all of the years of school you have to go through to work at the zoo and then you find our you're actually just an underwater janitor? So much time to think about your student loans.

 This was either a very strange inflatable cat or a poorly functioning one. Still can't be sure.

 The highlight was for sure the sea lion exhibit. There is a tunnel under the water so you can check them out from all angles. They just move a little too fast for me to get a picture of a whole sea lion.

And finally a picture of an Ocelot. We didn't see one at the zoo, but they are very cool. I'll have to see the one at the Zoo in Seattle when I'm home next time.

A quick east coast edition

The east coast is nice. Well some parts seem to be at least. As a life long west coast resident this is my first trip to New Hampshire, so I thought I'd check out the coast. Oceans are pretty cool.

 

 

I even got a chance to run on the beach. The last time I ran anywhere was at close to 9000 feet. I'm pretty sure this one was slightly closer to sea level.

 

But the beach life was short lived. The race in Gloucester, Mass was well attended with most of the early fields selling out. Since we were set up right next to the start grid it was a bit crowded before each race.

 

Even with the crowds and work, you could still see the ocean. Pretty wonderful weekend.

 

And Caroline won.

Time flies

I was trying to figure out the last time I had done this blogging thing earlier today. Apparently it's been quite some time. A busy road season seems to have lead to a less than ideal number of posts. I'll do my best to get a few older posts together as the fall and winter wears on but for now I'm pressing on from here.

 

Cross season is upon us. After only a few days at home after the US Pro Challenge (perhaps a future blog post) I was off to Boulder, Vegas, and finally Madison where this photo was taken.

 

Inside the Raleigh-Clement compound James, the head mechanic, and I take care of a team of up to 6 cross racers.

 

Despite the fact we have fewer riders than the road team the workload is just as high.

 

 

Some things are a bit different though. For example since we are usually set up away from the hotel we sometimes have to stop along the way to get the vehicles washed. Pressure washers sure are nice for washing.

But some  things remain the same. After the  race last weekend in Madison we had to drive out to the east coast. Many states in the middle of the US seem to still be pretty excited about corn.

When we had some extra time, we even got to stop by Niagra Falls. I've been told the Canadian side is better, but the American side was at least pretty cool.

There was even a rainbow when it wasn't raining.

Some of the other tourists were prepared for rain. Didn't think I'd see a Seattle Sombrero so far from the Pacific Northwest.

Then again I didn't think I'd see people drinking Four Loko either. But hey, he's on vacation, right?

There were also a fair few of these signs. The cliffs to the falls drop off right on the other side of this railing.

I think maybe the signs could be removed and there would probably only be a few people who will weed themselves out because of that.

 

More news to come. Maybe not even in 6 months.

TOC

The Amgen Tour of California is one of the biggest damage races in the US. With bigger races comes bigger vehicles, in this case mainly an enormous RV.

Our compound before the day before the start in Sacramento.

Our neighbors were friendly enough.

But we were ready if things went bad.

Stage one started/finished around the Califormia capital. Here we took full advantage of the bike lane.

Once the riders had left for the start this guy took full advantage of these bike parking stands.

It was sunny and a bit windy in Sacramento.

People were out en masse to watch the start as well as the women's criterium to follow.

Some better prepared than others. (Can you count the flasks?)

But since I didn't have to ride in the car, I watched the race on TV.

A couple days later in Monteray soon to be extra famous cycling star Eloy Teruel signed a giant poster for a fan.

The Monteray to Cambria stage was fantastic. We spent most of the day cruising the PCH looking at the ocean.

Over a few bridges and up some hills.

And past the worlds luckiest cows.

Guy with very strong neck.

View from the back: one of the OPQS riders back for bottles from the car.

Possibly for this guy (2014 Roubaix winner)

In the caravan the front of the race seems a very long way away. Thankfully we can also watch the live stream.

After only a week of driving, washing, and tuning it was over. I guess time flys when you're having fun.

One Tour of California down. Hopefully more to come.