If you have read this blog for long enough you've probably come across my annual logs of coffeeneuring, a fun challenge sponsored by the cycling blog Chasing Mailboxes. It's not a competition, just a friendly game to get you out riding to new places and enjoying hot bean-based bevarges. As the blog puts it, you "Ride your bike to 7 different locations from Friday October 7 through Sunday November 20, 2022, and drink a coffeeneuring-approved beverage." There are some additional rules, but that's the gist of it. As I've mentioned before, the cycling world just loves little contests, challenges, competitions, themed activities, and the like. Well, sad to say I didn't complete the challenge this year. I did six coffee rides but never got around to doing a seventh. Here are my 2022 coffeeneuring rides:
Week 1: 10/7 - 13
Ride 1 (10/9): For some reason, library cards have an expiration date. I guess every once in a while the library wants to check that you still live in the jurisdiction and are eligible. In writing this, I checked my very old Brooklyn Public Library card, which for some reason I have saved all these years. It too had an expiration date: (12/3/86 !!), so I guess it's not a new practice. Anyway, my card had expired so I biked over to the central library in Ballston to renew it. Having ridden the first two miles or so of the Arlington loop I figured I might has well ride the other 18, so I rode the rest of the way around. Coffee stop was at Peet's in Shirlington, where I got a decaf Americano.
Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/7938344037
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| Coffee at Peet's in Shirlington |
Ride #2 (10/10): I lead rides for Arlington's 55+ (senior citizen) program. I will not bore you with the effort that was required to qualify as a ride leader for this program (I had to write a cycling resume and undergo a background check!). The group draws riders with widely varying levels of availability, and so the rides are fairly slow and easy. I've become friends with a few of my fellow geezers (I'm the youngster of the group!) and we get together on the side to do rides on our own - definitely faster and more miles than the official rides. This was one of those peer rides - Bluemont Park to Reston Town Center. Coffee stop was at Pitango at Reston Town Center, where I got a decaf Americano.
Strava link: https://strava.com/activities/7942786913
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| With John and Gordon outside Pitango |
Week 2: 10/14 - 20
No qualifying rides
Week 3: 10/21 - 27
Ride #3 (10/21): Not too much to write about here. Another Arlington loop ride, with some route modifications: due to construction on the Four Mile Run Trail I exited the trail at Eads Street and rode through Crystal City, rejoining the Mount Vernon Trail at Columbia Island Marina. Also, rather than getting on the Custis Trail in Rosslyn I took Route 50 so I could check out the always-awesome Halloween decorations on Jackson Street. Coffee stop was at Compass Coffee in Ballston, where I got a decaf Americano (reader, are you noticing a pattern in my coffee orders?).
Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/7998480774
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| Coffee at Compass on Fairfax Drive |
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| Jackson Street Halloween decorations |
Week 4: 10/28 - 11/3
Ride #4 (10/30): I've got a big night coming up in November. As part of the celebration weekend for a milestone birthday, I'll be going to see a musician named Billy Strings at The Anthem and I wanted to check out what bars looked good to meet people for a pre-show drink. So I rode to The Wharf. I used a five dollar gift Starbucks certificate my son Ted had given me to get a decaf latte at the local Starbucks there, and was unpleasantly surprised to find that five bucks doesn't quite cover a grande latte there. Sheesh, things have gotten expensive. My son works at Stanford University Medical Center and the staff had gotten the gift certificates as a show of appreciation from management (Woo hoo! Five bucks!). Starbucks is too pedestrian for a Silicon Valley coffee snob like my son, so he tossed the gift certificate to me. Coffee stop: Starbucks @ the Wharf, where I got a decaf latte.
Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/8045232884
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| No matter what gets in the way and which way the wind does blowAnd as long as it does I'll just sit hereAnd watch the river flow |
Ride #5 (11/1): As I've written about many times, BikeArlington facilitates daily morning coffee get-togethers for cyclists. These meetups were for many years attended mostly by bike commuters on their way to work, but in the pandemic world, people don't commute to work as much (or even work as much), so they've just become gatherings for anyone who wakes up early enough. There's a fairly longstanding tradition of doing special gatherings for injured cyclists, a practice which I think actually was invented for me when I had heart surgery. In any case, I know we've since done them for Gina after her crash and Samantha after her accident (and maybe others I'm forgetting). This ride was to a visiting-the-sick coffee club for Robyne, who is recovering from an elbowdectomy (or something like that). Coffee stop: Northside Social Falls Church, where I got a decaf Americano, and a muffin!
Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/8052249611
Week 5: 11/4- 11/10
Ride #6 (11/9): A visit to a different weekday coffee club. I've really slacked off in recent months about going to the morning coffee clubs. I'm just not motivated to go out in the cold and dark mornings when my schedule allows me the flexibility to ride later in the day when it's warmer and brighter. But coffeeneuring is motiving me to get out there. Coffee stop: Hump Day Coffee Club at Best Buns in Shirlington. I brought my own coffee (sigh, decaf as usual). If I order a decaf at Best Buns they'll put up a pot (unlike Starbucks, where they just say they're out and offer a weak pour-over instead), but I hate to make them make a whole urn-full for my one cup, since I'm pretty sure no one else drinks decaf in the AM (which is why it's never already brewed when I order it), so I sneak my own in. Also, I wish they would resume making their sourdough bran muffins. They were really good, but they stopped making them during the pandemic.
Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/8091925476
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| Ken's group photo - he barely got me in |
Week 6: 11/11- 11/18
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"Week" 7: 11/19- 11/20
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