New Style of Homebrew...

So enough of this biking stuff…let’s chitchat about home brew. I’ve tried my hand at several fashions of home brewed beer (Pale Ales, Cream Ale, Imperial IPAs, Stouts, and the list continues…). Even my 5-year old son Elliott tried his hand at home brewed Root Beer…not so successful but we’ll try again. Yet, I had an innovative style of “home brew” over the weekend that I am now infatuated with. Home brewed bottled iced coffee. That’s right, iced coffee in what looks like a beer bottle!

The family and I went to the Hyde Park Farmer’s Market on Sunday afternoon and we noticed a bunch, of what we thought were lushes, walking around the market with beer bottle in hand. Becky spotted her favorite local artisan coffee (La Terza) had a booth setup. We stepped up to the counter only to find these folks were the culprits of making everyone swig beer at 11am. I finally asked the owner what was with all the beer bottles. He snickered and indicated that they were the “first and best bottled iced coffee in Cincinnati”. Now for those of you that are familiar with Coffee Emporium, they are currently promoting their bottled iced coffee as the “second best in Cincinnati”. I thought that was pretty cool of Tony (owner of CE) to state that. Long story short, Becky and I decided to look like lushes as well and we ordered two bottles. Now to the amusing part…I take my coffee with cream and sugar. The lady in the booth disclosed the proper technique of adding the extras to the bottled coffee while utilizing a Dixie Cup. She added the two ingredients for me and advised me to “pull a Corona”. Now Becky and I are snickering because I am horrid at this process. The advantage of bottled iced coffee and pulling a Corona…no carbonation to shower the masses! Instantly Becky and I determined this is something we need to try at home. So today after work, I feel a stop at Listerman’s Brewery Supplies is forthcoming. Explore La Terza’s website to locate them around town so you too can become addicted to this new style of “home brew”!

Clipped training...

So yesterday started out a good day with a 2 mile run at 6am. Followed by work, then headed home to get some quick miles in before the family got home. Did a couple hill repeats, a couple sprints and ended up getting about 11 miles in. But...and there is a huge BUTT in this story and that butt drives a large orange Avalanche. I'm getting ready to end my ride and jump back into my neighborhood when I turn off of Hollywood Avenue onto Hamilton. Start climbing up toward Peaslee (just to see if I could harass some Team Hungry riders) when the car in the left lane decides to turn left on Larry Avenue. No problem since I'm in the right lane...but when the orange Avalanche behind them quickly shifts to the right lane (making an assumption that this person was probably texting, talking, eating, playing Angry Birds, etc...), they clip my left elbow and I go off the road onto the sidewalk (see pic below).


Exhibit A: GPS simulated since tracking on the Strava Android app sucks!

So at this point the common, descent person would probably stop to make sure the person you just clipped was alright, correct? Nope, not today says the Avalanche driver. ugh.

So this morning I wake up and my elbow is obviously sore. However, I am thankful it didn't end up worse than a small bruise that I will deal with for the next few days. This is my first run in with a car on the road and hoping it's my last for quite some time!

Cyclocross training has began...

So with my first cyclocross season nearing, I continually hear from my Rogue Racing Project teammates that I should focus on interval training. Guess what? I hate intervals! To boot, I've started running as well. The alarm goes off at 6am and I am out the door. Not sure what I dislike more, running or intervals. They each have their downfalls. Running kills my knee (you know, from that one time I fell up an escalator). And intervals get my heart rate spiking WAY too soon. So what to do..keep at it, right? Tomorrow will be day two of training and for some sick reason, I am looking forward to it! With my first cross season on the horizon, my main goal is to be good enough not to be DFL. Fingers crossed! Plus, I don't want this to happen during a race!

Day one of blogging...

So I broke down, drunk the metaphorical online Kool-Aid and finally started a blog! I'm going to start writing about two of my past times, cycling and home brewing. So what's behind the name 'pedal conditioned'?  A little bit of this and a little bit of that.  The 'pedal' is pretty self explanatory (if you need explanation, stop reading now!). The 'conditioned' comes from the brewing term 'bottle conditioning'.  If you have ever tried one of my home brews, congrats because you have drank a bottle conditioned beer.  Bottle conditioned beers are either unfiltered so the final conditioning of the beer takes place in the bottle, or filtered and then reseeded with yeast so that an additional fermentation may take place. Thus...'Pedal Conditioned'.

Cycling and home brewing go hand-in-hand within my inner circle so this should be enjoyable. As a devoted reader, what can you anticipate? Well, entertaining snippets from my bike races, time trials, training, etc... Furthermore, I will post some (not all) of my home brew recipes and tips-n-tricks I have collected over the past two years of concocting some adult beverages. I'm looking forward to my first "real" post. Should be coming shortly...

-C.No