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Coffeeneuring: Ride #1.1

There are lots of differences between the bike world and the kayak world. For kayakers, the act of kayaking is an end in itself. Cyclists, on the other hand, have an endless number of challenges, ranging from gimmicky to extreme. There's the October Mileage Challenge, the Autumn Hill Climbing Challenge, and the Ride a Prime Number of Miles Between Shrove Tuesday and Arbor Day Challenge. OK, I made that last one up, but expect to see it on Strava soon. While I may roll my eyes at the cycling world's hive mind, I have to admit the challenges are effective; I rode a lot more through last winter than I ever had before, largely because I was participating in Freezing Saddles. And I've already bought bike pogies (which the bike world refers to as bar mitts) for this winter.

The cycling blog Chasing Mailboxes (local, but apparently having a worldwide readership!) sponsors a number of enjoyable challenges - and by enjoyable, I mean that they get you out on your bike but don't require body- and soul-crushing exertion well past the anaerobic threshold. On the other hand, they do involve a lot of rules. I say this as someone who deals with both Federal procurement regulations and Jewish dietary laws on a day to day basis, so believe me I have a fairly high tolerance for rules. 

The current challenge is Coffeeneuring, which (in a nutshell, complete description here) involves: 

  • over the course of 7 weeks,
  • ride your bike 7 different places,
  • at least 2 miles round-trip each time
But consider this:  "You may not combine your coffeeneuring ride with any other ride such as an organized century ..." (Rule 9), but "Your ride must be at least two miles total, but there is no maximum so yes, you could ride 100 miles (or more!) for a cup of coffee" (Rule 7). Which brings up the question, what exactly defines a century ride? Is it the act of riding 100 miles, or is it the participation in an organized event? Just when I decided this was a silly distinction, I thought about my morning runs. My normal morning run is almost exactly a 5K distance, but I don't think about myself as having "done a 5K" unless I have a number pinned on and I'm doing it as part of a group (and there's swag!). So maybe Mary of ChasingMailboxes has a point ...

 Anyway, I have a great affinity for coffee and I could not resist this challenge. Plus, you can get a groovy patch just for drinking coffee and biking, which for me is kind of like getting a patch for breathing. The Coffeeneuring period started yesterday. It was a work day for me and so my first foray into Coffeeneuring was tame: a breakfast stop at Village Sweet on the way to work (Rule 9 allows this). In doing so I intentionally chose the exact same route as what I incorrectly recalled as having been my first 2016 Freezing Saddles ride (it turns out that while that ride was memorable because it was my first real "true grit" test of riding (5 AM, 16 degrees, biking in early to participate in a technology demonstration of [redacted]), it wasn't my first, second or even third ride of 2016).
Coffee and breakfast bread

Portrait of the artist as a caffeinated  man

 Village Sweet is a curious shop. They have very short hours and a very limited selection of baked goods. It seems impossible that a a business could survive that way, but somehow they do. And I must say, their breakfast bread and their coffee are both excellent. I was well fueled for battling cars up Washington Boulevard as I rode to work.

 One down, six to go.

 Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/737074162
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Location: Westover, Arlington, VA 22205, USA

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