Coffeeneuring 2023: Lucky 13

Posted on by bikiegirl

This being the 13th year of the Coffeeneuring Challenge, the theme was “Lucky 13”. With that theme and few scheduling conflicts to make the challenge very challenging, I went bonkers this year. I let go of fancy notions that I would only visit new-to-me coffee shops, or make sure I wore a different pair of Bloomers for each ride, and just embraced what I enjoy most about coffeeneuring: the connection to community. I like to think that my theme this year was all about maximizing my good fortune.

As many others have experienced, the pandemic changed my work life. Not radically, as I have my own simple little patent law practice, and it had been just me and my paralegal working at the small office space I had been renting for many years. My work can be done any where I have a computer and an internet connection, so the main purpose of the office space was to provide a workplace for my paralegal, and to make it easy for the two of us to come together in a common place to communicate and coordinate our workflow. But along came COVID-19, so in March of 2020, I set up my paralegal with a laptop she could use to connect to the office from home and we began the remote work life. As it turns out, she really liked working from home and never wanted to come back to the office. I understood, but I still had to cope with the loss of that daily social contact outside the home. By Summer 2022, I was faced with the end of my office lease and the reality that it made no sense to keep renting the office just for myself. Since then, I have also been working from home. Although it generally works well for me, I have become keenly aware of how important it is for me to get out and interact with other humans (besides my spouse, as much as I love him) on a regular basis.

For that reason, I chose to focus less on careful selection of coffee shops or routes, and more on making sure I involved at least one other human in each of my coffeeneuring rides. And I went bonkers by doing more than the required minimum of 7 coffee rides, and even doubling up on the coffee shops the first two days out. I ended up deciding to embrace the numerical theme of this year’s challenge, and see if I could get 13 coffee rides into the 7 weeks. After all, Los Angeles offers an unlimited supply of coffee shops and beautiful places to ride.

The background and rules of the coffeeneuring challenge can be found here, and I have explained the game in posts from coffeeneuring challenges I’ve completed in the past. The rules change slightly each year, but the consistent part is that one has 7 weeks in which to visit 7 different coffee shops (or coffee outside locations), and consume coffee (or other coffee-like beverage, such as tea or cider or hot chocolate) at each one, arriving by bike, and documenting each ride in some fashion. The mileage requirement is minimal: at least 2 miles roundtrip per coffee ride, and only two coffee rides per week can be counted toward the event. The dates for this year’s challenge were October 7th to November 20th, and I took advantage of that full range of dates. My rides are cataloged below, a list that serves as my “control card”:

Double duty: Sqrl before the group ride to LA’s BikeFest, and Gong Cha with Joni after BikeFest

October 7: Double Duty – Sqirl, Virgil Village, Carmelized Vanilla Latte + Gong Cha, Little Tokyo, Iced Green Tea

  • Bike: Brompton
  • Bloomers: Sweet Love Bloomers
  • Companion(s): Started solo, but met up with a group ride to LA’s Bike Fest & later rode to GongCha with Joni
  • Miles: 17

The special fun today was joining a group ride along Sunset Boulevard (where we hope to get protected bike lanes for an essential corridor) to the Highland Park Brewery, which was hosting BikeFest, a fundraiser party for BikeLA (formerly known as the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition). After the event, my friend Joni and I rode together on our Bromptons to get some Iced Tea in Little Tokyo.

Another double-up day: Alfred Coffee before the Bicycle Nomad presentation of Truth & Dignity, and Alana’s Coffee Roaster for the after party

October 8: Double Duty – Alfred Coffee, Marina del Rey, Lavender Latte + Alana’s, Mar Vista, Chipotle Hot Chocolate

Today’s special fun was riding with Yolanda and Jennifer to meet up with other friends at the Marina del Rey REI store, which was hosting a special film screening and presentation by the Bicycle Nomad, Erick Cedeno. We saw his film “Truth & Dignity”, which chronicles his 1900 mile journey tracing the Bicycle Corps expedition from Missoula, Montana to St. Louis, Missouri in 1897. While waiting for the program to begin, our group visited the nearby Alfred Coffee. Then afterward, we rode together along the Marvin Braude Bike Trail to Mar Vista, where we enjoyed further coffee and conversation at Alana’s Coffee Roaster.

CicLAvia in downtown LA, featuring the 6th Street Bridge, Mariachi Plaza, & Chinatown, followed by a stop in USC Village with Lynn

October 15: Stout + Burger, USC Village, Dr. Pepper Float

Kind Grounds with Women on Bikes Culver City

October 16: Kind Grounds, Mar Vista, Pumpkin Spice Latte

  • Bike: Brompton
  • Bloomers: PinkaDot
  • Companions: Women On Bikes Culver City
  • Miles: 18
Cross-country Coffeeneuring with Ilga at Brij in Crystal City, Virginia, while I was in town for a conference. We met through the Facebook group for Coffeeneurs a few years ago, and have been able to meet up for coffee rides from time to time!

