My second #GCCUSA2025 Century

On Saturday, I accomplished my second Century of my Great Cycle Challenge.

Yep, 100 miles.

That's right ... On my bicycle.

Yep, in one day.

No, my butt is fine.

Nope, I'm not crazy.

Yes, I know you don't like to drive that far.

I have committed to riding 1,200 miles over the course of September, and so I need to get long rides in. 

I always try to get a good start over the beginning of the month so that I'm not worrying about miles towards the end of the month when who knows what the weather will be like or what else might be going on.

By the time you read this, I will probably have gone on several more GCC rides. If you'd like to follow along or make a donation ... follow the link:

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

August Update on 2025 Cycling Goals

I do quite a bit of cycling for a middle-aged couch potato.

With all the BBQ I make and eat, and all the beer I brew and drink, biking a ridiculous amount helps keep me somewhat in shape.

So ... I spend lots of time cycling around the foothills of Denver, which I always track on Strava.

Anyway ... as you may remember from 2025 Cycling Goals, I have 5 cycling goals this year:

#MetricCenturyEveryMonth / #8200MilesIn2025 / #16EverestsIn2025 / Triple Bypass Ride / #GCCUSA

My first #GCCUSA2025 Century Ride

On Monday, I accomplished my first Century Ride since the Triple Bypass Ride back in July.

Yep, 100 miles.

That's right ... On my bicycle.

Yep, in one day.

No, my butt is fine.

Nope, I'm not crazy.

Yes, I know you don't like to drive that far.

I have committed to riding 1,200 miles over the course of September. 

I always try to get a good start over the first few days and the long Labor Day Weekend so that I'm not worrying about miles towards the end of the month when who knows what the weather will be like or what else might be going on.

By the time you read this, I will probably have gone on several GCC rides. If you'd like to follow along or make a donation ... follow the link:

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

2025 Tribute Day Photos

Here it is ... September already. 

As you know if you follow me at all, I'll be cycling 1,200 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

 

Washington Trip ... More Seattle Photos

As I posted in Washington Trip ... Rain Forest Photos and Washington Trip ... Beach Photos, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I recently took a trip to Washington state.

The first few days, we spent in and around Olympic National Park, which is geographically / environmentally very diverse.  Olympic National Park has rain forests. It has mountains. It has ocean - front beaches.

In Washington Trip ... Rain Forest Photos we shared photos from the first couple of days.

In Washington Trip ... Beach Photos we shared photos by the beach on day 2 and then a few more a little later in the week.

Washington Trip ... Mountain Photos we shared some Mountain Photos 

Washington Trip ... Seattle Photos we shared some photos in and around Seattle.

And .. now ... here are more photos in and around Seattle:

 

Washington Trip ... Seattle Photos

 As I posted in Washington Trip ... Rain Forest Photos and Washington Trip ... Beach Photos, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I recently took a trip to Washington state.

The first few days, we spent in and around Olympic National Park, which is geographically / environmentally very diverse.  Olympic National Park has rain forests. It has mountains. It has ocean - front beaches.

In Washington Trip ... Rain Forest Photos we shared photos from the first couple of days.

In Washington Trip ... Beach Photos we shared photos by the beach on day 2 and then a few more a little later in the week.

Washington Trip ... Mountain Photos we shared some Mountain Photos 

And .. now ... here are photos in and around Seattle:

 

Washington Trip ... Mountain Photos

As I posted in Washington Trip ... Rain Forest Photos and Washington Trip ... Beach Photos, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I recently took a trip to Washington state.

The first few days, we spent in and around Olympic National Park, which is geographically / environmentally very diverse.  Olympic National Park has rain forests. It has mountains. It has ocean - front beaches.

In Washington Trip ... Rain Forest Photos we shared photos from the first couple of days.

In Washington Trip ... Beach Photos we shared photos by the beach on day 2 and then a few more a little later in the week.

Here are some photos from the mountains in Olympic National Park:

 

Washington Trip ... Beach Photos

As I posted in Washington Trip ... Rain Forest Photos, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I recently took a trip to Washington state.

The first few days, we spent in and around Olympic National Park, which is geographically / environmentally very diverse.  Olympic National Park has rain forests. It has mountains. It has ocean - front beaches.

In Washington Trip ... Rain Forest Photos we shared photos from the first couple of days.

Here are some photos from the beach in Olympic National Park:

 

Washington Trip ... Rain Forest Photos

My wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I took a trip to Washington state last week.

We did a bunch of stuff and had a ton of fun. 

The first few days, we spent in and around Olympic National Park, which is geographically / environmentally very diverse.  Olympic National Park has rain forests. It has mountains. It has ocean - front beaches.

And in just a few days we did it all.

Our home-base was a motel in Port Angeles, WA.

July Update on 2025 Cycling Goals

I do quite a bit of cycling for a middle-aged couch potato.

With all the BBQ I make and eat, and all the beer I brew and drink, biking a ridiculous amount helps keep me somewhat in shape.

So ... I spend lots of time cycling around the foothills of Denver, which I always track on Strava.

Anyway ... as you may remember from 2025 Cycling Goals, I have 5 cycling goals this year:

#MetricCenturyEveryMonth / #8200MilesIn2025 / #16EverestsIn2025 / Triple Bypass Ride / #GCCUSA

2025 Triple Bypass Ride

So, if you've been reading this blog this year, you probably understood this was coming ... Saturday I rode the 2025 Triple Bypass.

