Beer me!

I'm not normally a beer drinker - I don't like the taste of it very much, and it's too, well, beery for me. I'd rather drink wine, sake, vodka, etc..

But a strange thing happened the other day. I was scheduled to do a 30 mile training ride, so I decided to do it on the commuter bike and make a stop at a farmer's market that's about 8 miles away from me in Culver City.

So I headed out, figuring I'd do a couple of loops on the Ballona Creek bike path, hit the market really quick as I knew what I wanted from a particular vendor (he sells seedlings for $1.50, and I needed some more tomato plants for my garden), and then book it back home.

Of course I forgot about the strong winds we have this time of year, and since the commuter bike doesn't have drop bars, I was really fighting the wind for most of the ride. On an 80 degree day, a nice brisk wind coming from the ocean should be refreshing, but in reality it was just exhausting.

When I got back home (after doing a tad under 30 miles), I had, for the first time in probably my entire life, an insatiable craving for beer. Not a heavy dark beer, either, but a light pilsner. I hiked up to the local bar, downed two glasses, and felt better.

I didn't continue to want beer and I haven't had the craving since. In fact, I'm back to thinking beer is yucky.

I've been riding in the heat for *coughcough* years and this has never happened before.

I wonder what it was?