COFFEENEURING 2017

Tis that time of year, the Coffeeneuring Challenge. If you have read some of our previous posts, you will know what the Coffeeneuring Challenge is. If not, here is a brief explanation. It is a fun 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. Simple as that. The theme for us this year was locally owned, free stranding, true coffee shops. They are all awesome places, and we hope you give them a try.

Below are the results of our seven coffeeneuring rides:

COFFEENEUR #1

WHERE: Daybreak Coffee Roasters
                  2377 Main St, Glastonbury, CT              
                  http://www.daybreakcoffee.com/ 
DATE: October 14, 2017 
DRANK: Ice coffee and a latte with a cookie on the side.
DETAILS: Nice ride to the center of Glastonbury. Can get a little congested near the center of town with narrow and busy roads.
DISTANCE: 14.7 miles
RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

COFFEENEUR #2

WHERE: Silk City Coffee
                 763 Main St, Manchester, CT              
                 http://www.silkcitycoffee.com/
DATE: October 21, 2017
DRANK: Two lattes, one with caramel, the other with chocolate.
DETAILS: Our home town coffee shop just down the road from our house. Always like riding down our four lane Main Street just to let people know that there are bikers in the area, so watch out!
DISTANCE: 2.5 miles
RIDING: Bike Friday Tandem

 

COFFEENEUR #3

WHERE: Story and Soil Coffee
                 387 Capital Ave., Hartford, CT              
                 https://www.storyandsoilcoffee.com/
DATE: October 22, 2017
DRANK: Pumpkin spice latte and mocha latte.
DETAILS: This is a new coffee shop that we found out about through the owners of Silk City Coffee, our home coffee shop. Located in Hartford, we always enjoy a ride into Hartford because there is a growing number of bike lanes and bike paths under development. Plus, it is actually fun riding around through the city. Now we have another great excuse to go.
DISTANCE: 21.2 miles
RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

 

COFFEENEUR #4

WHERE: Grounded Coffee Co.
                 387 Capital Ave., Willimantic, CT              
                 http://groundedcoffeecompany.org/
DATE: November 4, 2017
DRANK: Maple spice lattes.
DETAILS: Another new coffee shop that we found out about from our local coffee shop. This was our longest ride during the challenge, but it is a great ride as almost all of it is along the East Coast Greenway. In this area of Connecticut the ECG consists mostly of off road trails (parts currently being constructed) and rail trail. Certainly nice to get away from the traffic sometimes and just enjoy the surroundings.
DISTANCE: 38.0 miles
RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

COFFEENEUR #5

WHERE: Berkins Blend Cafe
                 1003 Hebron Ave, Glastonbury, CT              
                 http://www.berkinsblendcafe.com/
DATE: November 5, 2017
DRANK: Mocha lattes.
DETAILS: One of our standard coffeeneuring stops not far into Glastonbury from our house. An easy ride along roads with mostly wide shoulders. Plus we love the access to the computers they have at some of the tables. Booked a room for a hotel in South Dakota while we were there. Badlands here we come!
DISTANCE: 9.8 miles
RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

 

COFFEENEUR #6

WHERE: Kevin's Coffee Roasters
                 78 Windsor Ave, Vernon, CT              
                 Kevins-Coffee-Connection
DATE: November 18, 2017
DRANK: Heath bar flavored coffees.
DETAILS: A new coffee shop for us, although they have been there for 27 years. Had a great conversation about travel with one of the "regulars" while we were there. An easy ride on a rail trail to get there and undulating back roads to get back home (we don't like to take the same route twice if we can help it).
DISTANCE: 21.4 miles
RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

COFFEENEUR #7

WHERE: So G Coffee Roaster
                  882 Main St, South Glastonbury, CT
                  SoGcoffee
DATE: November 19, 2017
DRANK: Chai tea latte and mocha latte.
DETAILS: A nice undulating ride through the back roads of Glastonbury, through forests, over streams, you get the picture.
DISTANCE: 19.8 miles
RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

 

COFFEENEURING 2016

Taking Monkey on the coffeeneuring challenge.

First, what the heck is coffeeneuring? Put simply, it is a fun challenge put forth by Mary G. of chasingmailboxes.com in which, over the course of seven weeks, you ride your bike 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. If you like coffee and you like to ride a bike, then coffeeneuring is for you. And, at the end, you can earn a coffeeneuring patch as a reward. What more could you ask for?

Second, why a monkey? The backstory on the monkey. While riding the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Trail this past summer we came across the monkey lounging in the middle of the path. We avoided squishing the monkey as we rode by on our loaded tandem bike, but circled back to see what the monkey was up to. It turns out the monkey was not up to anything, and since the monkey had no plans for the foreseeable future, we asked if he would like to tour with us. He eagerly agreed and he now comes along with us on most of our bike rides, sometimes hanging out on the bike, other times resting in a bag. Monkey has no name other than Monkey, and he is very easy to travel with, never saying a word, never complaining about where we go or when we are going to get there. We think Monkey suffers from wander-lust and is eager to see the world. We hope to oblige Monkey over the next several years as we ourselves expand our exploration of the world by bike, one of the best ways to experience it.

