Sunday, November 2, 2014

Coffeeneuring Ride No. 4: Peregrine Espresso (14th St. NW location, Washington, DC)

Where: Peregrine Espresso
  • Address: 1718 14th St. NW, Washington DC
  • Website: http://peregrineespresso.com
  • Bike friendliness: Lots of bike racks in nearby and in vicinity; not much seating and very busy, but if you can score one of the tables in the windows there's enough room for a folding bike without people tripping on it.
  • Other notable information: The food options are mostly pastry, and what I had was delicious--Earl Grey and cherry scone! Also, they only sell travel mugs, not regular ceramic ones.

Date: Saturday, November 1, 2014

Drink: Mocha 

Total Mileage: 7.1 miles overall (5.3 miles Home to Peregrine Espresso)

Photo Verification:
The mocha formerly had a lovely heart in the foam,
but I couldn't resist a sip before I took the photo
Ride Notes

Three factors contributed to today's coffeeneuring ride: 1) My friend S and I hadn't seen each other in forever because life, 2) I needed to get work done, and 3) S and I used to spend a lot of time in Cleveland getting work done in coffee shops. So I suggested to her that we get together and catch up over a working coffee date. I had wanted to go to Peregrine Espresso on 14th St. NW (I had already been to the one at Union Market), and coincidentally S had to feed a friend's cat around the corner. It seems like finding a good DC coffee shop to camp out at for work can be hit or miss, since good coffee can mean few tables for actually working--a coffee Catch-22. But S and I did grab a spot, due in part of my aggressive table grabbing (if I have been waiting at the shop for a while and have already bought my coffee, I will march over and claim the next available table, even though I know that the couple who just walked in and are closer to it are also eye-ing it).

Anyway, I'm glad that coffeeneuring gave me a good excuse to get out and get work done, because I had been eyeing the weather and it looked not promising and possibly rainy. I was a little skeptical when I set off as well, because I was using my basket in case I wanted to pick up some shopping. Despite feeling some drops during the first five minutes of my ride, the weather held out, and once I was actually off, the chill wasn't too bad.

This was also an opportunity for a full test run of the riding mitts I've been working on. I dreamed them up a few weeks ago, when I was riding with my gloves and decided they were way too warm. Basically they're knit arm/handwarmers, but I made them specifically for my riding needs (like riding gloves, but "mitts" because they don't have individual fingers). The mitts worked out basically the way I wanted to--long enough to cover most of my fingers, while leaving them enough room to grab my brake levers. They're made of merino and kept my hands cozy without feeling overheated. The one change I would make is lengthening the thumbs, which feel exposed when I'm riding--I actually shortened them from my original pattern because I thought they looked too long, but now I know I should have gone with my first instinct. I'm too lazy to rip out the thumbs of my mitts now, but maybe I'll write up the pattern and make it available.

Very rudimentary knitting chart I drew up while planning
Nothing out of the ordinary to note about the ride itself, though I didn't realize until yesterday how easy it is to get to U Street by bike from where I live. Here's one thing great thing I've gotten out of coffeeneuring so far: a better sense of scale for distances in DC, and how neighborhoods relate to each other. Even though I've confined myself mostly to the NW quadrant, it's still much more than I knew when I only rode the bus/Metro.

Route Notes

I'm pretty comfortable with my route down to DC now, even though I always forget how long those uphill grades can be. The one part that I hadn't ridden in a while was going through Adams Morgan and bypassing Kalorama. I thought I remembered where I was going, but at some point early on I turned too soon and ended up back at Connecticut. Whoops. The rest of the route was relatively smooth from then on.

Looking at this map, I can't believe I messed up so badly.
Maybe hills throw off my sense of direction?

Observation: It's unsurprising that bikes lanes are also enjoyed by mailmen looking for places to stop, as well as people who want an impromptu right lane when they can't wait for the person in front of them to turn left.

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