Over It

It’s been no secret that I’ve been pretty stressed out lately.  And as usual, I was looking forward to the weekend.  The plan was to grab Little Miss Sunshine and head to the hills for some rad mountain biking, beer drinking, and early leaf peeping.  However, the weather had other plans.  It was raining, and that would continue throughout the weekend (and this week too.)

I suddenly found myself without plans.

Sitting around Friday evening I briefly considered heading to the hills anyway.  Figuring that I wouldn’t have a good time in the cold rain, I quickly realized that the alternative would be to sit around and work on bikes all weekend.  This did not please me.  And no, I never even considered traveling to Richmond, VA to drink and watch a bunch of roadies race around town.  Then suddenly I remembered there was something I wanted to do.

There was a family reunion scheduled for this past Saturday, and never planned to go because my old employer had me scheduled to be on call that weekend.  That wasn’t the case anymore, so when I brought it up to the little lady she was all for it.

“You should go.”

“But it’s almost a seven hour drive to Kentucky.”

“So what?  You like to drive.  Besides, you need to go meet the other side of your family.”

I’ve mentioned it before, but I really dig my family history.  Back in the mid 1800s, my Great (times four) Grandfather came to this country from England and settled in Manassas, VA.  That’s why I still have so much family up there and also why we still visit every year.  However, some of the famly split off and went to Kentucky and I’d never met any of their descendants.  We’re all related (which is the case with my last name), and my cousin Terry put together a reunion to try to get us all together.  So with points from previous hotel stays, I booked a free room in Georgetown, KY late Friday night and prepared to hit the road early Saturday morning.

Of course I put a bike on my truck.

It was shitty outside when I left.  I hadn’t bothered to check the weather at my destination before I left so I was hoping that I was leaving this crap behind.

I took the usual route towards Asheville, hit Interstae 40 and prepared to ccross the mountains in the rain.  This included two tunnels.

Yeah, I kinda felt like Luke Skywalker attacking the Death Star.

A few minutes later, I hit the Tennessee line.

And the skies were beautiful.

I didn’t stop too much, and less than seven hours later I was in Georgetown hanging out with family I’d never met before.

It was pretty awesome.  Two of my cousins made the trip from Manassass (yes, I know them), some from Cincinnati, OH, and some even made the trip over from England.  It was really nice to fill in the gaps on our family tree, talk about our history, and see lots of new faces.  Most of all, it was good to get away from my usual routine to do something different. 

Sure, I brought my bike.  No, I didn’t get to ride that day.

I did on the way home though…

See y’all tomorrow.

Digging Up The Past

I was gonna skip today’s post because I didn’t really have much to talk about, but then I remembered that I promised something to y’all a while back.  As a matter of fact, it’s been a long time since I mentioned it (like back in the summer.)  What the hell am I talking about?


A little more of my family history.

If you spend any time at all around here, then you know how much I love beer.  I told y’all back in July that there may be a connection between one of my ancestors and a prominent Southern brewer back in the day.  While I’m still gathering facts and whatnot, I still have enough right now to talk about it.

Let’s start with the ancestor in question.   

This is Jacob Muddiman, my Great Great Great Great Grandfather.  He came to this fine country from England just prior to the Civil War, and eventually settled in Manassas, Virginia right after the war.  Prior to moving his family to Manassas, he built a tavern in the city of Alexandria.

It (obviously) still stands to this day, and I make a point to go visit every time I’m in the area.  It's a private residence now, but I think it’s pretty cool that there is a place in Northern Virginia that’s called the Muddiman Tavern.  It makes me want to drink a beer right now, as a matter of fact.  Anyway, I’ve known about this tavern for as long as I can remember, but over the summer I discovered that Jacob came to America on a ship with a very prominent businessman.

Robert Portner.

If that name doesn’t ring a bell, it’s because you don’t know shit about Southern beer history.  Robert Portner Brewing Company was the largest pre-Prohibition brewery in the South way back when. 

Now, I'm not saying that Mr. Portner was in business with Jacob, but I do know that they both moved to Alexandria around the same time.  Also, the brewery was located on King Street in downtown Alexandria, just a few blocks from the Muddiman Tavern (both built around the same time.)  Furthermore, when my family relocated to Manassas, Mr. Portner built his summer home there.

