Bike Project #1: The Start

Time to write about something other than cocktails, I guess.

I want a new bike. I can’t afford the bike I want. I decided to build myself a bike instead.

Positives: It’s cheaper. I get to learn about bike mechanics. I get to pretend that I’m a bike-hipster.

Cons: Slower than just buying a bike. I’m only building a single-gear (freewheel , not fixed) for the sake of simplicity, so biking up hills will suck. Not as shiny as a new Surly.

Today I took the first step and bought a frame from Sunrise. Pictures of the frame to come, I’m sure. It’s an old Schwin steel road-bike frame. Horizontal dropouts, so it’ll be easy to switch to a single-gear setup. Downside is that it has no fork, so I have to find one of those.

The next step is prepping the frame for painting while I find a fork. Time to go buy some sandpaper.

Project totals:
Days: 1
Money spent: $30

Bike terms: Freewheel, fixed, dropouts, fork

Cape Cod

Also called a Cape Codder — a name that I never use because I think it sounds stupid.

2 Vodka
3 Cranberry juice blend

Mess with the ratio to suit your ingredients. In my case, the cranberry juice totally overpowered the vodka, resulting in a not-very-good Cape Cod.

Madras

2 Vodka
1.5 Orange juice
1.5 Cranberry juice blend

I like this one; it suits the cranberry juice I use — a blend of 100% fruit juice that has a pretty grape-y flavor — quite well. And it lacks the strong acidity of a Screwdriver.

Lemon Drop

2 vodka
1 lemon juice
1/2 simple syrup

Shake and pour into a sugar-rimmed cocktail glass.

Pretty tasty and tart. I have another recipe that recommends triple sec. I’ll have to give that one a try later.

Martini (vodka)

With gin week closed, let’s kick off vodka week with a vodka martini.

2.5 vodka
1/2 dry vermouth

Same ratio as the gin martini. To make up for the vodka’s more neutral flavor, I added some orange oil to the glass (just twist a fresh orange peel & rub it on the glass). And I added a couple dashes of orange bitters. It adds a nice touch that a pure vodka martini would lack.