Coffeeneuring the Fourth: The Georgetown Quest

Posted on by Karen Canady

Official Coffeeneur Log

Entry No. 4

Date: October 24, 2015

Destination: Baked and Wired, Starbucks, PAUL, Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

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Distance (complete trip): 6.4 miles (includes some walking)

Qualifying Beverage & Bonus edible(s): Hot chocolate & praline croissant (both phenomenally good!)

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Bloomers of the day: Purple/blue leopard print

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Bike-friendliness: General area has lots of bike parking, and is easy to access by bike, but nothing particularly bike-oriented about this shop. There is a Captial Bikeshare docking station a very short walk down the street.

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Route map:

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Notes:

A gorgeous morning, albeit a bit cold! Had to stop shortly after I began to adjust the seat of my Capital Bikeshare bike. It continued to give me trouble, so I stopped at the next docking station I passed and switched for another bike. I started out heading south out of Adams Morgan, hoping to make my route a loop.

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I enjoyed riding in the protected bike lane on M Street, and making use of the bike box.

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I parked the bike at a docking station that appeared to be the closest one to Baked and Wired, my intended destination. It’s tucked along near the canal, making for a beautiful walk to get there.

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Alas, I found the highly-recommended Baked and Wired, but only to see an incredibly long line inside. I just didn’t have the time for that kind of wait!

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I was sure that couldn’t be the only coffee shop in the area, so I started walking farther along the canal.

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Walked along the main drag through Georgetown, and considered breaking my no-coffeeneuring-to-Starbucks rule, but this place also had a super long line!

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So I enjoyed the architecture and activity along the way.

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I love the old Farmers and Merchants Bank buildings, like this one:

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I decided to turn down a street that would take me to a bikeshare station, thinking I would abandon my coffeeneuring effort for today, and just head on back to Woodley Park. That’s when I was delighted to discover PAUL. Charming on the outside, and full of delectable treats on the inside.

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After finishing my hot chocolate & croissant, I got myself a bike and rode down to the waterfront. It was absolutely gorgeous at the Waterfront Park.

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The colors were spectacular.

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I had some trouble finding my way onto the Rock Creek Bike Trail, so stopped to review map details on my phone. Then I looked up, and realized that I recognize this building:

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Some passersby helped me find my way to the trail entrance I’d missed. No pics from the ride on the trail, but it was so very beautiful. At the end of my ride, I had to climb up to Calvert Street on that beast of a bikeshare bike. I had figured I could always hop off and walk it up the hill if it was too hard, but I did it! That felt good.

Rulebreaker Ride in the Nation’s Captiol

Posted on by Karen Canady

UNOfficial Coffeeneur Log

Entry No. 3.5 (Bonus Ride: Doesn’t count toward the official coffeeneur challenge)

Date: October 21, 2015 (A Wednesday, outside the rules!)

Destination: Compass Coffee, Shaw, Washington, D.C.

Distance (complete trip): 5.6 miles (plus about a mile of walking)

Qualifying Beverage & Bonus edible(s): Cafe au lait & Almond croissant

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Bloomers of the day: Pink dots on black

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Bike-friendliness: Large bike rack right in front and visible from seating area. Within a block or two of Capital Bikeshare stations (in two different directions).

Route map:

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I left the app in tracking mode while wandering on foot between miles 2.5 and 4+, as I searched for an available bikeshare bike. Note the squiggly lines during the walking time.

Notes:

Why the rulebreaker ride? Well, I was in Washington, D.C., for a conference from Wednesday through Saturday this particular week. I often travel to D.C. for meetings, and I love having an excuse to get around using Capital Bikeshare. I always like exploring cities I visit by bike, and there’s something extra special about doing so in our nation’s capitol. I had been hoping to be able to get a coffeeneuring ride in on Saturday, but knew it was dicey, given that I did not want to miss the program scheduled for 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, and it would be hard to get up super early after an evening of receptions the night before. Wednesday I did not have to be anywhere until 10:00, so I had already begun planning a coffeeneuring trip when I saw on Facebook that the Women & Bicycles group was planning a coffee meetup that very same Wednesday morning! (That’s Ashley, who organized the meetup, in the photo above.) Last year, I had joined one of the group’s Wednesday morning meetups, even braving some heavy rain to get there. This time the weather was looking quite good, and the destination very doable from where I was staying.

I walked from my Woodley Park B&B to the Capital Bikeshare station at the Duke Ellington Bridge on Calvert. This pic was taken looking back at the bridge as I headed in to Adams Morgan.

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I very much enjoyed this opportunity to see the Fall colors – a treat for this L.A. gal.

