Coffeeneuring #3.1

The end is near! The end is near!

The end of our unseasonably warm October weather, that is. I don't usually go to the Friday coffee club (even though Java Shack is very close to my office), but this has been a bad week for exercise and so I decided I needed a little extra time on the bike.

I have to admit, I like riding in traffic. Maybe it's the legacy of having grown up in New York City, where bike lanes were non-existent and bike paths were rare (though I regularly rode what has been described as the oldest bike path in the United States - even after my dad broke his hip when he was hit by a car while biking there). When I ride on a bike path I kind of zone out, but riding in the streets requires a continuous mindful awareness. You have to be in the moment, watching the movements of every car and every pedestrian. Every parked car could pull out with warning. Every light could change unexpectedly. So, while I started my ride on the W&OD/Custis Trails, I got off at Glebe Road and took the main streets from there rather than the more path-oriented and less traveled route of going to Quincy St. then taking side streets.

I have been hanging around the coffee clubs for the better part of a year now and I've gotten to know a lot of the regulares. I knew almost everyone there, which was nice. As usual I had already had a small cup of coffee at home, along with some yogurt. Java Shack has a pretty poor selection of food and so I never plan on eating there. Their claim to fame is pie, but (a) I'm not much of a pie eater, and (b) that goes double for breakfast. So, I ordered just a large coffee (an excellently swimming pool-sized cup) and sat outside with the guys.

Still dark - nothing visible but the sign

I lingered a bit, but eventually I got on my way. I had other places to go - just not exactly directly to work. I've explained in my recent posts that I'm wrapping up one position and waiting to start another, so my work days are pretty undemanding right now. In fact, I would guess that no one even notices whether I show up. So, I hopped on my bike and headed in the direction away from my office and rode the rest of the Arlington Loop. Another gorgeous morning, but the southerly wind we had started to feel while kayaking last night had continued and intensified; my ride down the river was noticeably into the wind.

I stopped for a minute at Gravely Point. It's impossible for me to totally resist the urge to stop and watch operations at National Airport from this point on the trail, which sits pretty much right at the end of the main runway. With the wind out of the south the planes were taking off to the south and so unfortunately I didn't get to experience the rush of planes taking off right over my head, just a stream of departures away from me. I continued on ...

On the Custis Trail

Not much more to report on what was a very nice ride; however, I will say that I'm glad I went for a ride in the morning. By mid-day the weather was changing. The skies were gloomy and the temperature was dropping. At about 2 PM the heavens opened up with a drenching rain.

This weekend it'll be back to bundling up to ride, run and paddle. Glad I enjoyed the warmth while I could!

Strava Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/751391175

Coffeeneuring #2.2

Good heavens we've been having good weather! The sad truth about life today is that every time I revel in unseasonably warm weather I fear I'm talking up the positives of climate change, but still ... what nice weather! Mid-October in the mid-Atlantic with highs in the 80's. When I was a kid we used to call this kind of weather "Indian Summer", but I'm not sure that term is still acceptable. But, it does raise the point that we had this kind of weather when I was a kid, so maybe the phenomenon I'm enjoying isn't global warming after all and so I can enjoy it without guilt!

Which is a long-winded way of saying that this week I kept my usual Wednesday morning coffeeneuring appointment. As I have described in previous posts, the D.C. area has any number of weekly breakfast gatherings of cyclists. Every weekday has at least one. Wednesdays at Best Buns in Shirlington is my favorite, since it features a nice mixture of people - not all hardcore Lycranauts, people who are able to speak about other topics in addition to cycling. 

Good heavens I love their bran muffins

What's funny is that over the year or so I've been going to these groups I've developed a bunch of good friends, but I never see these people outside of coffee. I've said it before: My kayaking friends are the people with whom I kayak; my cycling friends are the people with whom I have coffee. I don't do a lot of organized cycling events and am definitely too slow-and-steady for most group rides, so coffee it is!

Right now I'm kind of killing time at my job since I'll be starting a new position in a few weeks, so I stayed until the bitter end, enjoying every minute of the patio, the company and my coffee and muffin.