I’ve heard stories by my Great Aunts and Uncles about family members spending time in the mansion when they were kids, so I know the families were close.  The mansion still stands to this day, and I got a photo of it during my last trip up there.

The house had air conditioning (a big deal back then) and it’s believed that Mr. Portner actually invented the system used to cool his house.  It gets hot in the summer in Manassas, so I’m sure my family loved spending time there.  The mansion is now part of a senior living facility, which is owned by the same hospital system that owns the hospital where I’m employed.  What an odd coincidence.

Mr. Portner made a huge impact in the South, Northern Virginia, and specifically Manassas.  When prohibition reared its ugly head, that was pretty much the end of his beer making business.    

I saw this item in the Manassas town museum this past summer:

He passed away in 1906, but our families remained in touch for a while.  Many generations have passed since then though, and I’m sad to say that we are no longer acquainted with the Portner family.  However, Mr. Portner’s great great grandchildren have recently started brewing beer again in Alexandria. 

It might be worth it for me to get in touch with them, huh?   

Short Trip, Long Days

Since it was a last minute decision to get up to the DC area, we didn’t have much time to plan anything. We loaded up my truck after I got out of work on Friday and set out to drive as far as we could before we got too tired. We made it as far as Harrisonburg, VA before we decided to call it a night. Since there had been a ton of storms in the area, most of the hotels were full. We eventually found a place and settled in for the night, and got some rest so we could head out the next day to finish our journey.

I hear there’s some good riding up that way, and we did bring our bikes.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to ride anything.  We still had about two hours to go.

After a long day at work and a long drive, we slept in a little bit that morning. We hit the road and made it to Manassas, VA, heading right over to see my family. You see, my trip to the DC area wasn’t for pleasure. I love going up there to visit my family, but this time it was mainly to see my 92 year old Uncle and spend a little time with him before he moves on. He was in good spirits, and the house was full of people. It wasn’t really sad, and I’m glad we were able to be there to spend time with him and the rest of the family. 

A few of us cousins headed over to a local sports bar for lunch, and I enjoyed a few brews and I think I got my cousin hooked on IPAs. After that we headed over to a park which is directly behind my Uncle’s house. 

This is on the hill behind his house, and it was used during the Civil War as an overlook for the Battle of Bull Run. Funny thing is, I played around there when I was little and I didn’t know the significance of it all. Now it’s an official city park, and they’ve obviously spruced up the place a bit. We spent a little time up there reading all the information, and even visited an old Civil War cemetery and brushed up on our history.

We left the house and headed over to our hotel.  We decided to stop in a bike shop on the way to see if there were any trails in the area. We brought our bikes along “just in case”, and asked the locals there if there was anything worth riding. They gave us a few spots to check out, and we planned to get out and pedal if we had time. Meanwhile though, we shopped.

I noticed that they carried some good stuff in there, including ProGold products:

And some Honey Stinger goodness:

We were too tired to ride that night, so we checked into the hotel and cleaned ourselves up a bit. I took the little lady all over town and showed her where my family came from, and we even headed over to the local cemetery for a little history lesson. My Great Great Great Great Grandparents came over from England in the 1800’s to settle in Manassas, and they are buried in that cemetery.

Little Miss Sunshine thought that was pretty cool, but I felt weird for taking photos of a grave marker. All in the name of history I guess. I even found an interesting bit of info about my ancestors and one of the largest breweries in the South. Stay tuned for that one.

After that we took a ride through D.C., but since we didn’t get out to walk around I only got one photo.

It was another late night because we crammed so much stuff into one day, but as usual we made the most of it. We decided that we would have time to ride the next morning.

So yeah, tomorrow will be a ride report.

Summer Racing

Last night was the start of our local Wednesday night racing, better known as the Summer Series.  The whole family was set to go out and compete last night, but I ended up skipping it.  I showed up, but I was having some issues with my tires holding air.  After repeated attempts to get them to seal up in the parking lot, I decided to get out on the course and show my support for the rest of the family.  That’s right, Little Miss Sunshine and Lunchbox got out and raced.

