I haven’t forgotten about my site peeps. I am still without the every day use of a computer. It will be sometime before I get my new Mac. Apologies to those who read this blog. I hope to have access to a “confuser” more often fairly soon. 

Purple Palace Brewing had an EPA on tap this past weekend. EPA meaning English Pale Ale. EPA’s are not as aggressively hopped as and IPA. The perfect mixture of hops and malt to make a good full flavored beer. The first swig of this Ale brings out the malty taste, but wait a couple of seconds after you swallow and the hop flavor really comes out. We calculated an ABV(alcohol by volume) or roughly 5%. It comes out to be a nice clear copper color with a thick frothy head. Its been determined that if we start making our own version of an EPA its going to have the name “Good Head”. Mmmmm. Good head indeed. So far we’ve had two beers in the keg now, and this one beat out the Witbier we had for New Years.
Two weeks from now Umphrey’s McGee will be performing 3 shows at 1st Avenue. So why not have some beer on tap for friends before we see the greatest live show around? Our thoughts exactly. Up next on tap is an Octane IPA. If you like lots of hops, and a bitter flavor, this beer is up your alley. The story behind IPA’s goes back to 18th and 19th centuries. The British had made their presence felt in the East Indies. British sailors loved their beers. One problem. It wouldn’t keep on those long voyages. The fix? Hops. Hops served as preservative and the beer kept longer. Long story short, thats where the name IPA(India Pale Ale) comes from. So, we’re hoping to have an IPA with a strong hop presence in that first sip. We also added Oak Chips to the secondary fermentation. We’re hoping it brings a little bit of a musty flavor to it. IPA’s are my favorite and I can’t wait to give this one a whirl.
We still have our Belgian Tripel due out this coming October. Can’t wait for that. It is now in secondary fermentation and we’re hoping for an ABV of around 8-9%. Perfect for those cool October nights over the bonfire. This week I believe we’re going to try a Cream Ale. Something light and sweet.
So the craft beer movement has made its mark with big beer makers. Miller has announced 3 new “craft” beers that are now out in 4 test markets. They are Baltimore. Charlotte N.C., Minneapolis, and San Diego. The beers are a Blonde Ale, Wheat, and Amber. Being in Minneapolis I can’t wait to try them. One beef I have though are those god awful labels. What kind of think tank came up with those? The guys that have brought us hilarious beer commercials for years, and thats the best they can do? Sorry, but those labels are hideous, and show no appeal. For a guy like me that is a beer connoisseur, I can see around the label. I want to see what a manufacturer known for lagers can do in the craft beer market. But what about your average joe schmo beer drinker? Obviously the first thing to catch someones eye is the appearance. These labels are bland and boring. If they decide to put these beers into full time production, I hope that they re-consider the labels they chose.
I’m off. Go Wild

ATTENTION!!!! The NFL season is finally over. I repeat, the NFL season is finally over. We can now watch something sports related on ESPN that isn’t about football. Hell, maybe they’ll start talking about hockey again. This years coverage of the NFL was way out of control. I mean my god, they would analyze anything they can think of. Which shitty sweatshirt is Bill Bellichik going to wear this week? Will T.O. throw a hissy fit? Who is Tony Romo dating this week? And on and on. It got so bad we had to listen to this wortheless banter all week. Lets start at the beginning of the week.

-Sunday mornings are usually my only time to watch Sportscenter. The Sunday morning Sportscenter broadcast is a whopping half hour long. Ater that, its two hours of NFL pregame coverage. OH, lets not forget the NFL coverage that they also have in that half hour of Sportscenter. So my half hour of Sportscenter was really about 20 minutes. Sunday night? Nope, that was filled with hours of recap that we apparently didn’t get from FOX or CBS.

-OK now onto Monday. Fuck Monday, after about 2pm all that was on was football related programs followed by MNF.

-Tuesday was a day filled with recaps from Monday night football. Speaking of MNF, I think Tony Kornheiser mentioned Tom Brady and the Patriots during every Monday night broadcast.

-So now we land on Wednesday. The one night of the week we probably saw the least amount of football coverage, but those bastards snuck it in there at times.

-Thursday. Now we start ramping up for the next week’s set of games. 3 days of non-stop jibberish about who’s going to win and why. Do we really need this much analysis? Don’t even get me started on Thursday night football. Hey!! Is the NHL still going on? If you weren’t a hockey fan, and you watch Sportscenter, I bet you would have no clue. Linda Cohn, HELP!!

-Friday. TGIF right? Nope. We’ve got Saturday night football ahead of us that needs to be picked apart and anaylized over and over again. Remember, Saturday night football is just one game.