Strava Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/749497055

Coffeeneuring Ride #2.1

Let's start with these facts:

1. It's a gorgeous, sunny, 80 degree day in mid-October.

2. I'm basically killing time at my job since I'm about to transfer to a new position and no one really expects me to do much of anything.

3. The Coffeeneuring challenge is underway.

4. I was short-changed on my outdoors time this AM due to yet another aborted run.

5. My son borrowed my car today, which took kayaking off the table (he left me his Miata but that didn't help for carrying a kayak - though I have seen it done).

The signs all point to ... #coffeeoutdoors #coffeeneuring!

So here's how my day started: After sleeping fitfully I woke up with the intention of going for a run then heading to the office. I'm thrilled that I have been able to run again after a month and a half of some sort of asthma or allergies so severe that it would become painful to breathe after about a minute of running. So I headed out the door and ... wait a minute, suddenly out of nowhere I have some sort of muscle cramp/strain in one of my groin muscles. I didn't feel this while stretching - where did it come from? Well, having learned the hard way from many years of making matters worse by trying to exercise through pain, I decided to quit. Another run aborted after about a minute.

This put me in a really bad mood and, knowing that I really didn't need to interact with anyone at work anyway, I decided to just work at home. On such a nice day I should have spent the day on the back porch but I wanted to multi-task between work and getting files transferred over to my new laptop, so I worked at my desk in the basement.

By about 2 PM I couldn't take it anymore. The outside called, sore muscle or not! It was time for a #coffeeoutside adventure ... albeit a local one. I packed water, coffee, AeroPress and Jetboil and headed for the bike trail. I rode down to Glencarlyn Park where I set up shop in a nice spot on the rocks beside Four Mile Run. Coffee was soon ready, and I had a pleasant time sipping a fresh cup and listening to the flowing water.

My Workplace

Just so's you knows that I'm not a total slacker, I brought my computer along and while I drank my coffee I watched some videos from a Coursera course I'm taking on the topic of Data Analysis. I'm not sure if there's a #geekycoffeeoutdoors hashtag, but in this case such a thing would apply.

Coffee & Coursera Outdoors

Strava Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/748989257

Coffeeneuring Ride #1.2.1

In yesterday's post I lamented that because it was a religious fast day I wasn't able to use a Coffee Club as my coffeeneuring entry. Well, today I decided to do a replacement for that ride, hence the 2.1 designation. Call it a patch release of my second ride.

I was looking for some AM exercise and so I decided to head down to the "Whole Thursday Foods" coffee club, known by its acronym "WTF", which meets at the Whole Foods in Crystal City. Crystal City is pretty far out of my way, but that's OK - I was looking for a ride. Trouble is, it was dark and foggy when I left. Out on the bike path, with slightly foggy glasses and no illumination, it was really hard to see anything. I would come up on runners and walkers and not see them until I was right on top of them and I could barely see the path. Fortunately I know it pretty well. I angled my light down pedaled along slowwwly, following the center line or the edge of the path as a reference. I've never felt so much like I was biking under IFR! I bailed from the bike path at Columbia Pike and took the Pike the rest of the way over to Crystal City. Columbia Pike isn't pleasant riding - no bike lanes, lots of cars - but today I chose it over the bike trail because it was well lit!

Chris takes a selfie, as always

I arrived at Whole Foods to find no other cyclists there. Since I was off yesterday for the holiday I keep getting mixed up as to what day of the week it is and I had a moment where I thought that maybe I had gotten the day wrong; however, just then Peter and Chris (not Peter Chris, the drummer from KISS) rolled into view and I relaxed. They had had to take it slowly too - but of course, their slowly is a lot faster than my slowly. I watched the Strava FlyBy replay and saw Pete come up on me like an F22 on a Cessna - I think he and I missed each other on the trail only because he was catching up just as I made the turn onto Columbia Pike.

