Category Archives: beer

Gonads and Strife Poker Run

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Back on May 22nd, a bunch of us from Carson City went up to Reno to join the Spring 2011 Gonads and Strife Poker Run! For those of you not familiar with a Poker Run, it’s an event where people ride to predetermined locations, drawing a playing card at each destination. At the end of the ride, the person with the highest poker hand wins. But really, it’s just a good excuse for a lot of people to get together for some fun bike riding and/or beer drinking. Just about any kind of bike is ridden in these events, but most people tend to ride simple bikes. It’s all about stepping away from the technology, slowing down, getting silly, and having fun.

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Gary Setzer

The Gonads and Strife bike club always raises money for good causes at these events. It was a strange turn of events this year, when the benefit was for Gary Setzer, one of the founding members of the bike club. Gary is currently battling cancer, and as you can imagine, is looking at some hefty medical bills. Thankfully, Gary was feeling good enough to ride in the event. He’s quite the character, and is adored by many.

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Operation Desert Cruise

The ride started and ended at the Great Basin Brewery in Sparks. From here, we made a fun loop that took us along the Truckee River and around downtown Reno. We visited other breweries, bars, and restaurants along the way. In the end there was at least one crash that I heard about, and one traffic citation…a $120 penalty for riding on a sidewalk (ouch!). It was the first poker run for some of my friends, and they all agreed that it was a blast!

Here are a few more photos of the ride…

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Over the Shoulder Grab Bag Photography

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Lester at the Sierra Tap House

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Circle of Death

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A birds-eye view of things

Poker Run
The Biggest Little City in the World

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Pizza Stop

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Truckee River Bike Path

Jeff
Self Portrait at the Silver Peak

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Stretch Lowriders

Tasha, Dan, and Jason
Tasha, Dan, and Jason

Ashley and Rob
Ashley and Rob

Post Ride Burgers and Brews
Lester – Post Ride Burgers and Brews at the Great Basin Brewery

Jeff and Jules
Jules! The main organizer of this awesome event.

The complete photoset of this event can be found HERE.

If you missed this ride or want to do another Poker Run, the Slow Rollers have an event coming up on June 12th up at Lake Tahoe. Details are HERE.

Bicycle News

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Here’s a look at some of the Bicycle News stories happening locally and around the country:

  • Ca roule Montreal

Anne Macquarie recently wrote on the Muscle Powered blog about her trip to the bicycle friendly city of Montreal. Read the full story on the Muscle Powered Blog.

Ca roule Montreal – in French that means Montreal on wheels and it’s the name of a bike rental shop in the Old Port area of Montreal. But to me it also means what it sounds like in English – Montreal rules. Montreal is the best biking city I’ve ever seen.

  • Transit officials try to make Reno more bicycle friendly

Full Story at the RGJ

“It’s about doing more complete streets,” said Scott Gibson, a project manager for the Regional Transportation Commission. “It just gives each user group a space to use the streets.”

The concept, called a “road diet,” reduces the number of travel lanes for cars from two to one in each direction, with a center turn lane, a bicycle lane and a parking lane added.

  • Capital City Kids Triathalon

Saturday, July 10, 2010
Carson Aquatic Facility Mills Park
$15 per participant*
Open to kids ages 4 – 18
Swim! Bike! Run! Have Fun!

Here’s the flier with the rest of the info HERE.

  • San Francisco To Launch Bicycle Theft Sting

Full Story at CBS5 San Francisco

The San Francisco Police Department, in collaboration with the city’s Bicycle Coalition, is implementing a new strategy that involves equipping decoy bikes with electronic tracking devices meant to catch not just the thieves who take the bikes, but also associated buyers of the stolen property and members of the general distribution network.

  • Clips of Faith

Local New Belgium Fans may be disappointed that the Tour de Fat is no longer coming to Truckee, but here’s another cool event that is coming to Truckee and Reno. Besides, it was time for something new anyway, right?

The Clips of Faith Beer and Film Tour will be coming through our area at the end of the month. It’s a collection of hand made films from New Belgium Fans. In addition to the movie, there will be up to a dozen brews to sample. Hopefully some of these will be from the small batch Lips of Faith Collection.

More info at the website: http://www.clipsoffaith.com/

Here are the dates for Clips of Faith:

Truckee – July 30th
7:30PM – 10:30 PM
Truckee River Regional Park
Proceeds Benefit: Truckee Trails foundation

Reno – August 6th
6:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Wingfield Park
Proceeds Benefit: Reno Bike Project

  • The Gary Fisher Collection from Trek

Full Story on BikeRumor.com.

Trek has announced a major shift in their relationship with Gary Fisher. Until now, Trek Bicycle dealers weren’t necessarily Gary Fisher dealers, and in some cases competing shops would have either brand despite the two having long been in bed together.

Now, Trek Bicycles has formally dropped the standalone brand and instead created the Gary Fisher Collection, a series of bikes dreamt up by the iconic Gary Fisher, and made real by the design and manufacturing team in Waterloo, WI.

May is Bike Month in Carson City

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May is Bike Month! Here’s a summary of what’s going on in Carson City during this month long celebration of the bicycle. For complete details including dates, times, and locations, please visit our Google Calendar. Make sure you check the latest details before heading out. We will also promote each event on the blog a day or two in advance to help you remember.

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May is Bike Month!