It was a really good turnout for race number one.

Lunchbox went out first, and tried his best to keep up with the fast little racer children that probably ride a lot more than he does.  He held his own at the start though.

Little Miss Sunshine’s class went off right after that, and she was all smiles (even on her single speed.)

Since the trail is only three and a half miles long, I had to hurry up to find a good spot in the woods for photo taking.  I got there with plenty of time, and waited for Lunchbox to come screaming by.  Instead, I saw a bunch of kids in his class go by, and even the women in the class behind him starting riding through.  One of those women was my little lady.

She was still smiling.

A little while later, Lunchbox came flying by.

I asked if he was okay, and he told me that his chain dropped off, and that he had to fight his way back in the pack.  He said he passed two kids already, and that put him in fourth place.

I cut through the trail and caught him heading back down the hill on lap two, and he was trying his best to make up for lost time.

I went back to my old spot for photos, and caught the little lady finishing up her last lap. 

She was still smiling, and I found out later that she sprinted for the finish line.  She missed out on third place by a nose, but she was still happy to finish fourth on her SS.

Not too long after, Lunchbox came rolling by again.  He was still in fourth place, but was closing the gap on third.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough trail left for him to catch up.  He had to settle for fourth place, which is his best race finish to date.  

Both of them are really motivated now, knowing that it will only take a little more effort to get on the podium.  I’m really proud of them for getting out there to race, and I was more than happy to sit this one out and spectate.  I’m not the greatest photographer (which is why my kid usually takes all the pictures), but I enjoyed being able to have the chance to document their races.

This is a fifteen race series, and I;m sure they will both be back to tear it up again.  I plan on using a few of these races as a tune up for the Southern Classic Series, so expect me to get out there a few times too.

It’s always fun when your whole family can get out and do stuff like this.  Most families don’t do much together other than watching TV, so anytime something like this is available it’s a good thing.

All Day Long

You see, it’s not always about me around here. Mostly, but not always. The rest of the family got out and raced again on Sunday, and it looks like they had a blast. Little Miss Sunshine started the day off with a 10:00 race, and she felt pretty good. She took off with the group, and it looked like she was pacing herself (most likely to keep from breaking my heart rate record.) She hit the trail fast, and Lunchbox was out there to capture the action.



She was really giving it her all after a while, as you can see in this photo:



Six laps later, it was over. She raced hard, and didn’t feel like poo afterwards. With a solid 10th place finish, she did well out there. For someone that doesn’t normally race, she is getting pretty good at it…and fast. I see this season being a really good one for her.


I raced next, but I already talked about that. I did find a really cool picture though that makes me look like I’m riding a really tiny bike.


Photo credit: Alex Hawn


Anyway, Lunchbox was up next. I didn’t pressure him to get out there, either. He wanted to get out and see what he could do on the trail. Initially he wanted to race in the Clydesdale class with me (he’s like 215 lbs), but he decided to stick to the Junior class and “compete” against the small, frail, racer children out there.



He took off, fighting for position. I think he got into the woods around 6th, and held on for the ride.



His goal was to at least beat someone, so he pushed as hard as he could and tried to keep the group in sight. He kept a great pace, and didn’t really slow down too much over the course of the race. On one lap though, I waited for him to come by so I could get a photo. One of the “too fast for Juniors” racers tried to make a pass on a not-so-skilled rider, and caused a bit of a pile up. Lunchbox got caught up in it, and it knocked him back off the pack a bit. He got going again, and I got my photo.



I sprinted up the trail, hoping to catch him on the fire road climb. He was struggling to catch his breath a little, but he was riding strong.



One lap to go, and he was almost there. Alex Hawn was there to capture his photo again (along with providing a kick-ass cheering section) as he climbed over the rock garden.



He crossed the finish line in 13th place, which coincidentally is his lucky number. He also made his goal of beating someone, so he was pretty happy. I bet he’ll be up for a race this weekend too.


That’s it for today. Once again I’ve gone on too long, and I can’t blow it all at once. I’ll be back tomorrow with most likely will be a recap of my single speed “race.”

Cheers.