-Saturday. More analysis of the nights coming game, and pre-game for tomorrow’s pre-game show. Confused? Yea, me too.
So here we are again, back to Sunday, starting this cruel and long week of football coverage. Folks, we do this for 5 months. 5 MONTHS!!!

ESPN stands for Enternainment and Sports Programming Network. The NFL already has their own station. Don’t get me wrong. I like ESPN and Sportscenter, but this year its NFL coverage has gotten a little out of hand. I still think that ESPN is sticking it to the NHL when they didn’t sign on to cover hockey games after the strike. I also still believe that Barry Melrose is the best sports analyst ESPN has. Why? He shows more passion then any of them. And those badass pin-stripe suits and his killer mullet. What about college hockey highlights? Nope, only during the NCAA tourney. I can only hope that this doesn’t escalate in the years to come. I really was turned off by ESPN this past football season because they didn’t give each major sport fair coverage. I think they need to re-tool their broadcasts and scheduling during the football season, because there are sports fans out there hoping to see some highlights other then the NFL.

Bicycle, as it is stated in the dictionary is “a vehicle with two wheels in tandem, usually propelled by pedals connected to the rear wheel by a chain, and having handlebars for steering and a saddlelike seat”. I think there are two people to thank for giving us such a cool toy. First the Mesopotamian’s for inventing the wheel sometime around 3500BC. And Baron Karl von Drais in 1816 for putting two wheels on a frame with a steering column and a saddle. It was called a Draisienne. Look where we are today with them. Superlight bikes with carbon, titanium, and in some extreme cases bamboo and wood. Suspension technologies, that back then would have sounded ludarcis. And in a time where oil shortages seem inevitable, a renewed respect for what this machine can do for us. Not being able to ride one since last August has made me appreciate it even more. I’ve had a problem with my knee that won’t allow me to pedal. Thanks to a 24 hour mountain bike race for that one. I haven’t been able to get it fixed yet. Some unfortunate financial situations have put that fix on hold. It pains me to hear about guys outside riding, or inside on the trainer getting ready for the upcoming season. Einstein was quoted in saying “I thought of that while riding my bike.” He was referring to his theory of relativity. There are so many ways to get out and enjoy riding. You can spend a Saturday doing a century road ride with some buddies, take all day out in the sun, see the sights. You could shred the gnar out on your mountain bike, hucking off jumps, down drops, and epic singletrack. Getting together on a Sunday afternoon with your fellow cyclists, and racing your ass off for two hours or so. You could spend the day out at the jumps with your bmx bike. You could go out and just take a nice stroll down the greenway on your cross bike. It could be a nice urban ride touring different bars. Or you could just use it to get to the store. There are endless ways to enjoy cycling. If I were to pick a favorite way to ride a bike, it would have to be an all day epic on my mountain bike, some beers, good company, and sunshine.

However, my #1 favorite thing about bicycles is the mechanics side of it. How does this machine work? Bicycles, unlike automobiles are fully exposed. You can see how the entire mechanism works without having to lift a hood. The other night I was griping about how busy it gets in the shop and someone asked me “Andy, why don’t you get a job that isn’t so stressful?” I said, “because there is nothing better then the satisfaction I get when you fix a customers bike, and get a thank you, a smile, and one time a tear, for fixing their bike.” I have two favorite repairs from last summer. The first was a women who brought in(and I’m saddened I don’t have a picture and can’t remember the manufacturer.) an old custom made Italian frame with old Campy Record on it. It was pretty worn out. Old sew up wheels, worn out parts, and very dusty. We rebuilt the wheels, replaced parts, and made the bike look like new. When she came in to pick it up, she was speechless. She told me she could start crying. Crying!! Over a bike. That was awesome. She was going to let her daughter ride it around town. The second bike was an old Raleigh Chopper. Think of an old Schwinn Sting Ray. Thats what this looked like. It was a wreck. Suicide shifter broken, tires worn out, cables shot, wheels out of true, all the chrome was rusted over, everything out of adjustment. Customer said money is not an issue, so I went to town. Fixed the shifter, new tires, cables, cleaned and polished the chrome. The whole shebang. Customer came in and was stoked. He wanted his boys to experience this bike like he did when he was a kid. There is a picture of me on this bike somewhere, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to attain it. There were many other cool repairs we did last year, but those two stick out because of how happy the customer was to see their 35 year old bikes looking brand new. I can’t wait to see what transpires this coming cycling season.