October 21: Brij, Crystal City, Virginia, Chocolate Hazelnut Latte

  • Bike: Capital Bikeshare
  • Bloomers: Party Pants
  • Companion: Ilga
  • Miles: 5
Document Coffee Shop with Joni & our Bromptons. Joni knows I look for folks to do coffee rides with me this time of year, and she reached out one day while in my neighborhood.
The shop features a fascinating gallery of photos of all kinds of people. It was hard to pick a favorite portrait to share with you here, but this woman’s cat was particularly intriguing.

October 23: Document Coffee Shop, Koreatown, Maple Latte

  • Bike: Brompton
  • Bloomers: PinkaDot
  • Companion: Joni
  • Miles: 2
They closed the 110 Freeway (Arroyo Seco Parkway between Los Angeles & Pasadena) to cars for the day, and let the people put it to its proper use. What an amazing day shared with about 45,000 fellow humans! Rob & I added a stop at Tiffany’s in Pasadena, where he went full breakfast & I had me a caramel latte & a decadent sweet treat.

October 29: Tiffany’s Coffee, Pasadena, Caramel Latte

Women on Bike Culver City rolling to The Boy & The Bear
But first we stopped to visit the air plant man, where we were dazzled by his incredible yard full of all manner of air plants plus a very special chicken.
Then I enjoyed my caramel latte with an apple danish. So delicious!

October 30: The Boy & The Bear, Culver City, Caramel Latte

  • Bike: Brompton
  • Bloomers: Dazzling Amethyst
  • Companions: Women On Bikes Culver City
  • Miles: 21
Dropping in on Hubby’s field trip with students to the Fairfax Farmer’s Market, where I picked up a cafe de olla at Coffee Corner, then joined him at the crepe stand.
Afterwards, I rode over to Koreatown and joined Jennifer at Alchemist Coffee Project, where I had a fancy iced tiramisu latte.

November 5: Double Duty – Coffee Corner, Fairfax Farmer’s Market, Cafe de Olla, Alchemist Coffee Project, Tiramisu Latte

  • Bike: Brompton
  • Bloomers: Groovy Tie Dye
  • Companions: El Cochinito, Jennifer
  • Miles: 12.6
Riding to Jackson Market with Women on Bikes Culver City, with a stop at the misting sculpture in front of Cooportunity Market. At Jackson Market, I could not resist the cinnamon roll, which was accompanied by a cafe au lait.
Jackson Market has a beautiful patio out back, with a koi pond and a waterfall.

November 6: Jackson Market, Culver City, Cafe au Lait

  • Bike: Brompton
  • Bloomers: PinkaDot
  • Companions: Women On Bikes Culver City
  • Miles: 19.5
Riding through Beverly Hills as we headed west.
Amazing pastries at Chaumont in Santa Monica. And I loved the hot chocolate.

November 11: Chaumont, Santa Monica, Hot Dark Chocolate

  • Bike: Bianchi Infinito
  • Bloomers: Hot Pink Zebra
  • Companion: El Cochinito
  • Miles: 30
Bike paths & bike lanes for almost the whole ride home from Chaumont.
French Press for coffee outside at the Griffith Park Helipad with Helipadders with a bonus Kettle Glazed donut
Continuing on Vista del Valle up to the Griffith Observatory with Lynn, enjoying clear views of the Hollywood sign & downtown along the way.

November 19: Helipad, Griffith Park, French Press Crema

The lovely ride from Culver City Hall to Pen Mar Golf Course

November 20: Penmar, Venice, Mocha

B.L.A.T. Breakfast & Mocha at Pen Mar with Women on Bikes Culver City. Almost lost my jacket on the ride home, but noticed in time to be able to circle back and retrieve it. There it was: right in the middle of the bike lane.

That’s 13 rides for the Lucky 13. Even if the Dr. Pepper float doesn’t qualify as a legit coffeeneuring beverage, I have plenty of bonus rides to spare.

I am lucky, indeed. My life is full of bikes, an endless supply of coffee shops to visit, and friends with which to share the experience. It doesn’t hurt that I also happen to live in a place where the weather is almost always bike-friendly. As if that wasn’t reward enough, I then received my grand prize! It’s so fun to add another patch and some stickers to the growing collection.

Awesome coffeeneuring swag arrived in the mail!