COFFEENEURING 2019

Another season of the Coffeeneuring Challenge has been completed, and this one felt more of a challenge with life seeming to get in the way. We made it work, however, because we cold not miss out on a season of coffeeneuring. The coffeeneuring challenge is a fun biking/coffee drinking challenge put forth by Mary G. of chasingmailboxes.com in which, over the course of seven weeks, you ride your bike to seven different places, at least 2 miles round-trip each time, drink seven cups of coffee (or similar), and take seven pictures as proof of your coffeeneuring. That is all it takes, but it is amazing how time can get away from you, hence making it the challenge. You have to be purposeful, get on the bike, and go get some coffee. This year we tried to keep it simple; just taking our Costa Rican, Pura Vida (which means "simple life" or "pure life") coffee mugs with us to save on disposable coffee cups (although we missed once due to coffee mugs being washed in the dishwasher at the time we left the house). The coffee places we went to were a mix of locally owned and chain establishments. None of them disappointed.

Below are the results of our seven coffeeneuring rides:

COFFEENEUR #1

WHERE: Starbucks

                 185 Spencer St, Manchester, CT              

                 http://www.starbucks.com/

DATE: October 13, 2019
DRANK: Two pumpkin lattes

DETAILS: At the end of a mostly woodsy, off road bike path along the highway, is Starbucks. Makes for a simple, easy ride, which is what we need sometimes. Usually we do not frequent Starbucks, but the convenience made it worth it this time.

DISTANCE: 6.6 miles
RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

COFFEENEUR #2

WHERE: Silk City Coffee

                 763 Main St, Manchester, CT              

                 http://www.silkcitycoffee.com/

DATE: October 14, 2019
DRANK: Two pumpkin lattes

DETAILS: By far our absolute favorite coffee shop, just down the street from our house. We go there every Friday night when we aren't out of town for games and live music, and of course coffee and treats. Great ride down Main St. in Manchester.

DISTANCE: 2.5 miles
RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

COFFEENEUR #3

WHERE: Berkins Blend Cafe
                 1003 Hebron Ave, Glastonbury, CT              
                 http://www.berkinsblendcafe.com/
DATE: October 20, 2019
DRANK: Two drip coffees.
DETAILS: One of our standard coffeeneuring stops not far into Glastonbury from our house. An easy ride along mostly back roads with decent space for cars and bikes alike.
DISTANCE: 9.8 miles
RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

COFFEENEUR #4

WHERE: Starbucks

                 135 Talcottville Rd, Vernon, CT              

                 http://www.starbucks.com/

DATE: October 28, 2019
DRANK: Two pumpkin lattes

DETAILS: We combined this ride with an errand to the automotive store to pick up headlights for the car using a coupon we had on hand. Definitely not a bike friendly main road once we got out there, but with our lights and reflective vests, I think we were easily seen. Most cars gave us space, but it was a relief to relax a bit and enjoy a worm drink on a cool night.

DISTANCE: 13.8 miles
RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

COFFEENEUR #5

WHERE: Bread From Heaven Bakery
                 912 Main St, East Hartford, CT              

DATE: November 3, 2019
DRANK: Two drip coffees.
DETAILS: Actually had some free time to take a longer ride on this day. Ended up at a simple Puerto Rican bakery for a nice cup of coffee. Getting there is mostly along bike trail and bike lane so maked for an easy ride.
DISTANCE: 16.4 miles
RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

COFFEENEUR #6

WHERE: Dunkin Donuts

                 244 Center St, Manchester, CT              
                 http://dunkindonuts.com/
DATE: November 9, 2019
DRANK: Two pumpkin lattes.
DETAILS: Combined this outing with some grocery shopping. Found out they are actually working on extending the Cheney Rail Trail further to the south making a continuous off road trail through the center of Manchester from north to south. They only have to complete the bridge crossing over Center St. Once complete it will make grocery shopping much easier. Excited for that!
DISTANCE: 5.0 miles
RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

COFFEENEUR #7

WHERE: Daybreak Coffee Roasters
                  2377 Main St, Glastonbury, CT              
                  http://www.daybreakcoffee.com/ 
DATE: November 23, 2019
DRANK: A mocha latte and drip coffee.
DETAILS: A nice ride through the back roads of Manchester and Glastonbury to the busy Main St. of Glastonbury. Had been fighting a nasty cold for several days, so lucky to get this ride in. It felt good to breathe in some fresh air.
DISTANCE: 14.7 miles
RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

MANCHESTER TO MONTREAL, ROUNDTRIP

Some day I'll get round to writing about our round trip bicycle tour from Manchester, CT to Montreal, Quebec, Canada that happened summer 2019. Until then, here is a picture of us with our loaded tandem at Lake George, NY.

