Karbach Brews Cruise 19 Bike Ride

Through a casual conversation about my participation in Critical Mass last month, Adam told me about the Karbach Brews Cruise bike ride that the Karbach Biking Team (he's apart of) leads at the beginning of every month. My ears perked up immediately...biking and beer...and a brewery. DEAL! It didn't take me long to convince Evan to join me again. Seriously, he's become my bike partner extraodinaire and I think we finally have a system down for packing his car.

The meetup was at Local Pour on West Gray at 6 p.m., but rollout would be at 7 p.m. We got there with enough time to fiddle with my bike and it needed fiddling. Somewhere from taking on and off the bike wheel, it tighten up the front brakes so much that I couldn't move it. With the help of several guys (one I had met before at Hash event), my tire and brakes were fixed and I was comfortable riding. It did expend energy being out in the hot sun fixing the bike and getting frustrated, but it all worked out in the end.

Hanging out at Local Pour.

Evan has finally gotten the whole smile thing down.

 Evan and I debated on getting a beer, but we decided against it. The final annoucements were made about safety and anything else. I did really appreciate Adam going over everything since they really didn't at Critical Mass (or I didn't hear it). There were a minimum of 100 cyclists there, but I'm not sure the exact count.

Finally, it was time to start riding. The sun was in my eyes almost the entire first half of the ride, which made the ride that much hotter. We reached a turn to get a break from the sun and then we hit the bridge. I had trouble keeping up with Evan and he was gone. I immediately noticed that more and more riders were passing me by as I felt like I was pedaling more. I'm still working on the gears and I just couldn't make it happen. With CM, the ride was slower and I didn't notice how slow I was going. This ride was smaller and faster and I so noticed how freaking slow I was. I quickly became the rider in the very back of the pack.

I turned a corner to head to our first stopping point (forget the bar name) when I saw Evan pulled over fixing a flat. Thanks to Joanne, Long, and John for their help and extra tubes. They were awesome and I can't wait to bike and/or run with them again.

We only had a quick bike ride to the first bar break just long enough for a rest, to down a beer each, and talk with some people before we headed out to the Karbach Brewery.

Our one beer each at the first bar.

We made it to the brewery. This was the first time that I have been to the Karbach Brewery and it was intimate and really cool. I loved their wall art and even ran into Melissa from my Ethopian food nights. Evan waited in the LONG line for food at the food truck. His bright idea that night was for me to order my own food when I got back from getting us beers. I did. However, the guy stopped after Evan's order to make food. So, it took forever for me to get my food. I so blamed Evan profusely.

He's smiling, because he got his food order in first.

This was a totally cool bike worthy of a picture.

I'm loving this wall.

Got to love a brewery that has "Come In Take It."

Evan drinking some beer.

This was on the window.

After a quick tour by ourselves and finished eating our food, we got on our bikes to head out. Long joined us on the ride home for the most part. It was dark and I was thankful for my bike light and rear red lights on my helmet. I even had a guy work with me on the bike gears as I rode, but I'm still not feeling the difference. I still have some time to work on it before I go for my next big bike ride.


The Karbach Brews Cruise was a total of 15 miles through an area of Houston that I NEVER ride. Again, I got to experience Houston from a different perspective and I loved every minute of it. It was stated over and over again how the leaders of this ride want to make Houston a cycle city in which I think they are well on their way. I see way more bikes than ever before and lots more cycling events that are fun and about getting us out there.

I did feel like this was a much better ride than CM, because it was smaller and had way more beer stops that didn't include a parking lot. The people were friendlier...or lets just say, the people talked more with other groups instead of just sticking to their friends. We met so many people (helpful, too) and had a great time, but I was ready to be home. It was afterall a worknight. I think that would be my only complaint is having this on a freaking MONDAY, but I got over it since it was exercise.

This was the 19th Karbach Brews Cruise. Have you done it before and what were your impressions? I did it for the first time last Monday and I loved it. Who wants to join me next month?

Have you done Critical Mass? Yes, once and I plan to do it again for August. Who wants to join me?

Do you gravitate towards bike rides that involve beer? Um...that's just a stupid question, because yes, I do.

On a side note, I was sad to hear about the cyclist who was killed by a car on Monday at Memorial Park. I run often at this park and see lots of cyclists. It really is known for both disciplines and I'm surprised to hear this awful news. Be safe out there and just like in driving, don't expect that the driver sees you.