If you're unfamiliar ... no I didn't have heart surgery. The Triple Bypass is a 118 mile bike ride in Colorado with 10,800 feet elevation. 

It takes 4,000 + bike riders up over 3 mountain passes.

I did this ride last year, and I thought it would be fun (type 2 fun) to do it again and see if I could finish faster.

Of course, last year, the whole thing went about perfect and lots of things can go wrong over 8 to 10 hours on the bike, so finishing faster wasn't part of my success criteria. 

 

4th of July Paddle on Chatfield

You may remember that my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I went Paddle Boarding with Juneteenth Paddle on Chatfield.

I mentioned in that post that we'd have to look into a new better pump than the one my wife has been using.

Well ... since then she had a birthday and I got her a bigger, more expensive, hopefully better pump, and we figured we would have to try it out to make sure it actually was better.

The first opportunity we had was July 4th.

So we packed up our paddling stuff, some beer, a lunch and headed down to Chatfield Reservoir. It being a holiday weekend, we went earlier than usual, which really paid off.

 

June Update on 2025 Cycling Goals

I do quite a bit of cycling for a middle-aged couch potato.

With all the BBQ I make and eat, and all the beer I brew and drink, biking a ridiculous amount helps keep me somewhat in shape.

So ... I spend lots of time cycling around the foothills of Denver, which I always track on Strava.

Anyway ... as you may remember from 2025 Cycling Goals, I have 5 cycling goals this year:

#MetricCenturyEveryMonth / #8200MilesIn2025 / #16EverestsIn2025 / Triple Bypass Ride / #GCCUSA

 

Juneteenth Paddle on Chatfield

I'm pretty inexperienced at Paddle Boarding. My first "real" time doing it was last year Labor Day Weekend SUP, and I've only really done it once or twice after that so far.

But, it's a fun thing to do on hot summer-like days.

This past Thursday was Juneteenth, which my employer has as a holiday. It was hot, and the wife  (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) also had it off. We thought it would be fun to get some paddling in.

So we packed up our paddling stuff, some beer, a lunch and headed down to Chatfield Reservoir.

My wife had an electric pump, but it takes much longer than me with my manual pump. I even had to finish off pumping her paddle board. I think maybe we need to look into a better one.

Anyway ...

 

May Update on 2025 Cycling Goals

I do quite a bit of cycling for a middle-aged couch potato.

With all the BBQ I make and eat, and all the beer I brew and drink, biking a ridiculous amount helps keep me somewhat in shape.

So ... I spend lots of time cycling around the foothills of Denver, which I always track on Strava.

Anyway ... as you may remember from 2025 Cycling Goals, I have 5 cycling goals this year:

#MetricCenturyEveryMonth / #8200MilesIn2025 / #16EverestsIn2025 / Triple Bypass Ride / #GCCUSA

April Update on 2025 Cycling Goals

Soooo ... it wasn't until mid-march that I shared my 2025 Cycling Goals, and now it is already mid-May.

As always, I'm fairly certain very few people care. I might be the only one who reads through these, but I do like to have a record of my progress.

I'm sure next year sometime I'll read this and be glad I have it.

Anyway ... as you may remember from 2025 Cycling Goals, I have 5 goals:

#MetricCenturyEveryMonth / #8200MilesIn2025 / #16EverestsIn2025 / Triple Bypass Ride / #GCCUSA

Easter Ribeye Roast

I know that it has already been awhile, but I did holiday cooking on Easter.

Of course I did.

If you follow along at all on this blog, you know that Ribeye Roast is one of my favorite holiday meats.

As luck would have it, I had a Ribeye Roast vacuumed packed and waiting in the freezer. 

For whatever reason, we must have purchased extra last Christmas.

And ... that is what I cooked this past Easter.

The process is pretty much the same as always. I smoke the meat to a rare internal temperature. Then, I sear the roast for a bit to get a nice crust on the meat.

SheppyBrew Home Page

After doing the updates mentioned in New SheppyBrew Website, I had copilot rewrite my SheppyBrew Home page. 

To be honest, I can't decide if I like copilot's version better or not. 

Just in case I think I want to go back, I'm storing what it was before here. 

Let me know what you think. 

........

New SheppyBrew Website

I spent some time recently updating the SheppyBrew Website.

The tech stack used on the site was very out of date and making any code changes to the site was very difficult.

If you're a computer geek at all, you could probably tell with the use of .aspx pages, and the fact that it really was not great on smaller screens.

But, really the main reason I felt I had to get the thing updated was that my hosting company sent me an email letting me know that support for the version of .NET was being removed from their servers "sometime this quarter".

 

J is for Justice Lady Brewing

If you've been following along on this blog, you probably know that we've been working on round 6 of our A to Z series of posts.

Earlier this month, we posted H is for CHeluna Brewing Company.

If you're familiar with the A to Z concept or even just familiar with the English alphabet, you'd probably be expecting us to move on to "I" next.

"I" does indeed come immediately after "H", but we already did I is for Incantation Brewing, visiting Incantation on the very last day they were open.

So, in this case, we are now up to "J".

According to the Colorado Brewery Map & List, there was really just one logical choice ...

J is for Justice Lady Brewing