2026 Tribute Day Photos

Here it is ... September already. 

As you know if you follow me at all, I'll be cycling 1,000 miles in September to help raise awareness and money to fight childhood cancer.

It is called the Great Cycle Challenge.

If you'd like to help out, head to my "Rider Page" at

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

If you follow me on Facebook, you might have seen me posting about "Tribute Day" on Wednesday, August 26.

The GCC streamed photos of riders on a Times Square billboard. My huge head was on the billboard for a few seconds.

This happens every year, and someday I hope to be there in person, but at least the GCC people were nice enough to send me a photo of the billboard when my head flashed on it.

Their photo is much better quality than the screen-shot I took on the "Live Stream" the GCC provided.

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

Starting today, I'll be logging my miles to get to that 1,000 miles, and you'll probably see a bunch from me on Facebook, Instagram, and this blog about the GCC. 

Sheppy's Blog: #GCCUSA

Roll-a-Style 10: 6B. Rauchbier

The last time I did a Roll-a-Style post on this blog was Roll-a-Style 4: 9C. Baltic Porter back in February.

Yeah ... that was a long time ago.

So, it is probably worth a quick reminder: I created a list of BJCP beer styles that I've never brewed. When I want to decide which beer style to brew next, I originally rolled a virtual 20-sided online die, and brew the style that corresponds with the number that comes up.

Pretty simple, right?

After my 9C. Baltic Porter, I was down to 12 beer styles to brew, so I'm now using a 12 Sided Die.

It is close to Oktoberfest season, and I've unofficially declared this the "Year of the Lager". There is actually a style that fits Oktoberfest perfectly.

So .... I pretended to roll a 

GNorthside Gnome Cold IPA (Batch 396)

If you're new here, it will probably surprise you to know that I hate Gnomes. 

Well ... that isn't technically true. I don't HATE them. It would be much more accurate to say that Gnomes absolutely terrify me.

It creeps me out the way these little creatures sneak around causing mischief. The way they pretend to act like real people is unnatural. Their little voices send chills down my spine. Oddly enough, leprechauns and tommyknockers don't bother me. I can't completely put my finger on what it is, but something about gnomes are completely frightening. Quite often when I see several gnomes together, I scream like a little girl.

I can't help it, they freak me out. My wife has a similar issue with spiders. It certainly doesn't help that the use an unnecessary "G" in their name. Uggggg.

Chatfield SUP Photos

We went Paddle Boarding on Chatfield Reservoir again on Saturday.

This is the second time using the Akaso Brave 7 LE Action Camera. I think its supposed to be more of a video camera ... but I've yet to really take a video worth saving.

Oh Well.

One of us fell in. Sadly, it wasn't me.

Colorado is in a drought and Chatfield Reservoir is certainly showing that we need lots more rain than we've been getting. 

I'm really hoping for more snow this winter, and any rain we get between now and then is very welcome.

But, even with the low water level on the lake, it is always fun to get out there and paddle around.

Here are some pictures ...

J is for Jake's Beer Bar

If you're following along on the A to Z Series, you probably know we're in a tough section of the alphabet.

Round 7 started out nicely. A, B, C, D, F and G all had local breweries that started with the respective letters. E was a little stretch, but not bad at all.

On H is for Homegrown Tap and Dough, we picked a local Tap Room and Pizza Place rather than a brewery.

We totally punted on "I" with I is for IDK.

"J" was another letter that didn't really have any good choices on the Colorado Brewery Map & List, but I thought there was a good downtown Littleton Beer Bar we could slot into this spot.

J is for Jake's Beer Bar

I is for IDK

As you know if you follow along on the A to Z Breweries series of articles, we've decided to continue on with Round 7. 

If you're not familiar ... back in February of 2015, I was embarrassed by how few Denver Breweries that I had visited.

I decided to make an effort to hit more of them, and worked my way from A to Z, hitting a brewery for every letter.

At the end of Round 6, I mentioned that I wasn't sure we' really do a Round 7, because it is becoming more and more difficult to tie each letter to a Denver-area brewery.

So far, through the letter "H", we've actually been pretty solid on picking breweries (or at least a tap house) for the corresponding letter.

But, as I mentioned in H is for Homegrown Tap and Dough, "I" has been a challenging letter for us throughout this little project, and the Colorado Brewery Map & List doesn't really have any local choices that actually start with "I". I actually had no idea what we'll do.

I is for IDK

I screwed up the Potato Beer

If you follow along on this blog and/or SheppyBrew Brewery, you know that I recently brewed Potato Barley Rye (PBR) ... Batch 395.

I thought it would be fun to brew a Potato Beer. 

The potatoes I used came in the form of Idahoan Real Premium Mashed Potatoes, which is basically flaked potato. Add water and you get mashed potatoes.

I checked to make sure that the box said "no added flavorings" and no extra fats. 

The thing I guess I didn't notice on the nutrition facts is that each serving has quite a bit of sodium in it. WAY more than brewing salts I'd ever add to a batch of beer.