Bicycles are cool and storied machines that will continue to evolve, and I plan on being there every step of the way. Here’s to bikes. Cheers!!

Well suck me sideways. Its damn cold out eh? Nothing like coming back from Colorado to a frigid weekend. For those of you who aren’t aware, but this past weekend had a whopping high of -2 degrees. Overnight low’s around -15 and windchills doubled that.  Only fitting that the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships fall on the coldest weekend of the year. There’s nothing like going outside on frigid nights like these, look up into the clear black star studded sky and take in a deep, long breath. Can’t get much closer to pure oxygen then that. Welcome to winter in Minnesooota!!!

     The service managers at Erik’s were treated to their first ever service managers trip. We spent a week out in Colorado Springs for some training. We spent the first 3 days at a program called STU. Sram Technical University. 3 days of theory, discussion, and overhauling SRAM products. Their full line of Rock Shox forks, hydraulic brakes, the new road shifters, and rear suspension. The only program of its kind in the industry. Hats of to Hercules and Dave for another killer STU session. Oh, and I can’t forget, we got to see the new Rock Shox SID up front and in person. Goody gumdrops. I want one of those things so bad. The second half of our trip was spent at the OTC(Olympic Training Center). We along with 50 or so other mechanic’s from around the country got the honor to spend 4 days with some of the best wrenching minds in the industry to get trained in and become certified race mechanics. Racers need mechanics. To do so one must have the proper certification.   These were very long and grueling days. Class from 8am to around 9-9:30pm with breaks for lunch and dinner. Lots of information, but well worth it. I must say, I have never talked to people that have such a passion for the bicycle then what I observed at the OTC. It truly was inspiring. That will be the thing I will remember most about my experience there. The passion these people have for our industry and the bicycle. Race mechanics are a different breed. You could be the best mechanic at your shop, but at the races you could be the worst. We were told, “There are two types of bike mechanics. Shop mechanics, and race mechanics.” Very much true. We met the man that started Wheelsmith and now works for FSA. We met the president of Independent Fabrications. We met the man who has pretty much been the go to guy for mountain bike race support for U.S riders worldwide. We met the man who is the leader of Mavic neutral race support. If you watch road racing, you see Mavic support everywhere. A very cool experience, and I hope to apply some of that knowledge this summer.

   Purple Palace Brewing is in full force. The draught tap was a hit for New Year’s. 5 gallons of Witbier were gone in a couple of hours. Next up we have and EPA(English Pale Ale). This should be on tap sometime around Valentines Day. We just brewed up an Octane IPA yesterday. That should be ready in late Feb. early March. Just in time for Umphrey’s McGee. Wednesday we are brewing a Belgian Trippel and that will be done sometime in October of 2008. We are also in the works for a logo to be stamped onto a tap handle. My good friend Matt is going to help us out with the design. He’s a computer whiz and can’t wait to see what transpires. His only request? Purple Palace at no charge for life. No prob.

    Thats all for now. Just a quick update on some things. The next couple of months while our store is getting revamped I will be floating around at some shops, so maybe I’ll see ya there. Otherwise, we’ll be back open sometime early March. Next time I find a computer long enough to write I hope its on my new MacBook with Leopord. Cheers, and go Wild.

The Black Panther crashed….Again. With that said, writing will be at a shortage for awhile. With money being spent on Christmas, brewing gear, fuggin’ teeth, and New Years, it will be some time until I get a new computer. I will write when I can, but its gonna be a solid month before I start looking for a new computer. I’m thinking a laptop this time. A Mac not a PC. Until then. Cheers

    I wrote a couple posts ago that I’ve got ideas. Well, I was watching 60 minutes this past Sunday and their final segment was on LaDainian Tomlinson. “LT” as he’s called around the sports world turns out to be a big contributor to society. I love watching professional sports. The thing I don’t like about it, is the unhealthy sums of money these guys get for playing sports. The majority of these guys take advantage of this amazing opportunity that they get. Some players getting arrested, big ego’s, just self indulgent jocks. LT is the exact opposite. He spends more time off the field making a real difference then any other player in the NFL. I was amazed at how much time he spends daily making a difference in his community. He invites 21 kids to each home game that can’t afford tickets. 21 for the number he wears. After the game, he meets with each one of those kids. I was touched at how much time he spends off the field using his status to help out other people. It made me think. I would like to do more of this in my profession. Granted, it would be on a much smaller scale. But still, its nice to know that I am making a difference in someones life. I’ve done some things here and there. Helping out a group of Boy Scouts out with fixing their bikes. I got a thank you card for that. Helping out members of TCBC on what to look for on possible bicycle repairs. I was thanked in their newsletter. Helping out that kid coming home from school. He didn’t have any cash, but it was his only means of transportation. No problem. Most of the recognition bicycle mechanics do are for fixing a problem. Repairing something that does not work right.

