Coffeeneur #7.1- THE FINAL

DESTINATION:  The Opera House- Rivermarket Kansas City MO

MILEAGE: Over 8 miles 

BEVERAGE: Jennifer- Cafe Au Lait Lance- Double white Latte

BIKES: Lance- The Irish Bike- Trek Mtb Jennifer- Citizens Folder

RANDOM NOTES ON THE RIDE: 

Oh man! There is NO WAY you could be in the KC area and not go to the Royal Celebration! I was almost 10 the last time they won a World Series and the electric excitement of the city was magnetic. Offices closed, schools closed, it was a day to celebrate in the city. I imagine this is what it is like in other countries when they crown Kings and Queens and such. 

Navigating the 800,000 people was a dream by bike! KC is not a big city. It's population is around 440,000. Knowing it would be difficult to navigate we drove over to Kaw Valley point in KCK where the Rivertrail begins & started our Coffeeneur there. The trail was deserted and we rode smoothly across the bridge into KCMO and the Rivermarket area. There were people everywhere hanging out waiting to move towards the parade route. We stopped in at the Opera House which is a very cool coffee/brunch place. The staff did their best to not be frazzled by the shear volume of people!

We drank leisurely and then road on toward the parade route. It was so easy that we felt like the smartest people on the planet. Traffic was bumper to bumper and we just flew on by. It was such a beautiful day and to see so many people happy (even maneuvering a large crowd) was immune boost! The players and their families were overwhelmed with gratitude. It was an amazing day. 

 Days like this make me glad I have a folder. So easy!

This parade was the best!

A sea of people and all that we encountered were kind and considerate. Amazing!

Coffeeneuring #5.1

DESTINATION: Starbucks

MILEAGE: Over 8 miles 

BEVERAGE: Pumpkin Spiced Latte-My first of the season & on Halloween!

BIKES: Jennifer- Surly Long Haul Trucker

RANDOM NOTES ON THE RIDE: 

For this Coffeeneur, I used the loop hole that you can combine the ride with errands. I am still grocery shopping by bike. One reason (out of 100) that I love my Long Haul Trucker is because I can carry lots of weight and my bike still rides great and I might climb hills a bit slower it doesn't feel like a slog. I loaded up with squash, 64 oz of laundry soap, 2 dozen eggs, 1 lb of butter, & 4 lbs of sugar. 

The weather was beautiful and on my way home I ran into 2 sets of cyclists that I know just returning to town from their jaunts in the country. They were impressed with my haul!

Coffeeneur #7

DESTINATION:  Casey's #3 Leavenworth, KS

MILEAGE: Over 8 miles 

BEVERAGE: Coffee dressed up with cream & sugar

BIKES: Lance- Trek 4500 

RANDOM NOTES ON THE RIDE: 

This was Lance's final Coffeeneuring ride. Since our days off are different he is 2 ahead of me! He was headed out to the grocery store on the other end of town and stopped in for a Pumpkin spice donut and coffee. He also got to watch a building demolition. 

Coffeeneur #6

DESTINATION: Scooter's Coffeehouse, Leavenworth, KS

MILEAGE: Over 4 miles 

BEVERAGE: Snicker's & Vanilla Lattes 

BIKES: Lance- Trek 4500 Jennifer- Surly LHT 

RANDOM NOTES ON THE RIDE: 

We headed out on a Sunday afternoon. We road to our local Scooter's which is a converted Barista's. Barista's are known for their gingerbread house look and nice landscaping. Instead of drinking on their patio we decided to ride down to the river and layout on a blanket and soak up the sunshine. We didn't quite make it to the river as a train was blocking the road and it didn't look like it was moving anytime soon. Instead we laid our blanket on a hill at the park. We hung out in the sunshine for over an hour before heading home. Very low key but very nice.

Car-Free

The first week of May our van died. We were trying to get it to the 300,000 mark and it died just shy of it. We drive very little compared to our neighbors. Most people thought we didn't even own a car, so going car-free was just the next step in this life on bikes.

Over the past 5 years we've slowly weaned ourselves off of the need for a vehicle so it really didn't seem like a big deal not to have a car. And I love a challenge. Initially, we thought we'd give ourselves until the end of July to replace the van. It would give us some time to save some more money towards the purchase and we could just ride our bikes everywhere. Here we are the end of September and we have no plan to buy anything before November. Everyday I talk about pushing that date even farther. No doubt it's the Indian Summer that has me thinking we can go without a car even longer!

Coffeeneur #5

DESTINATION: Casey's General Store 2, Leavenworth, KS

MILEAGE: Over 6 miles 

BEVERAGE: Coffee cream & sugar 

BIKES: Lance- Trek 4500  

RANDOM NOTES ON THE RIDE: 

Because not every coffeeneur ride can be sexy. Lance road to another Casey's in Leavenworth after escorting me to work on Monday. He took 2nd street and got a nice picture of the water treatment plant. It probably smelled nice too. After completing the coffeeneur he rambled home and went mountain bike riding at Swope Park in KC MO. Not a bad day off!

Casey's off 4th Street

Leavenworth Water Treatment Plant

Coffeeneur #4

DESTINATION: Bassa Prua, Leavenworth, KS

MILEAGE: Over 4 miles 

BEVERAGE: Coffee cream & sugar 

BIKES: Lance- Trek 4500  Jennifer- Surly LHT

RANDOM NOTES ON THE RIDE: 

This Coffeeneur turned into brunch! We headed to Bassa Prua on a Sunday afternoon after church. They make the best donuts and we originally were just going to get coffee and donuts. Then we saw that all you can eat brunch, to include donuts was $13.99. We changed our plans pretty quickly. It was a lovely brunch and we definitely need to make this a weekly deal. 

