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Dayton Brewvet

Dayton Brewvet Midterm Report

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We’ve reached the half-way point of the Dayton Brewvet:

Tom Morgan a columnist for  Telephone Weekly, introduced tbe Brewvet concept to us a few weeks ago  and  this column is a follow up that. 

We are three weeks into the six weeks of biking and beer that ends on August 8, 2014. I’d like to assume that all of you are out Dayton Brewvet Ride 2 mapthere riding your bikes and enjoying local craft beer, but I haven’t seen much activity online (#daytonbrewvet).

Well, besides my own. Maybe you all are going on rides and not posting, or maybe you are waiting until the last minute and planning on cramming all the rides in the last eight days (I’m looking at you, Kevin Gray). You wouldn’t do that, would you? In the off-chance that you are procrastinating, I figured a friendly reminder was in order so that the waning days of summer are filled with bikes, beer, and good times, and not, well, good times that may or may not involve the aforementioned bikes and beer.

 

If you need some extra motivation, you’re welcome to join me on Wednesday, July 23, when I’ll be headed to the Fifth Street Brewpub Co-op. I’ll be there from 6-8, so feel free to stop by, say hello, and have a beer—I’m hoping Fifth Street’s beer will still be on tap to sample.

 

There are also undoubtedly some of you who haven’t yet heard of the Dayton Brewvet. For those of you that haven’t, the full description and the rider information card can be found here. And while you only have three weeks left, there is still plenty of time to complete the eight following rides:Dayton Brewvet Ride 1 Entry

 

1. Local Brew: During your ride, stop at a local brewery and enjoy a beer.

2. Local Bar: Ride to your favorite local bar and enjoy a craft beer.

3. Co-op Brew: Ride to the Fifth Street Brewpub Co-op and enjoy a craft beer. Sorry to be self-serving, but I’m a co-op member, and you should be, too.

4. Patio/Outdoor Beer: Ride to a local bar with a patio, or to an outdoor event, and enjoy a craft beer outdoors.

5. Beer at Home: Take a spin to the store, and bring home a craft beer to drink. Dayton Brewvet Ride 1

6. Go Exploring: Ride someplace new, stop in at a new bar or restaurant, and try a new craft beer.

7. Can Beer: Canned craft beer is all the rage, in part because it packs in and out with ease. Find yourself a bike ride that incorporates beer in a can. Remember, though: you’re adults. Don’t get either of us in trouble.

8. Bike Path Brew: Plan a longer ride to explore some of Dayton’s bike paths, and use this as an excuse to visit one of the breweries close to the bike path: Yellow Springs Brewery in Yellow Springs (via the Creekside Trail and the Little Miami Trail), Star City Brewing Company in Miamisburg (via the Great Miami River Recreational Trail), or, for the truly brave of heart, Fifty West in Cincinnati. If you’re willing to ride to Cincinnati, I’m pretty sure you can figure out a route on your own.

 

Thus far, I’ve completed three rides: Can Ride, Local Bar, and Go Exploring. Yes, I’m a bit of a procrastinator myself. Thus far I’ve racked up 53.1 miles on those three rides, although 52 of that was for just one ride. Yes, it was a doozy. I plan on hitting another one this weekend, so that I’ll be halfway finished by the time Wednesday rolls around. Check out the #daytonbrewevet to see more of my (and soon hopefully others!) Dayton Brewvet shenanigans.

 

Hope to see you at the Fifth Street Brewpub on Wednesday!

 

Tom Morgan introduces Dayton Brewvet

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imgres-1The summer months are upon us, so it is time to jump on your bike and enjoy the outdoors. Dayton is a great town for cycling; there are more than 250 miles of bike trails in the greater Dayton metro area, which is a fair share more than many lauded bike-friendly cities. With that in mind, I am here today to offer you the Dayton Brewvet. My inspiration is John Roche of DrinkCraftBeer.com, who pioneered the concept of the Brewvet last summer;I would have participated this year, but he started it mad early and it was over almost before I thought to look it up!



So rather than admitting defeat, I decided a local Dayton version was in order. The idea behind the Brewvet is drawn from randonneuring, a long-distance, non-competitive endurance cycling event; the Randonneur USA website notes that “friendly camaraderie, not competition, is the hallmark of randonneuring.” The idea of taking pleasure in the event itself rather than focusing on competition is something I can get behind. As Roche explains further, “since a randonneuring event is called a brevet, it only made sense to call our take on this concept the Brewvet.” While we’re leaving behind the long-distance part of randonneuring—with the exception of ride number eight—combining cycling and local craft beer seems a perfect recipe for summer fun.



