An Ode to Beer

Tonights post on this dark and not so stormy night was going to be titled "Fear of a Belgian Planet"

The post has been percolating for a while. That title is not a PE song. It is a twist of the PE song "Fear of a Black Planet" of course and was penned by a certain cycling persona named The Jerk...back in the folds of my brain synapses are firing off my qwerty rebuttal to his essay. Its roughed out. American Flyer is in there, Cutters, Maynard Hershon...RDV, Ramstein, Sparta, Valhalla, Stjin Devolder, Riccardo Ricco, Cocaine, 16 year old socialites, cross, beer, Bart Wellens and a whole treasure trove of useless information will form together and be a fantastic homage to all that is Belgie and why we revere it so...but for now I leave you with this. The essay while a thinly veiled jab at Rapha is way off the mark. Rapha is British with an almost German sense of design. The rides they espouse to are ripped right out of the pages of The Rider and are decidedly French in nature and are epic and not in an ironic sense...he is barking up the wrong tree in my mind. Because the things we revere most about Belgium are their chocolate, beer, cross and hardmen of the Spring Classics.

Doublehop and Steen produced a beer just for the Night Weasels! A Belgian of course

So for tonight I leave you with beer. Its not Belgian, well some of it is but most is homegrown by those who love cycling as much as we do. Let's face it cross without beer would be like Nutellla without Fluff. First and foremost this is a thank you to two of the NECX's biggest beer supporters-Steen and his John Harvard's special growlers brews and of course Harpoon. There isn't a beer company on the planet who backs the sport more than Harpoon. Much love to both of you...

Four kegs of Harpoon were barely enough for the 3rd edition of the Ice Weasels

Yeah we like Belgian beer just a bit on Hup United

Ahhh the Blood of the Slain...blood soup never tasted so good...

Again I cannot say enough great things about Harpoon and Steen/John Harvard's. Anytime we needed beer they backed us. I think they love cross as much as we do....

The Harpoon snow fencing made for a great "feed" zone for the Ice Weasels. It really left people no option but to take the beer feeds. Well other than the Cat 4s. They were "racing"

This Thorne Go-No-Go tool never measured a tubular tire but it did come in damn handy as a beer opener

Our contribution to the Rapha G-ride...how can you hate on Rapha? I mean seriously. What are they too arty for you? Epic riding, beer, fine clothing...sounds pretty solid to me...