Shed Fire

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  Free Beer

  Of course there’s no such thing as free beer. But somehow, I’ve ended up getting involved with a local craft brewery and it’s a whole heap of fun.

  Last year I started making “Turbo Cider” – it was a weekend project with the kids as G said my recycling bin was filling up too fast, and maybe I could make my own beer. We settled on cider as it seemed easier.

  Anyhow. That, and the proximity of the wonderful Old Gate Hebden Bridge, a bar manager called Ollie who seemed determine to school me in the what’s and wherefores of beer. Moving to drinking halves from pints. And having a bunch of free time… I ended up somehow forcing my way into the largely family run Bridestones Brewery a few months ago.

  Dan Tasker who runs the brewery is an interesting chap. He’s a marketing and business background, and grew up at the farm he still lives at above the valley in Blackshaw Head.

  As a side project last year, he launched the Hebden Bridge Brewing Company brand, to make less mainstream, more edgy beers. The sort of beers that quite interested me.

  I thought I could help with his marketing, brands, that sort of thing, and we’ve had a fun few weeks bouncing ideas around.

  Our first new brew was a Green Hopped Bitter – which came about as the Incredible Farm in Walsden, near Todmorden, just up the road, called to say they had a crop of Northdown Hops, and did we want any?

  We did! And to add to the “green” aspect, I decided  to collect the hops by bike. So, to keep true to the ethos and echoes in the valley, I followed the ancient drovers roads and packhorse tracks of Calderdale to get from Hebden Bridge, to the farm, then up to Bridestones Brewery in Blackshaw Head above Hebden Bridge.

  And recorded it all on Strava of course – http://www.strava.com/activities/202666208

  The beer was brewed. Hops added. And then it was left to ferment.

  Today, I’ve just collected one of the barrels, and delivered it to OldGate for their beer festival this weekend. It’ll be OK by Friday when it’s settled a bit.

  That’s on Strava too – http://www.strava.com/activities/207183370

  My buddy Ed from Greatrock shot a pic of me – http://instagram.com/p/uIZsXJrNFw/?modal=true

  

  The beer is called Vertical. It’s great.

  Press Release in Docx file here

  Pump Artwork here in pdf

  Hebden Bridge Brewing Company – @hebdenbrewco (Twitter) @hebdenbrewco (Instagram)

   

  Oh yeah – and the other day I started a new bike company – http://pactbikes.com/

   

  shedfire 4:36 pm on October 14, 2014 | No Comments | # |
  

   
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  New shorts please

  When I was 16, I got a Saturday job in Two Wheels Good in Leeds. It was the shop where I’d bought my first mountainbike, and, it transpired (I only found this out lately) my mum had rung them up to see if they would give me a Saturday job. They said yes, and John Stevenson called me up later that day to ask if I fancied working there. I bit his hand off, and started the week after. Arriving late, in ripped jeans. Not a great start.

  I’d not been there long, but knew a fair bit about the stock. We had a good selection of clothing in stock, from Castelli to Been Bag, even some Scott Tinley, Cannondale… there was a fair bit of kit there. Something for everyone.

  A gentleman entered the shop, just after lunchtime, and was browsing the shorts. I moved over to help him.

  He was quite well presented, in his cycling kit, with a kind of “single man” smell about him. He said he wanted some new shorts… And so it began…

  Him: “Yeah, so I ride to work every day. It’s about ten miles each way. And then I do a bit at the weekend too. But these shorts… they’re just not right. Seem to be wearing out fast. The last pair did the same. After about three or four months they just start getting really, you know, uncomfortable and start falling to bits on me.”

  So, he was doing regular miles, not mega miles. They were, he informed me his only pair. And did he…

  Him: “Oh yeah. I do the old, er, ‘no pants’ thing, yeah. Do that. No difference. Uncomfy. I suppose I do put the miles in. I guess it’s 100 miles a week, then another 100 or so at the weekends. I guess that’s a lot of miles over the three months isn’t it?”

  Had he tried chammy cream?

  Him: “Yeah. Tried that. Just made things worse if anything“.

