Big Dam Weekend

Reporting live from the RiverMarket...

So tonight I must get to bed early. There's a lot to do tomorrow, but I decided to venture out to the river to see what festivities might be taking place tonight. Under the rivermarket pavilions, they are having some kind of Power 92 Jams Skate Party. Everybody is out there with their old school skates showing off some skills. Very unexpected.

Yesterday, I officially turned my apartment into a microbrewery. I've had a Belgian Ale fermented and bottled for a few weeks now. It should be ready any day now, and I plan on cracking one open tomorrow after the race. A few weeks ago, I picked up some muscadine from my friend's dad. He has a small vineyard bigger than 4 or 5 people's gardens. Well, I finally got around to crushing them up. I had to hurry up and do it or else my roommate was going to eat all 30 pounds of them (They taste like candy). My roommate and I actually ended up crushing them by hand. We found that just getting down in there was easier than using a potato smasher or any other method we could think of. Then, for the next step. I had no idea what to do next. I added too much water, forgot about the sugar, had to take some water and a few muscadine out, then put the sugar in. The end result looks like something that would turn into wine, but we can only hope.

I decided that while I was at it, I might as well put another batch of beer in the fermenter, so I went through that whole process. I started all of this at 7 PM and it was 1 AM before I had everything cleaned up. So now I have 5 gallons of beer and wine fermenting and 4 gallons of beer bottled and ready to go When I woke up this morning, our entire apartment complex smelled like a brewery. It was delicious.

Well, I better go. My friend just arrived back at my apartment. We've got to get up early tomorrow for the Big Dam Bridge 100 miler. I'm mostly prepared for it. If you live anywhere around Little Rock, North Little Rock, Maumelle, Mayflower, Conway, or Hwy 89 lookout tomorrow because a lot of cyclist are coming your way.

Alright, I've gotta go fix a flat. I just found it as I was heading out the door to the River. I hit a bad pothole Wednesday on the River Trail. I'm pretty sure it's the one on the North Little Rock trail down close to Dickey Stevens Ballpark. When I hit it, I figured it was going to cause a flat. At least I found it tonight and not tomorrow on my ride.