          The Dayton Brewvet will run from June 27, 2014 to August 8, 2014, so there will be plenty of time to get out and explore Dayton by bike. The eight rides—and they can be completed in any order you would like—are:

1.  Local Brew: During your ride, stop at a local brewery and enjoy a beer.
2.  Local Bar: Ride to your favorite local bar and enjoy a craft beer.
3.  Co-op Brew: Ride to the Fifth Street Brewpub Co-op and enjoy a craft beer. Sorry to be self-serving, but I’m a co-op member, and you should be, too.
4.  Patio/Outdoor Beer: Ride to a local bar with a patio, or to an outdoor event, and enjoy a craft beer outdoors.
5.  Beer at Home: Take a spin to the store, and bring home a craft beer to drink.
6.  Go Exploring: Ride someplace new, stop in at a new bar or restaurant, and try a new craft beer.
7.  Can Beer: Canned craft beer is all the rage, in part because it packs in and out with ease. Find yourself a bike ride that incorporates beer in a can. Remember, though: you’re adults. Don’t get either of us in trouble.
8.  Bike Path Brew: Plan a longer ride to explore some of Dayton’s bike paths, and use this as an excuse to visit one of the breweries close to the bike path: Yellow Springs Brewery in Yellow Springs (via the Creekside Trail and the Little Miami Trail), Star City Brewing Company in Miamisburg (via the Great Miami River Recreational Trail), or, for the truly brave of heart, Fifty West in Cincinnati. If you’re willing to ride to Cincinnati, I’m pretty sure you can figure out a route on your own.
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Your eight rides should ideally combine for a total distance of at least 40 miles; as Roche also notes, “A ride qualifies if you either stop to drink a beer during your bike ride, or purchase a beer on your bike ride that you drink shortly after you get back home. Just like in a brevet, you must provide documentation of each stop on your adventures.”
          More on the documentation part in a minute. First, some basic ground rules. Apparently, randonneuring is rule crazy. While I’m less fussy, I’m still going to implement some of the basic guidelines Roche uses for his Brewvet:


1. Limit of one ride per day. Any ride in which you drink more than one beer still only counts as one ride. Be responsible and make adult decisions. 
2. Each ride should be to a different location. No doubling up on bars or breweries. 
3. Each ride should feature a different beer, with preference towards craft beer. Local beer is even better. 
4. The eight rides are to be completed between June 27, 2014 and August 8, 2014.
5. While there is no minimum distance for each ride, aim to cover at least 40 miles over the course of your eight rides. The Bike Path Brew ride is intended to bulk up everyone’s overall numbers. Yes, long rides are hard. But also fun. 
6. For each ride, fill out the Dayton Brewvet rider information card (the Dayton Brewvet rider information card can be found here). Please document the following: Destination: from where to where did you ride? Beer: what did you drink? Miles: how long was the round trip? Date: when did you do it? Ride Completed: which of the eight rides was this? 

Take plenty of pictures along the way, and use the #daytonbrewvet hashtag when posting them online. As well, Strava, an online app for phones, is helpful for mapping rides and keeping track of miles.
 Once you’ve completed your eight rides, submit your Dayton Brewvet control card and eight pictures (you can also submit links to pictures posted on your blog or other online sites) to tlmorgan3 at gmail.com. The deadline for Dayton Brewvet submissions is August 22, 2014.

 

A few final notes: arranging group rides is encouraged. Use the #daytonbrewvet hashtag to let others know what you’ll be doing. I’ll post a couple of my destinations a few days prior to riding if you’re looking for an excuse to be social. And as an added incentive—although, to be honest, isn’t the delightful allure of beer and bike riding already more than enough incentive?—everyone who completes the Dayton Brewvet will get an official certificate of completion, suitable for framing. Suitable for framing. I’ve always wanted to say that. Awesome. Plus, I’ll buy you a beer when this is all over. So get out and start riding with beer as your destination.



Editors Note:  This post by Tom Morgan was originally supposed to be published in Telephone Weekly, where he writes a craft beer column, but issues have temporarily sidelined them. Boo! Since letting the idea of a Dayton Brewvet to go to waste this summer seemed criminal, we’re getting it started here with Tom’s permission!