  So I took him through the range on display. Been Bag were making some shorts with a fleecy liner in. He didn’t think much to those.

  Him: “Can’t see that working.”

  Castelli were a wonderful racing bred short.

  Him: “Bit garish and clingy those. No.”

  So I moved on. To then, our favourites – the Cannondale ones. They had a brilliant construction with this cool one piece seamless chammy, and were our top seller.

  Me: “So these, have a clever manufactured chammy. No seams. Really good synthetic construction.”

  Him: “Synthetic? Synthetic! That’s great.”

  I looked confused.

  Him: “So I’d be able to wash these then?“

  shedfire 10:02 am on August 13, 2014 | No Comments | # |
  

   
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  Tiling the shower. Business bollocks ahoy

  My shower’s been leaking. It’s always done it, and even when I put a new shower tray in, and loads of silicone sealant, it was still leaking after a few weeks.

  It got so bad that the floor in the bathroom went all wonky and floor tiles started lifting. I didn’t know that’s why the floor tiles were lifting, but the damp had got out of the shower room, into the floor in the bathroom which made the adhesive on the tiles fail.

  The reason why was obvious when I went in the shower with my glasses on. Which I don’t normally do, but anyhow…

  Though I had lots of ceramic tiles on the wall, the grout that connected them together and sealing the cracks, and making the water run smoothly over them? It wasn’t there. I’d forgotten to grout the tiles.

  The business motto is this, I think… It’s all very well having your key employees in place. Key employees are like the tiles on my shower wall. They can be boring white ones, the cheapest that B&Q have, or they can be those funky rectangular ones with bevelled edges, or those expensive natural slate ones. Whatever they are, they’re utterly useless unless they’re all grouted in place, connected, and solid. Thankfully I was able to grout my tiles, and things are much better in my shower room. There are a few cracks in my downstairs ceiling, but things are solid now.

  I don’t write this sort of business bollocks very often, but I thought this was worth a post.

  Cheers

  shedfire 8:10 pm on July 10, 2014 | 2 Comments | # |
  

   
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  The continuing saga of me not getting an iphone

  My contract is up on my 18month old Nokia E71. And I’m still no nearer working out what I’m going to get next. I suppose I don’t have to, but it’s scratched screen and bunged up charger socket (the charger doesn’t positively click in place as it’s got some gunk in there, so I have to make sure it’s pushed in hard or it won’t charge) mean that it’s becoming a pain to live with, but I do like it.
  I like it’s small skinny size. It’s pretty tiny really. Thin, I can have it in my pocket and not know it’s there. They keyboard works great, I can one hand it when I’m, well, not when I’m driving of course, but when I’m doing something with my other hand…

  So iphone4? Maybe. I was delighted to find out my mother-in-law doesn’t have a 4, she has a 3G. And that friend of my wife’s who’s husband said he’d got her a “2nd hand iphone4” actually had got her a 3G… not that I’m a snob or anything.

  HTC Desire Z was looking good until I saw about “that cursed hinge” and it does look a bit bobbins.

  But – I really like the HTC brand now – I think their website is class – http://www.htc.com/uk – and the HTCSense stuff that they do looks brilliant. http://www.htc.com/uk/product/desirez/overview.html

  Apple’s iOS thing with lack of real multitasking, battery drain and super-pretty just bugs me. The iPad drives me a bit nuts, unless I’m using it for watching teh telly on in’t bath or something. To use it as a computery thing – no… I can’t skip about… I mean with one hand on my E71 I can check emails coming in whilst web pages are loading, whilst twitter is twittering.

  I’ll end up getting an E72 I bet.

  shedfire 8:21 am on November 3, 2010 | 13 Comments | # |
  

   
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  Happy Holidays

  Shedfire are taking a few days off for Chinese New Year. We worked too much over Christmas and ‘our’ New Year, so we thought we’d embrace the same holidays as our friends in Taiwan and take some days off over the next week, to align with Chinese New Year. Thanks for your support over the last year (we’ve only been doing Ragley for a year!) and hope the year of the Metal Tiger brings you success and happiness.

  shedfire 8:47 am on February 13, 2010 | 1 Comment | # |
  

   
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  Shedfire Chicken Noodle Soup

  Thought I’d re-write this after I twittered about it, and it seemed to have a lot of interest. I’ve been experimenting a bit with various versions since I was keeping myself on the straight and narrow in Taiwan eating this for breakfast:-

  

  I also kept getting told in Taiwan that Chicken Soup was the cure-all for all ills. And as a particularly stressed parent of many children, who works stupid hours and never rests, I thought I could do with a bit of care. And I like soup.