It was easy enough to stop and park the bike at a docking station near my destination:

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But when I came back to this station, and another a couple blocks away, and another a several more blocks away, I kept finding this:

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Note to self: it can be hard to find a bike at 9 a.m. on a weekday! I also learned to ditch the bikeshare app I had been using, as it had seriously misled me about the availability of bikes at these stations, and so I got a new app called spotcycle. I like that this one can be used in a variety of cities, and it gave me good info as I continued my quest for a bike. For example, spotcycle said no bikes were available at this station, and I thought maybe it was wrong, but alas, both bikes at this one were out of order (note one had its saddle turned around – a signal that the bike needs service):

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Eventually, I found a bike on Massachusetts Ave, which wouldn’t have been so bad, had I walked straight there instead of meandering all over. I did make it back to Woodley Park, but ended up being late for my 10:00 meeting.

Of course, I could have made it on time, had I simply given up and taken Metro back, but I can be stubborn that way. Besides, being late for that particular meeting wasn’t a serious problem, and I enjoyed my little quest.

Coffeeneuring the Second: Intelligentsia in Silver Lake

Posted on by Karen Canady

Official Coffeeneur Log

Entry No. 2

Date: October 11, 2015

Weather conditions: Sunny & mild

Destination: Intelligentsia Coffee, Silver Lake, California

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Distance (complete trip): 13.9 miles

Qualifying Beverage & Bonus Edible(s): Riakiberu (or was it kairebu?) brew & Croissant

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Bike-friendliness: Large bike rack right in front and visible from large courtyard dining/sipping space. Gives discount to guests arriving by bike!

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Bloomers of the day: Blue Denim Bloomers (under a Nuu-Muu dress)

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Route map:

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Notes:

To earn my coffee and treat, and to enjoy the morning, I had to first ride a loop around the Silver Lake Reservoir. The first part of that loop meant navigating a little construction, but not too much of a bother.

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Usually, when circling Silver Lake, I ride in the bike lane on the street, but this time I was curious to try the gravel path that runs along the meadow. It is a well-maintained and firm path, so no problem on my road bike, and well worth checking out.

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Riding the path gives a better view of the reservoir, although I still had to put my phone right up to an open space in the chain link fence in order to get this shot:

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At one point the path runs close enough to the street that you can see how it compares to the bike lane. Although a road bike can handle the path’s surface, you do have to navigate a lot of dog walkers and joggers.

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I enjoyed bike lane, albeit not in the best shape, pretty much the whole way from the reservoir to the business district, passing some nice public spaces:

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Best of all, after leaving the coffee shop, I turned onto one of my favorite streets to ride on, Hyperion. This is why I brought the road bike on this day, as these hills would be a bit much for my dutch bike.

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All in all, a delightful way to start my Sunday.

Coffeeneuring the First: Cognoscenti Coffee in Culver City

Posted on by Karen Canady

Official Coffeeneur Log

Entry No. 1

Date: Sunday, October 4, 2015

Weather conditions: Drizzly

Destination: Cognoscenti Coffee, Culver City, California

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Distance (complete trip): 12.85 miles

Qualifying Beverage & Bonus Edible(s): Cortado, Almond croissant

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Bike-friendliness: One U-rack on sidewalk directly in front and visible from both indoor and outdoor seating areas. Easy to access via bike-friendly streets.

Bloomers of the day: Crazy Daisy

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Route map:

Route of Coffeeneuring No 1

Notes:

First portion of route was familiar bike-able route to and on Venice Blvd. Opted to head south on Redondo, a fairly wide arterial with sharrows – very quiet and few cars on a Sunday morning.

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Took Expo Line Bike Path into Culver City, and appreciated that there is a bike repair stand along the path.

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Turned off the bike path onto Fay, one of Culver City’s beautiful tree-lined streets covered with a canopy of Chinese Elms.

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Coffeeneuring!

Posted on by Karen Canady

I was intrigued when I heard about the coffeeneuring challenge — a weekend cycling endeavor for those who like bicycling and coffee that is organized by Chasing Mailboxes, who set forth the rules here. It basically involves riding your bike to 7 coffee shops over the course of 7 weekends, October 3 – November 15, 2015. This is its fifth year, but for me, it is the first.

I knew I had to do it, and besides, how hard could it be? Plus, with the suggestion to throw in a theme within the theme, well, I just adore themes! I turned to the Google to start researching coffee shops worth trying in the Los Angeles area. A few lists came up, and I loved that I could explore a new artisanal coffee shop each weekend in a different part of the Los Angeles area.

Since one of the requirements is to report on each ride, and linking to a blog is an acceptable means of reporting, I also decided this would also help me finally get rolling with blogging. I sort of tried to start blogging a couple of times before, but never got past the first post. Perhaps with these “homework” assignments and a deadline, I could make myself take it beyond a single post. Of course, I’m starting the blog during the fourth week, so there will be some retroactive posting. Lame or not, here I go!