Why would people look for excuses to ride their bikes to
coffee shops? As with so many questions in life, the answers may be unique for
each of us “coffeeneurs.” For me, I enjoy the sense of community among people
who love to ride bikes and have fun along the way. Making connections on
Facebook has added a new component and the chance to see cyclists around the globe connecting.
When the weather is nice, most days I find a way to ride my
bike somewhere. But the coffeeneuring challenge also helps me get out on the bike on a
day that I might have been tempted to stay indoors. It just so happens that
this autumn has offered us the best cycling weather I can remember – ever – but
having the challenge motivates me to, perhaps, ride a little farther and treat
myself with some good coffee and maybe even a cookie.
My earlier blog chronicled my first five “official” rides,
as well as some “extra credit” rides that I, as a retired person, have lots of
time for. Herewith – my last two “official” rides and a bonus at the end.
October 24, 2015
Some people call it the “Arlington Triangle.” I call it the
Arlington Loop – a 17-mile journey connecting several of Arlington’s bike
paths. What originally attracted me to the loop was the possibility of riding
east on the Custis Trail – which is predominantly downhill – and then joining
the Mt. Vernon Trail, connecting finally to the W&OD and Four-Mile Run
trails for the mostly flat ride home. It was a glorious Saturday so I was happy
to be riding. I planned to stop in Shirlington, which is about 12 miles into
the ride for me, and gives me another excuse to take the loop in the more
downhill direction.
There is plenty of bike parking in Shirlington and I
generally park by the library. I had thought about going to Busboys and Poets
for coffee and lunch, but the line was
way too long! So I walked over to Best Buns, where I got a tasty espresso
and a sandwich. I then picked up a book at the library and a few groceries that
I could fit into my backpack and headed home. It’s always a little bonus to
ride past the dog park at Four-Mile Run where the pooches romp in the water and
make mayhem.
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| Hoping to add a Coffeeneur patch to the backpack |
October 27, 2015
I look forward to coffeeneuring away from home and was glad
that I planned to visit the Cycling Yogi in Philly for the week. Because I
usually bike with him, I still haven’t learned all the ins and outs of getting
on the bike paths from his Mt. Airy home to Center City. Fortunately, Google
Maps will give me oral directions on my phone, so I headed out for a solo
voyage. My goal was to find the vegan Grindcore House in south Philly.
Of course, all coffee is vegan, but Grindcore features vegan snacks, as well as
a low-key reading room. South Philly is hipster heaven, so naturally there was plenty of bike parking.
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| Beautiful ride on the Wissahickon trail |
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| New infrastructure |
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| Love the green lane! |
This portion of the trip was 12 miles and I relaxed with an
espresso and charged my phone, since the battery drains very quickly when using
navigation. From there I wanted to try one of Philly’s many vegan restaurants
for lunch. My original choice – Vegan Tree – ended up being closed on Tuesdays,
so I rode to a hole-in-the-wall place just off Rittenhouse Square called HipCity Veg. This time I avoided Washington Avenue, taking the parallel, and much
bike-friendlier Christian Street. At Hip City I got a yummy vegan fried chicken
sandwich with pickles, BBQ sauce, and avocado. It didn’t quite match what you
can get at DC’s Woodlands Vegan Bistro, but it hit the spot on a full day of
cycling.
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| Grindcore offers water with its coffee - just like in Vienna |
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| My yummy sandwich at Hip City Veg |
My last stop was at the Reading Terminal Market (a Philly institution and food extravaganza) where I picked up my
favorite dried peaches and then headed back to Mt. Airy. Coming out of the
Wissahickon park I faced the eternal question: why must the big-ass hill always
come at the end of a ride? Total miles for the day: 25. Getting lost: 0…that in
itself, cause for celebration!
These are my last two official coffeeneuring rides. However,
I want to close with another bike adventure in Philly. My good friend Tamar is
blessed with amazing parents who, for 20+ years put 28,000 miles on their tandem bike. Now in their 80s, she told me they had finally given up their
tandem riding. Their well-used and much-loved bike was sitting forlornly
in the garage. The Cycling Yogi and I had one bad experience on a cumbersome
rental tandem some years earlier in San Francisco. But we still dreamed of
making a tandem work for us.
We asked if Tamar’s parents would consider selling us the
tandem. Being the big-hearted bike lovers they are, they declined cash but
asked us to make a donation to the Rails to Trails Conservancy, which we were only too happy to do. We drove the
half hour to their home in New Jersey on a rainy afternoon and managed to
wrangle the tandem into the back of my Prius. We took it to Wissahickon Cyclery
for a few minor adjustments and waited impatiently to be able to take it for a
ride.
Friday afternoon it was ready and we headed out to the
Schuylkill River Trail in the direction of Gettysburg. It was too late in the
day to go all the way, but we rode as far as Norristown, a good 25 miles round trip – with only a few mishaps.
Learning to ride in tandem will be featured in a future blog.
