Find Our Beer & Celebrate 5 Years

If you live on Colorado's Front Range you know where to find us, this weekend we'll be in the beer garden of the local Cyclocross race. Not everyone is lucky enough to call the Rocky Mountains home, so if your elswhere & still looking for a hellofa can-o-beer you can find ours in these states. For more details click on each state HERE via our homepage.
COLORADO
Arizona
Connecticut
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Maryland / Washington D.C.
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New Mexico
North Carolina
New York
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin

Don't forget you can also find us celebrating 5 years this Saturday from noon til 4 PM at our Brewery & Restaurant. The affair will feature a Cajun buffet and crawfish boil, live music, and specials on all Oskar Blues beers.

Spot Brand Bikes Single Speed Belt Drive Cross Bike

Our homeboys at Spot Brand Bikes hooked up Oskar Blues with one of their new Belt Drive Single Speed Cross Bikes. On the second ride we rode it to a 2nd place in the single speed class @ Boulder Racing's race #4. Man is this thing a head turner, Pamela Anderson's got nothin on this baby. Wait no longer, here are the details
Another angle of the Gates carbon drive belt. During the race the system was quiet & felt quick while shedding mud without slipping. This thing is a beauty, right down to the Sterling Silver head badge & it's Pink "Pretty & Strong" headset and hubs. In 2004, Chris King Precision Components launched a limited edition series of pink headsets and hubs in an effort to raise awareness for breast cancer research and to raise funds for the Susan G. Komen Foundation affiliate in Portland.
Like Oskar Blues Spot Brand ingenuity comes from Colorado's Front Range

Check back to see more info as we finish the cross season.

Canned Beer Apocalypse Turns 5

This month we're wrapping up the fifth year of our pioneering microcanning effort. We sold our first can of Dale’s Pale Ale in November of 2002. The move made Oskar Blues the first US craft brewer to brew and can its own beer. It has also fueled some of the heftiest growth in the US craft beer trade. Our beer production has grown by 2000% over the past five years. Yeah man!

To celebrate our fifth year of microcanning, we have some cool stuff happening. For starters, we've just placed the first cans of our winter seasonal beer, Ten FIDY Imperial Stout, on shelves of select stores in Colorado. Fourpacks of the viscous, ultra-rich and roasted beer retail for $12.99.

On December 1, from noon - 4 PM, we're having a party to celebrate our fifth. The affair will feature a Cajun buffet and crawfish boil, live music, and specials on all Oskar Blues beers. The event will also serve as the official roll out of a limited-release batch of 5-liter/1.3 gallon mini kegs of Dale’s Pale Ale. The keg cans (with built-in taps) will reach select stores along the Front Range starting December 3. They will retail for around $24.

a short one

Blues skies & sunshine forced us out the door to check on the conditions at higher elevations. We ended up hiking a bit but enjoyed the weather & the ride none-the-less.

Boulder Racing Cyclocross #4 - Louisville

PACO's Day

Boulder Racing Series stop #4 was at the Louisville Rec Center on what was the first of "r e a l" cyclocross weather on the Front Range. To be honest it was actually too nice to be considered cyclocross weather but in these days of sunny 60's you take what you can get, at least I had to clean the mud off the Spot Brand after the SS race. My second ride on the Belt Drive SS felt pretty smooth & comfy considering. I knew Pacocha would be tough & was pretty satisfied with 2nd on a gear that was better suited to a drag strip(43x18 equivalent). The Pro races started after a moment of silence was observed for Colorado's late Mike Janelle, who's contributions of life & passion will be missed. Kerry Barnholt continued her sweet season with a convincing race, but was tracked down by Heather Irminger to create an exciting finish in the womens open race. That battle set the stage for the fireworks to come. The men's open race left no doubt who was the fastest of the day: Matt Pacocha was unstoppable. The first few laps saw mechanical issues take out both Mike West & JHK. "Pacho" came out of the gate smoking, first he threw down on the SS race & followed that up with a exciting win in the open division that came down to the last lap. After attacking solo early Pacocha was tracked down on the bell lap by Troy Kilgore & Mafia Racing's Wells. Matt put all doubters to rest with a 5 second victory topping off a great day of racing & snow covered sunshine. Hope to see you all tomorrow.
Barnholt off to an early gap.

Mike West broke a chain on the first lap1 lap down Mike jumped back in & finished.
Kilgore worked hard to make contact with Paco but couldn't make it pay off. Cheers

Where will the Colorado State Cyclocross Championships be held...Lyons???

Singlespeed Worlds 2008 dates set

Organizers of the Singlespeed World Championships announced the dates of August 23-24 for the next edition of the championships. The competition, which was held in Scotland in 2007, moves to Napa, California, for 2008.
www.cyclingnews.com

Tuesday Night Snow & Belt Drive Secrets

Winter finally descended upon us but we headed up the hill anyway. A group of 6 set out as snow fell. Halfway through the ride the bikes & rocks developed a layer of ice & things got interesting. We rode for an hour & a half before heading down to OB for the dinner special & beer. It's good to have a reliable group to motivate you above & beyond your usual level. The Lyons Redstone crew gets me on the bike Tuesday nights year round regardless of the weather - Thanks!