ERRANDONNEE 2019

Here are the specifics of our 2019 edition of the Errandonnee Challenge. The Errandonnee Challenge is designed to get you out on your bike no matter the season, or weather. The challenge requires we complete 12 errands by bicycle within 12 days, and ride a total of at least 30 miles between April 12-23, 2019. There are a few other small rules that must be followed. Those being that there are nine categories of errands that can be accomplished, but only 2 errands maximum per category. These categories are:

• Arts and Entertainment
• Non-Store Errand
• Personal Care
  
• Personal Business
• Social Call (includes restaurants, coffee, and other social activities)
• Store (includes bike shop, running store, grocery store, etc. You know, a store.)
• You carried WHAT on your bike?!
  
• Work or Volunteering, School (includes dropping off kids)
  
• Wild Card

This year we covered a total of 36 miles, on our Bike Friday tandem or Hokitika 2-BE-ONE tandem. Here are our results.

DATE: April 12, 2019
CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment
OBSERVATION: Our typical Friday night entertainment of going to Silk City Coffee to enjoy games and live music with family and friends, and off course enjoy some coffee too. Always fun to ride down Main St. in Manchester to let the drivers know there are bikes on the road.

DATE: April 12, 2019
CATEGORY: You carried WHAT on your bike?!
OBSERVATION: Another Friday night tradition, pizza from Filomena's. OK, maybe not such a big deal to carry pizza, but an extra large pizza takes up quite a bit of real estate on the tandem, and effectively puts the stoker out of commission.

DATE: April 13, 2019
CATEGORY: Store
OBSERVATION: New CVS just opened down the street for our house. Decided to check it out and pick-up some vitamins during their Grand Opening. Turns out we got a little Arts & Entertainment while there listening to a local band, and some Social Call talking to the owners of our favorite coffeeshop while they gave out free samples.

DATE: April 13, 2019

CATEGORY: Store
OBSERVATION: Run to Brown's Flowers to pick up flowers for the wedding. It catches the attention of people when you bike around with a bouquet of flowers in hand.

DATE: April 13, 2019
CATEGORY: Non-store Errand

OBSERVATION: We have had over 30 empty soda bottles hanging around the house for a couple of years now. The soda was enjoyed long ago when we still had our sailboat and would sail to various locations around the Connecticut and Rhode Island coast. It is time to return them to their rightful owners at Hosmer Mountain Soda Shack. Turns out we had enough bottles for an $8.00 refund.

DATE: April 13, 2019
CATEGORY: You carried WHAT on your bike?!
OBSERVATION: It is amazing the amount of electronics one can accumulate over the years, and it is important to properly dispose of those unwanted or broken electronic gadgets once their lives are over. With the help of our trailer we were able to proprly dispose of a microwave oven, stereo, CD player and printer at the Manchester Landfill and Recycling Center. Disposal made easy.

DATE: April 14, 2019
CATEGORY: Social Call
OBSERVATION: Getting married! Got a lot of attention and well wishes going down the street in our wedding attire and flowers all around. I know what you are thinking, where are our helmets?  We wore them on the way home just as it was starting to sprinkle.

DATE: April 15, 2019
CATEGORY: Personnel Business

OBSERVATION: Heading off to Seattle, WA (not by bike, but plane) and in need of cash. Fortunately we had some time and pleasant weather the pedal down the street to our bank and it's ATM to withdrawl some money.

DATE: April 22, 2019
CATEGORY: Social Call

OBSERVATION: One can certainly make the argument that a social call involves face-to-face conversation and interaction, or at minimum the ability to talk over the phone so you can get immediate responses. We might be stretching this category a bit by including the mailing of thank you cards as a social call But, while not immediate interaction, we like to think we impart feelings of joy and appreciate in the minds of those receiving our cards. We think that is quite social.

DATE: April 22, 2019
CATEGORY: Volunteering
OBSERVATION: We might be stretching this one a bit, as we did not actually volunteer, but we did deliver much needed non-parishable food to the MACC Food Pantry. Unfortunately we did lose a small bag of goods along the way, and when we went back to look, it was gone. We are hopeful someone found said lost items and could make good use of them.

DATE: April 22, 2019
CATEGORY: Personnel Business

OBSERVATION: Getting married requires some paperwork. While we already had the marriage license signed and delivered, we did need to visit the Town Hall again to pick up a birth certificate for transferring of a dependent to medical benefits. The joys of bureaucracy, but riding the bike there makes up for the minor inconvenience.

DATE: April 22, 2019
CATEGORY: Volunteering
OBSERVATION: Another slight stretch of a category, but we did deliver some gently used clothing and home goods to our local Goodwill in hopes that they will find good homes and carry on their usefulness.

DATE: April 22, 2019
CATEGORY: Store (Bonus)

OBSERVATION: We added this as a bonus run, just because. The grocery store we typically ride to was on strike, with its employees looking for better pay and benefit among other important issues for corporation. In support of their strike, we biked slightly further to another grocery store. Fortunately we live in a town with several stores, but while shopping we were shocked at the price difference between stores. Luckily the strike is now over, the employees received a better contract, and we can return to our usual place of shopping.