Sunrise Coffee & Bicycles

          

A group that meets every other Wednesday morning at a different location to drink coffee and have good conversations.  Since I have to be at work by 7:30, I can't make it when school is in session but do my best when we don't have school, like today.  With Sunrise at 7:04 we met at Hebrews Coffee and then headed out for a better spot to see the sun. Although sunrise was beautiful it was difficult to get a great view.


We decided to try to get to the Galloway trail via Nature Center Way, but due to a recently installed fence, we had a much bumpier ride than we expected.  After the slightly adventurous detour, we finally made it to the trail and split into separate directions.  Since I had a heavy bike, loaded with a medium sized dog, and no need to make it to work by any particular time, the guys road off and I took my time heading home.

We knew there was a chance for a little rain, but instead it started to sleet.  It wasn't too bad, because at least we stayed dry as it bounced off of us, but as I changed from trail to road, the precipitation changed to snow.  Starting light, but by the time I was home, the flakes were HUGE!  Lucky for me, Tsuki LOVES snow and cold weather, so she did just fine.

Coffeeneuring Challenge Ride #7

Our Final Ride to complete the challenge.  The temperatures have been below or barely above freezing all week, and I had been able to continue riding to work, so I was well prepared for the cold ride.  The weather forecast was predicting snow for the weekend, so I wanted to keep the ride short and early.  I set out a little after 7 am to go to the closest coffeehouse.  Since the challenge requires a minimum of a mile ride to the coffeehouse, I rode around the neighborhood for a third of a mile before heading down the road to Einstein Bros Bagels. When I arrived my speedometer read 1.45 miles.

 I had a free specialty coffee coming thanks to Mr. Huwxby, a fellow teacher, who gave me his fully punched coffee card, so I choose the cinnamon caramel latte.  YUM! While waiting for my coffee one of the employees asked if Tsuki could have a treat and she took a doggie bagel out to my happy doggie.


While I was trying to organize my selfie, a customer pulled up and offered to take the shot for me, reminding me once again why I love living here and how friendly and helpful people are.  We headed home. Again I wondered around the neighborhood to increase my mileage, but still only road 2 2/3 miles.  I am so happy to have completed this challenge, and as I look back over the last seven weeks, I see that four of the seven rides were on my own, while three of them involved meeting or riding with friends.  I believe that friends kept me going, but my intrinsic motivation has allowed me to be successful.  Last year, the couch was much too comfortable and I only completed a couple of weeks before giving up.  Last year, I also gave up on commuting to work during the month of October, and this year, I have continued to ride.  In fact, last week was our coldest week, with each morning colder than the previous, and each one starting below freezing, and yet I rode my bike every single day.  I have joined several groups on Facebook and the encouragement from others does help keep me going.  I am not sure if I am going to continue with the coffee challenge through winter, but I know I am going to keep riding!

Coffeeneuring Challenge Ride #6

On the way to Amanda's house.

Today the weather went back to being gorgeous! Dawn was a bit frosty, but once the sun came out it warmed quickly. The sun was bright enough to provide some great shadow shots. Tsuki, Kapua and I rode out to Amanda's to pick her up and then met Erin on the trail and rode on to Mudhouse Coffee downtown.

I wanted to ride at least 20 miles since I don't get any evening rides in now that the sun is going down so early, so we just started riding around town.  We rode through the college campus, around the park, through some nice neighborhoods and finally decided to hit the trail.  By the time I got home I had just over 30 miles for the day, was quite warm and hungry, and for once Tsuki didn't even ask for more play time.

The weather is supposed to start dropping this week and we may even end up with some snow on Saturday, so I will be planning on stopping at a coffee house close to my house maybe taking a long route to get the mile requirement in.  I am actually looking forward to the experience.

Coffeeneuring Challenge Ride #5

Halloween ride in the wind.

Fall has arrived, finally.  Last weekend we neared record highs and today we reached a record low. The first night below freezing and it goes all the way down to 25°F. Brrr! Friday, we didn't have school, so we took a ride to the park, over six miles round trip. It was still in the 40's, but the wind was ferocious!

I am actually glad that the weather is this cold on a Saturday so that I could test out my winter attire on a weekend, since I want to try riding to work as much as possible all winter.  So when Wayne suggested Kingdom Coffee & Cycle for Saturday morning, I was in.

I set out my warm clothes the night before and headed out right after sunrise.  Friday night I crocheted mitten tops for my fingerless gloves, but within a few minutes I realized that I didn't cover my thumbs and they were going numb!  Other than that, I was just fine.  Tsuki ran for two and half miles, without showing any signs of being tired, but when we got downtown, I put her on the back of Kapau so we would take less space in traffic.  After I got my coffee and took some photos, Wayne showed up.  He hadn't been sure he was going to make it on such a cold morning, but he decided to do it and realized it wasn't so bad.

Why can't I go in?

After Wayne got his coffee, we took some pictures and talked about our clothing choices, we went our separate ways, him on towards breakfast, and me home for a roundtrip of almost six miles for me, and about five miles for Tsuki.  The grass in the backyard was still covered frost, but the exercise kept us all quite warm.