I had thought that since the coffee club is named after Whole Foods that people got their coffee and breakfast at Whole Foods. I guess I shouldn't take the names too literally, Hump Day coffee club, for example, doesn't involve ... never mind. Anyway, while we did consume our coffee while sitting outside Whole Foods, we purchased our coffeee and food at to the new  Commonwealth Joe coffee place up the block. The place is a little too hipster for me (do you want cold brew? Pour-over? Espresso-based? Drip?), but they do make a good cup of coffee! They also had some really good scones - which were much too chewy inside to be proper scones, but whatever they were, they were really tasty. It's amazing how many coffee places have mediocre pastries (I'm looking at you, Kindred), so it's good to find ones that have yummy food. Maybe they buy it at Whole Foods :)

This *is* a tasty beverage

Since I was out of my usual AM biking range I asked the group for advice on the best way to get to Ballston. I guess I should have provided my definition of "Best", which to me, trying to get to work, meant "shortest". Instead, the consensus was for me to take a route down Eads Street to the poop plant where I could pick up a bike trail. That was pleasant riding (protected bike lanes and bike trail) but was probably a couple of miles longer than the most direct route would have been. And it was still foggy, though at least it was light by this time! It was only while I was riding along Four Mile Run on the bike trail that the fog finally burned off. And along the way, Peter, who left (according to Strava), like 15 minutes after I did, passed me. Again.

Anyway, I made it to work with no issues and wound up taking several more bike rides today - to the Courthouse to do early voting and back to work, and then home. So, I plussed up my 6 miles of commuting to over 20 miles today. Not too shabby.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/743381034

Coffeeneuring: Ride #1.2, Not According to Plan

All week I had been figuring that I'd log my second coffeeneuring event by attending my favorite of the DC area weekly coffee clubs, the Wednesday Hump Day Coffee Club (HDCC) at Best Buns in Shirlington. After all, this coffee/cycling  intersection is a pleasurable regular part of my weekly routine and deserves to be celebrated as a part of coffeeneuring. However, a fatal flaw in my plan dawned on me just last night – this Wednesday is Yom Kippur, a holy fast day in Judaism. That meant that Wednesday was going to be  really, really poor choice for AM socializing and breakfast. I momentarily thought about riding Wednesday anyway (HDCC starts at 7 AM, and religious services not until 9) and just sitting and not eating or drinking, but since I wouldn't be able to consume any coffee it wouldn't qualify as coffeeneuring. I instead quickly hatched an alternative plan to replace HDCC for this week with another commuting coffee: a detour to the Ballston Buzz Coffee on my way to work. HDCC will have to wait. 

I was particularly conscious of the time because I really wanted to catch my boss first thing this morning to discuss the fact that I had, um, sent him an email last week saying that I was quitting (well, transferring, really), and oftentimes first thing in the morning is the only way to catch him. Needless to say, it took forever to get going.

Do you ever have one of those mornings where you just can't seem to get out the door? 

• I didn't want to saddle myself with two complete clothing changes at the end of the day (Jewish holidays run sundown to sundown and so there are services tonight) and so I decided to ride "mullet style", that is, business on top, party on the bottom: dress shirt, stretchy hiking pants and sneakers. No bike shoes, no bike socks, no padded shorts (hey, the ride is only 3 miles). So I had to figure out what to wear instead of grabbing bike gear by rote.
• Since I was going to be riding in street clothes I decided to ride my hybrid bike. This bike hadn't been ridden since July so I had to pump up the tires, give it a once over and move my rack bag over from my usual commuter.  
• With clothes and bike squared away I was ready to head out the door, but where was my phone? I almost always plug in my phone in my bedroom at night. I would say there are maybe three nights per year I don't do this. This was one of those nights. I searched the house, couldn't find it. Searched again. Checked the car. Had I dropped it at Home Depot yesterday? 
• I decided to use technology to help me find my phone by checking the online "FindMyiPhone" to make sure the phone was, in fact, at the house. I went to log into iCloud, which required that I change my password since my present one no longer met their security standards, then it made me update my security questions, then I had to log back in, then answer the security questions I had just entered, before showing me that my phone was indeed at my house. The truth is it was within arm's reach at this point but it took a bit more hunting and calling it from my home phone (yes, I still have a land line) to find it. 
• Having found my phone (allowing me to start the all-important Strava app) I thought I was ready to leave but I realized that with my non-standard riding attire I had forgotten to grab the bike room key for my office building (I keep the key with my cycling stuff). Back upstairs from the basement to retrieve it.  
• At this point I finally made it out the door: total time to get out the door, about 45 minutes. 