Bike Month 2010

  • April 29th – (Almost) Full Moon MTB Ride
  • May 2nd – 3rd Annual Tour of Carson from Bike Habitat
  • May 13th – Bike Rodeo with Dan Allison
  • May 14th – Commuter Clinic with Dan Allison at Comma Coffee
  • May 15th – Movie Night at Capitol Automotive
  • May 17th – 21st – Bike to Work Week including the Corporate Commuter Challenge
  • May 17th – Commuter Libation at the Feisty Goat
  • May 18th – Flat Tire Fix at the Bike Smith
  • May 19th – Downtown Family Cruiser Ride
  • May 21st – Bike to Work Day FREE Coffee Stations
  • May 21st – BTWW Party at the Firkin and Fox
  • May 27th – Full Moon MTB Ride

Eureka California

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I’d say it’s great to be back in Carson City, but this weather kind of stinks! Thankfully the weather on California’s north coast was fantastic when I visited recently, and I got some much needed R&R. The family and I spent a lot of time exploring the beaches and woods of the Lost Coast, and home base for the adventures was in Eureka.

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Bikes at the Co-Op

Whenever I travel, I like check out the local bike scene. While I didn’t get to fully explore Eureka or visit a bike shop, I did observe what was happening downtown. With a population of less than 30 thousand people, the city is slightly smaller than Carson City. Eureka has the feel of a bigger city though. More urban. Buildings are taller and spaced closer together.  With fewer parking lots, parking is less abundant, and riding a bike around the city looks like it would save a lot of hassle.  In the downtown area, there seemed to be a bike rack at every corner, and many businesses had bike racks too.  No bike lanes were present downtown, but the short blocks and low traffic speed allowed bikes to easily take the lanes.

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Building Mural

The numerous cyclists and bikes that I observed downtown are worth mentioning as well. The bikes were mostly simple and utilitarian, and almost all had a basket or rack of some sort. Many were old bikes that had been fixed up, and I saw very few that cost over a couple hundred dollars. Not a thread of spandex was seen either. Everyone wore their plain street clothes, and I think I only saw two helmets all week. I saw one particular guy two times during the week, both times wearing a pink bandanna on his head and riding a girls bike. It might have looked odd somewhere else, but seemed right at home in Eureka. I’m not even certain these people would call themselves cyclists. They just seemed like people living on bikes as if that’s what you were supposed to do.

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Bike Racks are Everywhere

There is definitely a heart to the downtown in Eureka. The downtown is walkable and bikeable, and there is art to bee seen everywhere you look. Victorian style architecture can be seen throughout the town, adding to its intrigue. There were people out and about talking, mingling, and enjoying the restaurants. Eureka is even home to the Lost Coast Brewery.

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More Bikes at the Co-Op

My visits to Eureka have been short, and I’m looking forward to going back again to learn more. I’ll have to visit a bike shop or two when I go back and get the real scoop on the town. It looks like Spring may come back to Carson City later this week so we can get back to some pleasant riding. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a few more pictures of Eureka…

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Lost Coast Brewery

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Art and Music

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Victorian Architecture

Eureka Fisherman
Eureka Fisherman

Bike Carson End of the Year Celebration

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Come join us for an End of the Year Celebration! Bike Carson and Muscle Powered will be gathering at Doppelgangers on Wednesday, December 16th, to celebrate a very successful year!

Beer!
Join us for Pizza and Beer at Doppelgangers!

The Muscle Powered Board of Directors will meet from 6:30 to 7:30, reviewing our many accomplishments for the year. We’ll also talk a bit about the coming year and our board, in preparation for the January annual meeting. The board meeting is open to any member (or prospective members) of Muscle Powered, not just board members, so if you’ve been wanting to find out more about what we do and who does it, come find out. There’s plenty of room at Doppelgangers, so show up when you please (you don’t have to wait until 7:30 if you’re not interested in the meeting).

Following, there will be a Bike Carson & Muscle Powered end-of-year celebration with pizza and beer. Hang out with your friends and make new ones! I’m sure there will be stories of road biking and mountain biking and walking and hiking, and much gloating and dreaming over the coolest bikes.

Bikes at the Ice Skating Rink
What’s under your tree?

Doppelgangers is at 302 N Carson St, in downtown. We aren’t going to make formal reservations for the pizza time, but if you let us know you are coming, we can clue in the staff and help them serve us better.

Bike Carson Welcomes New Belgium Brewing

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By now you’ve probably seen the New Belgium Brewing advertising banner at the top of BikeCarson.com. It’s my pleasure to welcome New Belgium Brewing as Bike Carson’s first sponsor!

So why does Bike Carson need sponsorship? As a reader, you may not know all the stuff that happens behind the scenes to keep a website running. A blog post may only take a few minutes to read, but there is a lot of time spent bringing the content to the reader. Thankfully, most of it is enjoyable; the riding, photography, and writing. There is also a lot of time spent on site administration, research, and promotion; the overhead in addition to the content. And finally there are the fees required to bring the whole package together; site hosting, image hosting, cameras, and other gear.

Rather than fill the site with random ads for products I’ve never heard of or haven’t used, I’ve chosen to partner with companies that make great products and have good business practices. New Belgium definitely falls under this category. In addition to making a wide variety of great tasting beers, New Belgium sponsored Carson City’s 2009 Bike to Work Week Party, and helped Muscle Powered raise money for local bicycle advocacy. New Belgium also puts on fun bicycle events such as the Tour de Fat. Additionally, New Belgium has a great record of sustainable business practices.

So if you like what you see here on BikeCarson.com, please take time to visit the New Belgium Winter Folly page by clicking this link or the banner above. Check out their delicious seasonal winter brew “Two Below”, watch a video, and buy some New Belgium Glassware (as pictured in the photo above).

Thanks for reading, and cheers!