However, the thing I am most proud of is not from fixing or repairing a bike. Its something else. One of my favorite customers at the shop is named Woody. He’s a different kind of customer. Not the kind that buys thousands of dollars worth of gear. He usually buys all of his things online because its cheaper. Not someone who brings in his bike all the time to get serviced. Yet, we still consider him a great customer because we are helping him out in a different way. He is the bike mechanic for everyone in his neighborhood. He probably owns more bike tools then I do. He frequents our store at least 2-3 times a week in the winter months. Walks in with a big smile. “Hey Mr. Andy”. Any time that I have been in a really stressed out, bad mood at work and Woody walks in, those feelings disappear. Its always a new question. “Which tool do I need for this?” “What part(s) do I need to fix this?” “I can’t figure out this damn bottom bracket”. That last one is a common question, usually followed with some laughs. He’s probably brought in over 30 bikes over the past 3 years or so. Each one with a new problem.  Earlier this summer Woody stopped by to give me something. It was a thank you card, and a gift certificate. I was moved. All I was doing was answering his questions for him. Or on occasin remove a stubborn bottom bracket. But to him I was making a real difference. The card and certificate show that. I couldn’t thank him enough. That thank you card will always be on my bench. Sometimes its the smallest of gestures to one person makes a huge difference to another.

Pretty tight quarters eh? Yes indeed. How can I describe the shop in the middle of a busy summer day? Controlled Chaos. We’ve steadily been getting busier and busier each season at the shop. We’ve been putting up numbers that compete with some of our other stores that are 3 times our size. We call ourselves “The little engine that could” of Erik’s Bike Shop. We’ve tried to make accommodations for all the repair bikes by shifting benches around, adding a wall, adding more hooks. But the bottom line is, we need more space. Maple Grove is a boomtown of retail, restaurants, and people. It seemed only fitting we too would get and upgrade at some point. Things were finally put into motion about 3 weeks ago. Its an exciting time. We’re pushing the entire front wall out about 20 feet or so. Remodeling the inside, and getting a new shop setup. Rumor has it that we’ll be getting all new tools. Ah, new tools. The bicycle mechanics “drug” of choice. We get giddy at the possibility of new tools. I was helping setting up the new Erik’s Mega store in Woodbury last Friday night. New tools galore. We literally are like kids in candy stores. Only replace kids with obsessive, meticulous shop mechanics, and candy with tools. I was jealous of those guys getting to setup a new shop. I was just there to help out and was out on the sales floor most of the time. But in just a few months I’ll be doing the same thing at our shop. Can’t wait. Park Tool could start a slogan for shop mechanics to get them hooked. It could be something along the lines of “Park Tool, just one taste, and you’re hooked for life.”

Gone are the days of hitting my head numerous times a day on a handlebar, tool, hook, or a bench. Gone are the days of getting what I can only think are “shin splints” in my forearms from having to hang bikes and take them down standing in awkward positions. Good grief that started to hurt on a daily basis. Gone are the days of having so many bikes, that we would have to start leaning them up against other bikes hanging on the wall. Gone are the days of passageways that bikes can barely fit through. Yup, its gonna be a good year next year. But you folks are going to have to wait for awhile. We’ll be closed for about 2 months. Jan-Feb. Then hopefully open back up sometime in March. All this bike talk makes me wanna go out an pedal. Alas, my bum knee won’t allow it, and I don’t ride in the snow. So, time to get those cross country skis out. Cheers.

