Coffeeneuring Challenge 2014 Wrap-Up

I completed the 4th Annual Chasing Mailboxes Coffeeneuring Challenge! I made a summary table of my rides below.

A few numbers for my first time ever coffeeneuring: I visited 5 new (to me) coffee shop locations, in 4 different cities (if you count Bethesda separately), and even donated 1 book to a coffee shop exchange/library. In the process I acquired 2 new coffee mugs, knitted a pair of riding mitts and a matching headband/snood, rented a bike in a new city, rode a road bike for the first time (beyond going around the block, anyway), and got a great sense of the riding routes in DC's Northwest quadrant. ETA: I forgot to add--I fell off a bike for the first time too, but not when I was on the road bike, when I was on my Brompton!

The one thing I didn't really do this year, even though I had set it out as a pre-coffeeneuring goal for myself, was use my new camera to practice taking pictures. But I did get one photo I really liked during my rides, even if it was only from my phone:

From my first coffeeneuring ride: the Duke Ellington Memorial Bridge

There's always next year!! Speaking of which, some preliminary goals for 2015's Coffeeneuring Challenge: expand to coffee shops beyond NW DC (though that was mostly accidental on my part); incorporate other routes from Upper NW like Beach Dr., the Capital Crescent Trail all the way around down to Georgetown, or the Georgetown Branch Trail up into Silver Spring. By then my Betty will be built up, so maybe the coffeeneuring rides will also become longer-distance recreational rides as well (though I'll always be a transportation rider at heart!).

Coffeeneuring Challenge 2014 Ride Table

No.	Date	Coffee Shop	City	Total Miles	Photo Verification
1	Sat. 10/4	Tryst Coffee	Washington, DC	6.98
2	Sun. 10/5	Baked & Wired	Washington, DC	8.78
3	Sat. 10/19	Brickyard Coffee & Tea	San Diego, CA	~5.5
4	Sat. 11/1	Peregrine Espresso	Washington, DC	7.1
5	Sun. 11/2	Dolcezza	Bethesda, MD	6.2
6	Tue. 11/11 Veterans Day	61C Cafe	Pittsburgh, PA	3.3
7	Sat. 11/15	Filter Coffeehouse & Espresso Bar	Washington, DC	~4.5

Coffeeneuring Ride No. 5: Dolcezza (Bethesda, MD location)

Where: Dolcezza

• Address: 7111 Bethesda Ln., Bethesda, MD
• Website: http://dolcezzagelato.com
• Bike friendliness: Bike racks along Bethesda Row; store is small and crowded, but maybe a table towards the rear would accommodate a folding bike
• Other notable information: Dolcezza has Stumptown Stubby on the menu; I didn't know what it was, but apparently it's bottled cold brew coffee. 

Date: Sunday, November 2, 2014

Drink: Latte

Total Mileage: 6.2 miles overall (3.1 miles Home to Dolcezza)

Photo Verification:

I have a theory that committed Italian gelato and pizza places
by extension should have good coffee

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

Coffeeneuring Ride No. 2: Baked & Wired (Washington, DC)

Where: Baked & Wired

• Address: 1052 Thomas Jefferson St. NW, Washington DC
• Website: http://bakedandwired.com
• Bike friendliness: Don't appear to be any racks nearby, but there are some parking meters as well as a fence that people use to lock up their bikes.
• Other notable information: There appears to be a book exchange on one of the shelves toward the rear of the shop. At least I hope it's a book exchange, because I left a paperback there for any takers.

Date: Sunday, October 5, 2014

Drink: Mocha

Total Mileage: 8.78 miles overall (6.54 miles Home to Baked & Wired)

Photo Verification:

I came for the cupcakes, but I stayed for the quiche

Coffeeneuring Ride No. 1: Tryst Coffee (Washington, DC)

Where: Tryst Coffee

• Address: 2459 18th St. NW, Washington DC
• Website: http://www.trystdc.com/
• Bike friendliness: Lots of bike racks in front and near vicinity, indoors crowded but plenty of room on patio for me and my folder
• Other notable information: Across the street from Donburi and its amazing Japanese rice bowls.

Date: Saturday, October 4, 2014

Drink: Mexican Hot Chocolate 

Total Mileage: 6.98 miles overall (4.58 miles Home to Tryst)

Photo Verification:

It came with animal crackers!

Ride Notes: 

• At Yuma St. NW and 36th St. NW, there appears to be some sunken park or garden that isn't marked as a green space in Google Maps. But I noted the intersection today as I rode past so I could look it later, and Google Maps street view has some user-uploaded photos of the area. I plan on going back in the near future to take a closer look.
• I noticed a Neighborhood Slow Zone sign for the first time today! I wonder if they've been up for a while, or if they are recent like the Neighborhood Bikeway signs they just put up near me.
• Today was the first time I've ridden with tights on; I guess it really is October. It was cold enough to also merit some merino clothing (I've recently drunk the merino kool-aid), so I got to wear this great dress for the first time (currently on sale at Nau). It layers really well so it's perfect for fall/spring, but I can see it working even on the cooler days of summer. It's versatile, cute, comfortable, ride-able, and has pockets--basically everything I want in a dress!
• Speaking of cold-weather apparel, after this evening's ride I'm thinking of knitting myself some hand warmers. The trick will be to finish them in time to actually use them.
• All this time I've been riding across the bridge on Calvert St., I never realized it was called the Duke Ellington Memorial Bridge: 

Nice way to close my first coffeeneuring ride

The Real Deal: Intermediate Commute

Despite my misgivings yesterday evening about the new route I was testing, today I went for the real deal and my ride was actually pleasant. It helped that I made a slight modification to my route to remove one of the neighborhood cut-throughs. The other cut-through was navigable even with my big front bag on my bike (so much so that a guy on a scooter follow me up the path). Also, I got the worst part of the route out of the way early--there's a stretch as I'm getting off campus where I have to ride on the sidewalk before I can turn into the first neighborhood.