Here are the results of our coffeeneuring challenge with Monkey along for the ride.

COFFEENEUR #1

WHERE: The Landmark Cafe
                 867 Main Street, Manchester, CT        
                 http://thelandmarkcafe.com/
DATE: October 10, 2016

DRANK: Just the basic coffee.

DETAILS: The Landmark Cafe is just down the street from our house and occupies the space that once housed Marlow's Department Store, a local shopping icon and now landmark, hence the name Landmark Cafe, which preserves a little bit of the history of the place. Although the East Coast Greenway essentially crosses the southern part of Main St., traveling down Main St. to the cafe on a bike is no easy task, particularly with the nose in parking for the cars. On a bike, you are constantly on the lookout far cars backing out. With four lanes of traffic it would be nice to see a bike lane put in.

DISTANCE: 3.6 miles

RIDING: Bike Friday Tandem

COFFEENEUR #2

WHERE: Cafe Du Monde
                  1 Poydras St #500, New Orleans, LA              
                  http://www.cafedumonde.com/
DATE: October 16, 2016

DRANK: Two coffees and beignets

DETAILS: Went to New Orleans on business and heard about Cafe Du Monde while on the airplane. It was suggested we try the beignets which are essentially a fried dough pastry puff covered in powdered sugar, actually piled high with powdered sugar. We rented bikes and took a ride through the French Quarter which had nicely defined bike routes. Fortunately it was earlier in the day and not too crowded. We tried to stop at the main Cafe Du Monde, but the line proved to long so we pedaled down to a satellite location along the Mississippi River where we sat, drank coffee and ate beignets while watching the ships glide past.

DISTANCE: 4.2 miles


RIDING: Two rental bikes
 

COFFEENEUR #3

WHERE: Silk City Coffee
                 763 Main St, Manchester, CT              
                 http://www.silkcitycoffee.com/
DATE: October 21, 2016

DRANK: Two coffees and a Rice Krispies Treat

DETAILS: We were psyched when we saw someone was putting in a coffeeshop on Main St., not a long bike ride for our house. It looked like it would take a while to open, but fortunately they got it done well before the end of the coffeeneuring challenge. Although there are places for coffee on Main St., they are generally closed by dinnertime, so it is nice to have a place we can go in the evening, even though Main St. is not the best road to be biking on.

DISTANCE: 2.5 miles

RIDING: Bike Friday Tandem

COFFEENEUR #4

WHERE: Berkins Blend Cafe
                  1003 Hebron Ave, Glastonbury, CT              
                 http://www.berkinsblendcafe.com/
DATE: October 22, 2016

DRANK: Two coffees, cinnamon bun, and chocolate croissant.

DETAILS: We like the atmosphere in this out-of-the-way coffeeshop, particularly the free computer access where we were able to review the coffeeneuring challenge rules just to make sure we were correctly abiding by them. It is a nice bike ride on mostly back roads.

DISTANCE: 9.8 miles

RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

 

COFFEENEUR #5

WHERE: Daybreak Coffee Roasters
                  2377 Main St, Glastonbury, CT              
                 http://www.daybreakcoffee.com/
DATE: October 29, 2016

DRANK: Two coffees and chocolate croissant.

DETAILS: The Daybreak Coffee Roasters is a new coffee stop for us. Located in the heart of Glastonbury, it was very busy on the morning we were there which I figure is a good sign. We were not disappointed with the eclectic atmosphere and variety that the place had to offer. The ride in is not so easy as there is a lot of traffic with little to no shoulder once you get into the commercial district of town. Besides good coffee, there are two nearby bicycle shops (Cycling Concepts and Bicycles East) to visit and peruse the biking goods.

DISTANCE: 14.7 miles

RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

COFFEENEUR #6

WHERE: Volo Coffeehouse
                  4360 Main St, Manayunk, PA             

DATE: November 5, 2016

DRANK: Two coffees.

DETAILS: We attended the Philly Bike Expo (where we happened to bump into Mary and were able to introduce ourselves as fellow coffeeneurs) and while riding back to the car which was parked in Conshohoken along the Schuykill River Trail, hopped off the trail to grab a coffee. Easy riding, even off the trail as they have the road marked for bike traffic.

DISTANCE: 34.4 miles

RIDING: Hokitika Tandem

At the Philly Bike Expo with Mary.

COFFEENEUR #7

WHERE: Shady Glen
                  840 Middle Turnpike E., Manchester, CT              

DATE: November 19, 2016

DRANK: Two coffees with an egg, bacon, and home fries breakfast.

DETAILS: Shady Glen is known for their cheeseburgers where they grill their cheese to a crisp and layer it on top of the burger. Quite delicious! Getting there by bike is an easy enough process although the main establishment is located on a major four lane state highway with no shoulder. Fortunately it is never so busy that cars can't easily get around the bike.

DISTANCE: 8.6 miles

RIDING: Hokitika Tandem