I could have been seriously hurt last night, or even killed!! People in this town are getting more and more oblivious to their surroundings. Its sad really. I was having some cocktails with some of my best friends last night at The Independent and then Mortimer’s in Uptown. We left Mortimer’s, and I decided to stop by the gas station on my way home to pick up some cheese. Yes, cheese. I love cheese with a passion and I was out at the house. I wait at the light on 22nd and Lyndale. Green light, and the go ahead to cross. Now picture this in your head. Lets say you are in your car about to leave the house. You need to get something out of the back seat. You turn around looking at the seat and  with your right arm, reaching to get whatever object it is you desire. Got it? Ok. Picture this exact same scenario only a guy is driving his car, turning at a light, and going at a pretty good clip. This is what approached me as I crossed the street. My god. The stupidity. How dumb do you have to be to do something like this? I only hope the guy was at least sober. The ironic part is, when I walk I usually have my head down. I can’t explain why, I just do. I would have been creamed. I’m talking flattened. For whatever reason last night, I happened to be looking right at the car as I crossed. I stopped, put my arms up in disgust. He only noticed me after he passed me. Remember,  I had the go ahead to walk across. The rest of my walk home I kept thinking what if? What if I didn’t notice the car speeding around that turn? Would I be around to talk about it right now? Would I be in a hospital bed? Or the morgue?
Now I know if I was not looking at the car while I was crossing and did get hit, I can’t put all of the blame on this man. Anyone crossing a crosswalk even if they have the green light to do so, should be watching their surroundings. The thing that bugs me is what he was doing. We’re in Uptown. A place in the cities where people are crossing the streets constantly. Just a block down on Franklin is a crossing for the blind. It just seems like common sense that when you are turning at a light in this area of town, you should always be watching for pedestrians. Not this guy. The complete opposite. I saw the back of his head. THE BACK. I hope that guy realized what he did last night and will wise up the next time he gets behind the wheel. It makes me grateful I didn’t get hit. I was reading the obituaries this morning in the newspaper. This young man from Iowa had died at the young age of 20. I started thinking. This man had an entire life of accomplishments to achieve. Such a sad thing. Hearing about people dying at too young of an age. Ya know what? In some aspect it makes be think twice about what I’m doing with myself. Another ironic twist. The Mischke Broadcast is taking calls right now, today, about people getting hit by cars. WOW. How weird is this?

I thought I would update some of you on Purple Palace Brewing. For starters it is a little project that my roommate and I decided to give a name to. We’ve both been amateur home-brewers for a few years now. We’re getting to the point to making our own “homebrew” and stop with the kit brewing. Kit brewing, for those of you who are not of the brewing ilk, is basically buying a beer kit and brewing it up. For example. Lets say we want to make and IPA. We can go to our local brew supply store and buy an IPA kit in a box. Its great for starters to get aquainted with the brewing process. All the ingredients are in the box and ready for you. As our knowledge and enjoyment of this process grows, starting to make our own beer from scratch was just a matter of time. Well here we are. So with that we gave a name to our little project. Purple Palace Brewing. Named after the color of our house, bathroom, and kitchen(not by choice). There’s a great program you can buy for your PC called ProMash. Its great for making beers from scratch. You can save your recipes, change and tweak that particular recipe with the click of a mouse. It will calculate your potential ABV(alcohol by volume), and the COLOR!! Plus many more interesting features. Pretty slick eh?
Every home brewer, in my opinion, he or she has got to got to keg their beer. For 3 reasons. 1. The worst part of brewing beer is collecting, cleaning, sanitizing, and bottling it. Its boring, takes up a lot of time, and takes up a lot of space. 2. Kegged beer ALWAYS tastes the best. Hands down, it gives you the best out of the beer. All the flavors come out. 3. Its just flat out cool. Especially when you have a keggerator, draught tap, or what have you. With that said, the next step at Purple Palace is kegging. We’ve found a nice wine chiller that we will convert into a holding cell for the keg. We’ve also found a great deal on a kegging system. For roughly $180 we will get a used and refurbished 5 gallon keg, a CO2 tank(empty), a regulator, some tubing, and a party tap. Thats a helluva deal.
As we progress and start creating our own types of beers we will still be doing the extract type brewing. Extract type brewing takes about half the time of all-grain. Instead of Mashing and Sparging the grains, you just steep the grains. All Grain brewing is the closest thing you can get to making beer like the big guys. Think of it this way. Steeping the grains is the first step in extract brewing. Mashing and sparging is the first step for all-grain brewing. The steps after that are the same. Step #1 on both ends in short, is just a way of preparing the grains. All-Grain takes up much more time, more money, more equipment, and a bigger volume. For two poor guys like us, extract brewing will be just fine for now.
With that said, I’m happy to announce that talks are in motion as to what kind of beer Purple Palace will bring out first. There’s been talk of making a nice light Lager, and now with the kegging system, a Stout. For now, what we have coming up from our remaining kit beers is a Lake Superior Strong Ale(bottled and currently around 6%ABV). We’ve got a Witbier(white beer, think of Blue Moon) fermenting now and will have it on tap for new years, and finally an EPA. English Pale Ale. Similar to IPA’s just not as aggressively hopped.
So there ya have it folks. I thought I’d tell my readers about the last of my 3 passions that I haven’t really written about. Bicycles, wrenching, and brewing. Welcome to Purple Palace brewing.