The ride to Buzz was, fortunately, uneventful, except for the usual looks of disbelief from the Lycranauts at the vision of someone riding in street clothes.  I ordered a dark roast coffee (admittedly, not my first of the day – yes, I have coffee before I go out for coffee rides in the morning – Hello, my name is Jesse and I'm a caffeine addict), but it was so late by this that I didn't really linger. The window to meet with my boss was closing. I snapped a pic and drank the first half cup and wrote the first paragraph of this entry, but then I grabbed my coffee and the bike and walked the block from Buzz to work. 

Coffee at Last!

I got into my office and quickly changed my pants and grabbed the black shoes I keep at work. And wouldn't you know, one of the shoelaces broke. This left me having to put on brown shoes, which, to my horror, don't match the black belt I'm wearing (yes, I know I am risk of being excommunicated from the male gender because I care about stuff like this). I headed for my manager's office, where he and I had a one minute conversation, basically to set up a time to talk later in the day. I then went back to my office where I swapped a shoe lace from one of my brown shoes so that I was able to rectify the horror of the mismatched leathers. 

  

Note 1 to self: Changes from the routine to save time don't always save time.  

Note 2 to self: Plan a more relaxed ride for my next coffeeneuring outing! 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/741344420

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

Tashlikh by Kayak 2016

I have posted a number of times (going back to 2008!) about doing the Tashlikh ritual by kayak.

For readers unfamiliar with the practice, I present a quote from RitualWell on what Tashlikh is:

"Tashlikh, meaning "cast away," is a ritual performed on Rosh Hashanah (or during the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) as a physical reminder of the human effort to cast away one's sins. By casting crumbs of bread into the water and reciting the verse from Micah—"cast all our sins into the ocean's depths"—we state our intention to return to our true selves. For many Jews, Rosh Hashanah is a time for reciting many words. Through tashlikh, we use our bodies and actions to do the work of return. Although the rabbinic authorities originally objected to this ritual, Jews stubbornly performed it until it became a "traditional" part of the holiday."

It's interesting at this point to look back at old entries describing past Tashlikh By Kayak outings:

• In 2008 I still had my beloved Audi, and I can see in the background of the picture that accompanies the post that Don and Doris, my wonderful former across the street neighbors, were still there. Don and Doris were original owners - they bought the house new in 1952,  raised seven children there, and lived in that house the whole rest of their lives.
• In 2009 I went with (then 16 year old) Ted.
• In 2010 I didn't write much but I made a cool video.
• In 2015 I went all the way down to Mason Neck and did quite a nice paddle.

 This year I went out the afternoon of Rosh Hashonah. I had already gone to religious services the evening before, and the whole family watched a live stream of services (you read that right) in the morning, so I was free in the afternoon.

I drove to Columbia Island Marina, which is undergoing a number of changes. They've automated payment for use of the boat ramp and I guess have gotten rid of the security guard, or at least they've taken out the guard booth. They'realso  re-doing the bathrooms. As has been noted in previous blog entries, the bathrooms at the marina have a well-known secondary use, and I'm happy/creeped out to report that someone has cut glory holes in the Porta-Potties which are currently standing in for the the bathrooms.

Anyway, that's a rather inappropriate tangent for a post about a religious practice, so let me return to the main topic here ...

For some reason I felt like paddling with my wing paddle, which I hadn't used all year. If a Greenland paddle is like riding a bicylce in a low gear, the wing is like being in a very high gear. Sometimes I can't make the thing work and I just struggle with it. Sometimes I get the flow of the stroke right and I can really fly with the thing. Today was the latter and I made really good time up the river to around Three Sisters Islands. It was somewhat windy so I pulled in towards shore and did the brief ritual. No rolling the crumbs off the deck this time - with Rosh Hashonah falling in October this year, the water was a little too cold.

Ready for the ritual

After I was done I booked back to the marina - again, a fast boogie with the wing paddle. This coming weekend a group from my synagogue is going to Roosevelt Island to do a Tashlikh ritual. I may just paddle over and join them!