What a Day

Today was the second running of SpokeFest. It's a giant gathering of people riding bikes. Susan and I did it last year so we felt compelled to do it again this year. However, our fitness for such an event was highly suspect. Plus, we planned on going to the Spokane Interstate Fair in the afternoon and we were not looking forward to walking around the fair after having ridden 21 miles on our bikes.

So I came up with a plan. Instead of riding the 21 miles, we would follow the Bloomsday course, thereby cutting 14 miles off our morning. Sure it' cheating, but we weren't doing this for time or ranking or anything other than to do it.

It turned out to be a very good plan and one that was not unique to us. There were several other bikers who joined us.

After taking our short cut, we found ourselves on the course at the bottom of a giant hill known as Doomsday Hill. We were ahead of all the elite bikers. That lasted about three minutes. The leader came hauling along just as we started up the hill. We were soon being passed by many svelte bikers, which was fine with us. Not because we had svelte biker asses to look at...which we did, and that was fine but because we were not there to get in their way.

We finished the course in just over an hour and rode about nine miles. Do we feel bad about cheating the system? Not in the least! I know for sure that had I ridden the whole 21 miles, I would not have ridden the whole 21 miles. Not that and make the fair. And we HAD to make the fair.

I think I have written about this previously so I will apologize in advance for repeating. We entered beer and wine in the fair this year. This is the second time we have entered the competition. We came away with third place ribbons last time for beer and wine. I was not expecting any kind of prize so that was very cool to me.

This year I had grander expectations. I had really worked at crafting a beer that was different. I made a porter that is supposed to have a licorice flavor to it. I chose to add Jagermeister for the licorice flavoring. I liked it but nobody else did. No ribbons for beer this year.

In the wine category, we entered a Piesporter and we entered a Syrah. The Piesporter was a wine we made for our Summer Solstice Party so it has been in the bottle for a while and has aged properly. In fact, it aged really well because we got a Blue Effing Ribbon with a Special Judges Distinction Ribbon AND A TROPHY!!!

Okay, calm down. Simmer Down now!

Our other wine entry, the Syrah was also a kit wine and identical to the wine entered by our friend Ellen. Ellen had the advantage of a couple of months of bottle time over us but we fermented our batch in bulk for a while which I think made the difference. Ellen got a Third Place Ribbon and we scored a SECOND.

We also got ribbons for our labels but I don't remember the ranking. The dealio with the labels was that Susan made the label for Ellen's wine and I made the label for our wine. I believe I beat Susan but again, I can't really remember and I'm not the kind of person who keeps those kinds of records. (The Sarcasm meter just went off the Charts)

The thing that really amazes me is that I forgot to take any pictures. I had my camera with me and it totally slipped my mind that perhaps I ought to be clicking away. It's the thrill of competition that makes think unclear.

Pictures to follow next week after we pick up our wineses.