I was surprised that there weren't as many people on bikes during the ride home, not even on the Capital Crescent Trail, but I guess I'm comparing it to a decent weekend when a lot of people tend to be out (I even had a double Brompton sighting yesterday!). There were long stretches in the neighborhoods when I didn't have a lot of cars to contend with, and it was really to nice take my lane and go at an easy pace (though I still made good time).

My morning commute was good too. I took a longer route than usual to get around the problematic areas, but the quality of the ride was much improved. The only sort-of issue was when a work truck came up onto the multi-use path right as I was going down it--that really woke me up!

Anyway, after today's rides I've feeling better about my bike commute options generally. It took me a while to get here this year, but I hope to be able to sustain it.

Total miles: 8.94 (.9 + 3.6 + 4.44)

Observation: When I'm riding on a sidewalk without a treelawn next to it, I feel like I'm riding next to traffic anyway.  

Dry Run 2: Intermediate Commute Home (in which I discover theneighborhood "cut-through")

After a failed dry run in early May, I finally managed to try out my "intermediate" bike commute route. Basically I'm trying to get from Upper NW DC / Chevy Chase to the NIH campus area, where I would be able to catch a shuttle; the ride gets me 1/3 of the way to work.

If I were to drive, getting to the campus would be pretty straightforward. However, I'm not willing to take the lane and ride along Wisconsin Ave./Rockville Pike or Connecticut Ave., so I try to go along neighborhood streets. The ride itself is fine, but I get tripped up by--for lack of a better term--the neighborhood "cut-through" (or maybe there is a better term and I just don't know it?).

I'm defining neighborhood cut-through as a little path that connects two streets (or sometimes trails) at a point where there is no other nearby street to connect them. The entrance to these paths can be hard to spot if you are going too fast, as they look like they might be leading to someone's backyard. I made the mistake of thinking this during my first attempt at this dry run, and ended up turning around because I was afraid I'd be trespassing onto someone's property. It was only after some careful study of Google Maps Street View that I realized I there was a path between some overgrown bushes (see image below).

Cut-through from adjacent street to Capital Crescent Trail

If I had to guess, I would say that the intended function of these neighborhood cut-throughs is to serve as pedestrian shortcuts in neighborhoods with irregular street designs, where people would otherwise have to walk several blocks out of their way if they wanted to go "straight" through the neighborhood. This is great for walkers, and in theory it could be great for bikers--the route I planned was definitely the most direct one for what I was trying to accomplish. In practice, however, it was not a great bike route: as I said, I missed the first one when I tried my dry run in May, and then today I missed another, as entrances tend to be hidden among houses and lawns. When I did manage to find the cut-throughs, I usually had to dismount and walk my bike through the gravel and mulch. Even if I attempted to ride, they were often narrow, some of them have barriers which I have to navigate slowly to avoid scraping my legs against them. Then the cut-throughs open abruptly onto the street and sidewalk, where walker and drivers aren't on the look-out for a biker bursting through the bushes.

Anyway, on the route I tried today, there are no less than four cut-throughs (see image below), two of which are ways of entering/exiting the Capital Crescent Trail. It's a ride of about five miles, and I'm not going fast by any means, but these cut-throughs slow me down even more. On the way home I tried another way that was marked "Bike Route" and there were just as many cut-throughs (so maybe someone thinks they're bike appropriate, but I disagree).

Orange arrows indicate cut-throughs along route
Yellow arrow other cut-throughs in the area I've tried

As I'm not a big fan of these cut-throughs, I'm not sure what to make of this commute route. I don't know that I have very many other options because I don't want to ride on a busy thoroughfare. I've tried riding through downtown Bethesda to get from the NIH campus to home, but that was miserable in a different way. So I guess I may have to keep trying, but for now it's a viable option, even if it's not an ideal one. And I haven't even mentioned what a pain it is to cross Rockville Pike to get to campus!!

Observation: There are a lot of standalone basketball hoops on driveways in the Bethesda neighborhoods between Jones Bridge Road and East-West Highway.

Dry Run: Long Commute Home (Route 1)

I'm not a serious rider and usually do my transportation riding close to home, but I got it into my head that I would attempt the 15+ miles from work to home. Last summer I would do the multi-modal commute on the Brompton to cover the ~3.25 miles between the Metro and work, but I had never done the full commute. I actually envisioned doing this next year after the Betty is built up, but D pointed out that Bromptons are capable of handling the distance even when loaded down with gear--people have even toured with them. So, with D's support, some advice from a committed long-distance bike commuter colleague, and the promise of a nice weekend, I decided I would attempt a "dry run" (terminology per my colleague).

The ride was also a good opportunity to try out the Cellet phone mount for my bike that D got me last Christmas, and the Map My Ride app. Before, if I didn't want to take the route that Google gave me, I would have to print out a map that I could refer to it on my ride. Now that I have the phone mount and the app, I could pre-set my route and then follow it on the app as I rode. It's not quite turn-by-turn directions, but it's a much better setup than what I had before (through I do love printed maps).

At my starting point, fully equipped for my dry run

I had planned on riding only one way of the commute, and my colleague wisely advised me to take the Metro up to work, then ride my bike from the Maryland side and down to DC. Good thing too, because although I survived the day's roughly 20 miles of riding (a lot for me), my legs were dead tired by the end of it. A day later, neither my legs nor my backside were noticeably sore, though I suspect I caught a cold. Overall, I'm glad I did the dry run, even though I don't know that I'll be doing the full commute on a regular basis anytime soon. 

Below the cut, my "ride" notes and my "route" notes for the two parts of my ride.