Here it is, the last weekend of coffeeneuring, on the last day of the challenge, and I'm submitting my paper work to the Chief Coffeeneur. Being the Northeast Regional Office of Coffeeneuring, you'd think that I was a seasoned and successful coffeeenur, but you'd be wrong. This year is the first year that I actually finished the challenge. Here is the documentation.
Trip 1 - highlights: many off road miles including bike paths and dirt trails on a visit to Tamper in Medford, MA. Short review: yes, I'll be back.
Trip 2 - highlights: this was a multi modal trip to Ogunquit, ME to join my family for an overnight stay. This was my favorite ride of the year and had a sense of adventure as well as luck with timing trains and rides between train departures. The coffee shop was Caffe Kilim in Portsmouth, NH. Short review: yes, I'll be back if I'm in the area.
Trip 3 - highlights: a quick 30 mile ride with the coldest conditions since early spring and a quick trip to Starbucks in Arlington Heights, MA. You can see a full review of the shop here. This post is from 2013 but it doesn't seem to have changed much at all.
Trip 4 - highlights: It was a dark, cold ride, leaving at 5 AM and hitting a low temperature of about 25 degrees, my coldest ride of the year. Nashoba Bakery in West Acton, MA was a great place for comfort food and hot coffee. I'll be back for pastries but not necessarily for coffee. I also tested the Chief Coffeeneur's helmet kickstand on this ride.
Trip 5 - highlights: Another dark, cold early morning trip with a 1.5 mile diversion in the woods on my road bike. Coffee at Ride Studio Cafe, one of my favorite bike shops, I mean coffee shops. OK, it is one of my favorite bike shops as well.
Trip 6 - Another ride with an even longer diversion in the woods. This one followed the same track as last week with an exploration of an off road route between Sandy Brook Road and Route 126 near Walden Pond. That route wasn't all that easy on a road bike although I would do it on my Surly. Coffee was had at Main Street Grill, which has good pastries and, in my opinion, decent but no where near great lattes.
Trip 7 - My last coffeeneuring excursion, and it was great fun. I did my usual Lincoln ride that takes me south of Lincoln to Conant then Old Conant Road and back to Trapelo. I found my way to Barismo, which is a keeper. Not much besides coffee but they have a sort of group table, which is a nice touch for someone who gets out on bike alone, for the most part.
Thoughts? Well, there was no theme within a theme except: go ride your bike! It was a nice incentive for me, and for my wife to not mind me getting out early on weekends now that it seems like it is too cold to ride. As I thought in past years, this would be a lot more fun to do with company but it's better to do it alone than not do it. It did take some patience on my wife's part and I did get some ribbing from family. But my niece did ask me to explain what I'm doing in an interested way. I've gone on bike rides with her but I think it's going to be a few years before I suggest she try coffee and coffeeneuring.
The mapping project with Mary is fun and doesn't take a lot of work. I copied the tables from last year and emptied them and Mary is filling them up. I link to them from my blog and that's about it. For the coffeeneuring map, I answer emails and get people signed up for adding their coffee shops. It's fun to watch this grow and hopefully it will be added to in future years.
My shops this year (current year are red, others are purple):
How to make a map like this.
The coffeeneuring finishers map for 2015.
And how to get permission to add your stops to the coffeeneuring coffee shops map.
Trip 1 - highlights: many off road miles including bike paths and dirt trails on a visit to Tamper in Medford, MA. Short review: yes, I'll be back.
Trip 2 - highlights: this was a multi modal trip to Ogunquit, ME to join my family for an overnight stay. This was my favorite ride of the year and had a sense of adventure as well as luck with timing trains and rides between train departures. The coffee shop was Caffe Kilim in Portsmouth, NH. Short review: yes, I'll be back if I'm in the area.
Trip 3 - highlights: a quick 30 mile ride with the coldest conditions since early spring and a quick trip to Starbucks in Arlington Heights, MA. You can see a full review of the shop here. This post is from 2013 but it doesn't seem to have changed much at all.
Trip 4 - highlights: It was a dark, cold ride, leaving at 5 AM and hitting a low temperature of about 25 degrees, my coldest ride of the year. Nashoba Bakery in West Acton, MA was a great place for comfort food and hot coffee. I'll be back for pastries but not necessarily for coffee. I also tested the Chief Coffeeneur's helmet kickstand on this ride.
Trip 5 - highlights: Another dark, cold early morning trip with a 1.5 mile diversion in the woods on my road bike. Coffee at Ride Studio Cafe, one of my favorite bike shops, I mean coffee shops. OK, it is one of my favorite bike shops as well.
Trip 6 - Another ride with an even longer diversion in the woods. This one followed the same track as last week with an exploration of an off road route between Sandy Brook Road and Route 126 near Walden Pond. That route wasn't all that easy on a road bike although I would do it on my Surly. Coffee was had at Main Street Grill, which has good pastries and, in my opinion, decent but no where near great lattes.
Trip 7 - My last coffeeneuring excursion, and it was great fun. I did my usual Lincoln ride that takes me south of Lincoln to Conant then Old Conant Road and back to Trapelo. I found my way to Barismo, which is a keeper. Not much besides coffee but they have a sort of group table, which is a nice touch for someone who gets out on bike alone, for the most part.
Thoughts? Well, there was no theme within a theme except: go ride your bike! It was a nice incentive for me, and for my wife to not mind me getting out early on weekends now that it seems like it is too cold to ride. As I thought in past years, this would be a lot more fun to do with company but it's better to do it alone than not do it. It did take some patience on my wife's part and I did get some ribbing from family. But my niece did ask me to explain what I'm doing in an interested way. I've gone on bike rides with her but I think it's going to be a few years before I suggest she try coffee and coffeeneuring.
The mapping project with Mary is fun and doesn't take a lot of work. I copied the tables from last year and emptied them and Mary is filling them up. I link to them from my blog and that's about it. For the coffeeneuring map, I answer emails and get people signed up for adding their coffee shops. It's fun to watch this grow and hopefully it will be added to in future years.
My shops this year (current year are red, others are purple):
How to make a map like this.
The coffeeneuring finishers map for 2015.
And how to get permission to add your stops to the coffeeneuring coffee shops map.
Nice. This coffee challenge was certainly the bee's knee.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a great reason to get on your bike during at the end of the usual cycling season. I did get out yesterday for a 40 milers and shot of espresso as I try to keep my season going strong.
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