As they say, all good things must come to an end and for the Tour de Brew LNK rides, Thursday was that end for this year. I'm really loving the new digs, very spacious but man that yellow lighting is horrible for photos... lots of color balance editing, lots and lots of adjusting but I suppose being a beer warehouse they aren't too concerned with good photography lighting.
Ed was pretty excited for the ride.
Had most of the usual group show up for the ride and even a few new faces.
After a few beers and cookies at Cycle Works it was time to head down to the Empyrean Brewing Co. warehouse on 8th and L St. for food, beer, live music and the always popular raffle.
There were tandems.
Fat Bikes.
Cross bikes.
Regular mountain bikes.
Guys without helmets, heading the wrong direction.
Girls without helmets, heading the right way.
And even a jogger that had learned the art of levitation!
With the new changes there was no need to find a place to eat in between, so it was straight through the Haymarket to Empyrean.
For a little bit of this, they call these BBQ Pulled Pork Nachos, second time I've ever had them and both times they were delicious.
Plus a little bit of this, yes that is thick cut bacon on a stick...
It was delicious and a popular choice but then again, how do you mess up bacon?
Always a line, no matter what time you went to get food... Sips & Suds also was out there selling brats and potato salad, both were really good but the potato salad was pretty phenomenal. Must have been too busy engulfing it because I failed to get a picture of the brat or the potato salad.
It is a brew ride so of course there was beer, you could either opt for a some suds from Founders or from Empyrean.
The band was live, as advertised and always better than a dead band, no vocals just instruments but they still rocked it even without someone singing.
The space was huge, probably twice the size of the previous Empyrean location we were using but even with all that space it filled up pretty fast.
Just a few pictures of the crew and some random pics of the festivities.
I did mention that there was beer at this event didn't I? Ok, good, didn't want anyone confused.
The warehouse from the outside, it was a perfect evening for the ride and a bunch of folks came down to participate.
What party would be complete without something a little creepy and a party foul, noticed this basketball hoop behind our group after we had been there a bit... looks like something the clown from Stephen King's IT would use for a little scary clown pickup game. Who's got next?
I suppose on the bright side, when you're floor is cement a dropped beer isn't that big of a deal... when it's in a warehouse full of beer it's more of a non event. Get a hose!
Seems like after a few beers and some good food, time just flies and it seemed like only a few minutes after we got there it was raffle time already.
This month the donations went to the Lincoln Animal Ambassadors, it's a really cool organization that helps animals and animal owners down on their luck. This night we were able to raise $2050 for the organization, not too shabby Lincoln.
Callin numbers ain't easy, looks a bit hot also... someone get that man a beer STAT!
Had a few winners in our group, Jamie won a Tour de Brew LNK t-shirt.
Vince also won a t-shirt but his was one of those limited addition upside down shirts, some guys have all the luck.
Michaela always seems to win something good at these, tonight was no exception and walked away with a $25 gift card to Lazlo's.
My usual luck held true, even managed to end up with an extra ticket... not that it did any good because not a one of them was a winner.
With the usual raffle out of the way, it was time to raffle off the Surly Pugsley single speed Fat Bike.
The winner would go home with the bike but the Child Advocacy Center was the real winner as the recipient of the raffle ticket earnings at a cool sum of $4000.
After all was said and done, the beer was drank, the food was ate, the rides were ridden, the bicycle was given away and the curtain closed on the Tour de Brew LNK for the 2015 season a grand total of almost $17,000 was raised for local charities. Not bad, not bad at all. Kudos to the Lincoln bicycling community and to everyone else who came out and rode one, two or all of the rides this year, without your participation and donations none of this would have been possible. Pat yourselves on the back, you all deserve it.
I for one cannot wait for the 2016 Tour de Brew LNK rides to pick up where the 2015 rides left off... I am also looking forward to the second annual Tour de Brrrr to roll out sometime this winter, I asked about it but there hasn't been a date set yet... so, if you happen to stop into Moran's Liquor Works sometime between now and the time it's announced, maybe just put a friendly bug in their collective ear about it. The squeaky wheel might get the grease but the persistent, craft beer loving cyclist who makes sure the Baums don't forget gets a great Tour de Brrrrr.