  I’ve tweaked and twiddled – and here’s what I had this morning, which I’m pretty happy with. Modifications are easy, and suggestions below.

  First step – make the chicken stock (which sounds a bit scary if you’ve never done it, but essentially it’s just simmering raw chicken until well cooked, with other stuff in a pan, then straining it).

  Chicken stock (about a pint).

  Some chicken – like, a couple of thighs, or three drumsticks, or something.
  A pint of water.
  A leek, or an onion, or several spring onions, or something, chopped into 10mm lengths.
  Maybe a carrot, chopped up.
  I like some ginger – either crushed (from a tub), or sliced (from  root).
  Some garlic is nice (but people complain if you stink).
  I chuck in some RICE WINE at this stage too.
  Ground black pepper.

  Bring all this to the boil, then simmer for about an hour with the lid on.
  After an hour, pull the chicken out to cool (you’re going to use that), and then sieve the rest of the stuff off from the liquid, and discard the boiled carrot/onion etc…

  That liquid that you have left is chicken stock. If you want to really be posh, you can then chill it, which will make the fat rise to the surface and you can skim it off. I don’t bother.

  Making the soup.

  You need:-
  Chicken (shredded off the bone, what you just used to make the stock). I eat the lot. Including the skin. Sliced up into bits it goes down well, and I figure it’s good for you.
  Fresh egg noodles (like these) – not dried ones, like Pot Noodle. Wet ones. You can find them in the salad section in supermarkets – they’re used sometimes for putting in salads…
  1 spring onion (chopped finely)
  a handful of coriander (cilantro) chopped finely – I like lots. It really adds something to the flavour.
  a half chilli, chopped finely, to flavour
  soy sauce to taste.

  Put the shredded chicken, spring onion, coriander, chilli in a bowl, then pour over boiling hot chicken stock. This heats everything up, and sort of cools down too so you don’t have to sit for ages whilst it cools down before you can eat it.

  I might take some pics some time, but it’s not hard and you get the idea I guess. Hope you like it.

  shedfire 8:34 pm on February 9, 2010 | 1 Comment | # |
  

   
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  Busy Busy Busy

  Off to Taiwan at the weekend, designs to finish, site to get sorted, all go, follow the news by signing up to Twitter or Mail List below.

  

  

  shedfire 1:16 pm on March 13, 2009 | 3 Comments | # |
  

   
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  Rocking the roots and rocks

  Remarkable day at Wharncliffe Woods, near Sheffield yesterday – a place impossible to talk about with mentioning that for the last 20yrs they’re been Steve Peat’s local training ground.

  What  I took away from my induction in the world of BIG trail moves was the amazing dedication that Steve must have, to have plugged and pushed and crashed and hucked and ridden and dropped on those trails over that time. This is no glamour puss alpine resort. No uplifts. No cafe. It’s a ride down, push up-fest, with a myriad of roots, routes, rocks, causeways, drops, natural and just YEAH stuff.

  I dropped more than I ever have, rode steeper dafter tech than I ever have, and it was double ace. My little light ti 140mm (aren’t they XC forks) hardtail is still in just about one piece  – just lost the funky bit of my DT skewer – my wrists hurt a bit, and I didn’t need my pressure suit or full face (but boy, was it nice having them).

  Downer of the day? Getting back to find Ed’s van with a broken window – leading to a draughty slightly slower drive back. Nothing stolen, unlike the car parked next to us, but bad all the same.

  So thanks to Ed, Benji, Matt, Nial, The Swede , Little Johnny and Cy for a great day out.

  shedfire 7:26 am on February 20, 2009 | 2 Comments | # |
  

   

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