I've been lucky enough to get my hands on a Spot Brand Belt Drive Single Speed Cyclocross Bike. We'll be flying the Oskar Blues colors on that baby at this weekends Front Range cross races. Keep an eye out for us at the race & have a beer while you drool!
Check back next week for the full monty of pictures of this beauty.

2008 Maverick Bikes

Our Colorado Front Range brothers in aluminum at Maverick Bikes invited us to grab a 12 pack & join them on a front range photo shoot & test ride of the new 2008 Durance & ML8's.

The entrance to any bike geek's dream

The van was loaded & we headed for dirt.

2007 Mountain States Cup "Best All Around Rider" Mike West was rippin' on his ML8

Doin' what we do best...RIDE

and then on to happy hour, maybe this is what we do best???

If there's a wheel Mike will ride it. Is that the Dutch Tuck?

The 2008 Durance comes in this Fast Blue, Hard Ano or Limited Edition Fast Red(above in entrance picture)
In '08 the ML8 comes in Hard Ano, Mike's Burnt Orange or Limited Edition White.

We didn't get to ride the Matic, but the Brown Ale sounds tasty.

The day wound down with a Dales Pale as the sun set at Maverick Headquarters

It was a fun few days chasing the last moments of Colorado High-Country riding.

Red Rocks Velo Cyclocross #3: Saturday, November 17th -CANCELLED

Although the Red Rocks Velo race has been cancelled OB continues with quality music throughout the weekend.
Thursday 11/15/2007 Sally Van Meter's bluegrass allstars
Friday 11/16/2007 The Lee Thomas Band
Saturday 11/17/2007 The Delta Sonics blues band
Sunday 11/18/2007 New Rockabilly quartet

On a warm & dry night in mid November we saddled up 11 riders last night for the Tuesday night Redstone Cyclery ride. It's pretty amazing to watch 10 sets of lights shredding the darkness on a Rocky Mountian descent, WHAT A RIDE! Of course the ride was followed by beer & food during the Buegrass pick. The OB bluegrass pick has evolved to one of the biggest & best picks around. If you haven't experienced it swing on in any Tuesday night see what I'm taking about.

Gunnison Mountaineercross UCI C2

We made our way to the Western State College of Colorado in Gunnison for a dose of high elevation cyclocross. The mens event saw Todd Wells set the pace with Parbo in tow. They finished 1-2 with Danny Summerhill nipping a strong Brandon Dwight for 3rd.

Wisconsin keeps it real at the Iceman Cometh

If your not from the Midwest you may not know about the Midwest Triple Crown or the Iceman Cometh. If you haven't, check out the history HERE from Brian Matter, he should know something about it since he's the only one to win all 3 in a single season. This year was not the year for the triple but he finished it up with big win at Iceman. Congrats to Brian & Tristan for representing Sheboygan strong among a group of heavy hitters. One last shout to Jesse & Marko Lalonde for finishing up a sick Wisconsin season on the Single Speeds, Jesse is the first overall WORS series champion on a single speed. Cheers to the midwest!

Iceman Cometh Results (11/10/07)
PRO/SEMI-PRO MEN
1. Brian Matter, Sheboygan, Wis.1:30:30

2. Michael Simonson, Oxford1:31:03

3. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Boulder, Colo.1:31:11

4. Tristan Schouten, Sheboygan, Wis.1:31:24

5. Jesse Lalonde, Madison, Wis.1:33:10

6. Ned Overend, Durango, Colo.1:34:21

7. Marko Lalonde, Madison, Wis.1:35:53

a few Pic's from the Boulder Cup

photo-cycle.com sent us a few Boulder Cup shots to share while we work out our details. Check out the crowd as Tim Johnson & Barry Wicks battle. Below Todd Wells hops a tough & hilly barrier section under views of Boulder's Flatirons.

Redline & Boulder Cup - Technical Difficulties

Katie Compton stomped everyone in her International UCI #1 Ranked blue kit.
We had a dramatic weekend of cyclocross racing in Boulder County this weekend when the Redline Cup & Boulder Cup brought the stars of the sport to us. Maybe it was all the fans, the excitement or the cans of Ten Fidy but we are currently battling some technical difficulties on covering the spectacular event. Props to the 2000+ cow bell ringing spectators that surrounded the Boulder Cup course on sunday. Ryan Trebon & Katie Compton flexed some serious muscle by taking both day's pro fields with relative ease. Congrat's to Boulder's Brandon Dwight for cracking the top ten in a stacked pro field. Oskar Blues kept it real with good times & a podium spot in the Men's Cat 3 race. We hope to get things straightened out over here & provide a bit more on the weekend...so stay tuned. Next weekend we are splitting the group & heading to Austin, Texas for Nicole DeBoom’s SkirtChaser Race Series while the rest of us will be heading to Gunnison & Durango for more UCI cyclocross racing. Here are a few images we scraped up from the weekend. - cheers.Media Coverage was thick for both races.The 35+ race creates yet another 45 minute battle.Colorado's Mark Legg chases the leader while finshing 2nd.Have beer, will race - Dale's first CX race.
I stole a few pic's from Redstone Cyclery of the Boulder Cup Cat 3 race.