Coffeeneur #3

DESTINATION: Daylight Donuts Leavenworth, KS

MILEAGE: Over 4 miles 

BEVERAGE: Coffee cream & sugar 

BIKES: Lance- 29er Stumpjumper  Jennifer- Surly LHT

RANDOM NOTES ON THE RIDE:

We road on a Sunday morning to Daylight Donuts. A nice treat before church. The weather was beautiful and we had planned ot sit on the back porch. We sat for all of 4 minutes when the bees started to swarm. We aren't sure if they were there for the sweat or the sugar. We would have waited them out but they were relentless and there were more of them than us!

Coffeeneur #2.1

DESTINATION: Casey's General Store

MILEAGE: Over 4 miles 

BEVERAGE: Cofffee cream & sugar 

BIKES: Lance- 29er Stumpjumper

RANDOM NOTES ON THE RIDE: 

A quick shakedown of the 'Dark Knight' on a dark night. Lance coffeeneured on a Monday night. We have different days off so Lance can coffeeneur on Sunday and Monday's while I coffeeneur on Saturday and Sundays. The Stumpjumper came to us as a frame. Lance had everything else ready to make this bike operational in the basement. If he was typing up this post he'd probably go into how he built the wheels and gear ratios but instead you get basic info from me!

Coffeeneuring #2

DESTINATION: Harbor Lights Coffeehouse Leavenworth, KS

MILEAGE: Over 4 miles 

BEVERAGE: Mocha  

BIKES: Jennifer-Surly LHT Disc  

RANDOM NOTES ON THE RIDE:

For this Coffeeneuring Ride I did before meeting up with our bike club to do the Leavenworth Loft Tour. I've been out of town for this tour the last 4 years and I was super excited to go. We have some amazing lofts in our downtown! It was fun to wander through peoples homes and see how they decorate and live a few stories about the street.

Coffeeneuring #1

DESTINATION: Swings Coffee but settled for Starbucks

MILEAGE: Over 3 miles 

BEVERAGE: Mocha & a Chai Tea Latte

BIKES: Jennifer-Surly LHT Disc / Lance- Trek 4500- Our Touring Bikes

RANDOM NOTES ON THE RIDE:

We began 2015 Coffeeneuring Season in the home of the Coffeeneur, DC! We were on vacation having just finished spending the week on the GAP/ C & O Canal. I've been reading Mary's blog for years and follow her on twitter so I knew Swings must be a stop for us! It was very close to where we were staying in Alexandria but it's closed on Sundays!! Such luck! We were coffeeneuring before going on a private tour of the Pentagon so we didn't have much time. I used handy google maps and looked up "coffee shops" and wound up at a Starbucks about mile away from Swings. 

Refresh

I recently started using Instagram. It was (once again) a social media platform that my kids got to first so I avoided. Lord help me if I start Snap Chatting! Instagram has become a lovely spot for me. I can post pictures of our bike trips, our daily commutes, and my knitting & cooking creations. I've found Gramers whose blogs I started reading in 2005! And only a handful of them are still blogging. Finding them on Instagram was like reconnecting with old friends!

We still cycle everyday and in May 2015 we went car-free. Originally it was just until the end of July and now I think we are going to push for mid-November.

In August, we decided to celebrate the fact that our nest is empty & enjoying the last of summer by doing Bike overnights, Sub24O, or bike camping (however you define it) every weekend for the month of August. We wound up going out 5 weekends including Labor Day. I feel like we really lived during August & that we had a great vacation even though we took little time off work.

Now we are planning a 8 day trip to Pittsburgh- DC the end of September. We will ride the GAP/ C&O trail and I'm so excited. All our bike trips have started from our front door. This time we will fly to an area we've never been and just go.

I feel like I have a few new things to write about other than, "Yep, I road to work today."

Notes From The Edge

Hello. How are you? Not a lot to report from these neck of the woods. I'm deep in tax season. Deep, deep, deep. It is the part of the year that I get up, go to work, work, go home well after dark, eat and promptly go to bed. I'm not fun to be around because I can't stop thinking about what needs to be done, or what I forgot to do, or anticipating the next day. You never finish your To Do list so you just try to aim at a  stopping point.

This has been my busiest tax season that I can remember! It is also my 15th tax season. So just when I think I have things mastered and under control is all breaks loose.

Anyway, I just popped in to say that I am not dead, but possibly brain dead. I haven't ridden my bike since the first week in Feb. I'm reminding myself everyday that I take a lot of time off the rest of the year and work is not stressful (much) after April. I've got several Sub 24 Overnights planned (in my head), the Cottonwood 200 to ride in May, Hawaii, & BAK in June.

One month and 10 days to go!

Enough Already

Riding just a few miles a day to and from work, even if it is in the frigid winter isn't blog worthy. Although, I feel like everyday I could post a picture of this saying "I made it!"

"It's me again, all bundled up riding to work in single degree temps."

I took 2 days off commuting this week and last night I was feeling like a caged animal. It's interesting how things sneak up on you. One day your a get-everyone-where-they-need-to-be-mom & the next you are a bike commuter with no one to be responsible for but yourself. Your habit & routine changes and pretty soon you realize it's more than just the routine that's changed. You have too. I crave outside if I go without too long. I'm trying to figure out when 2 days became too long. Must be the cold!

Determination

I woke up this morning with relief that I had a ride to work. We have 3 vehicles, 4 drivers, & 2 of the cars have been in the shop this week. Normally, it is not a big deal since Lance & I both commute by bike.
The weather has been hovering around 20-30° F. Not warm but a temperature we have gotten used to.
The kids would just have to work their schedules out & share a car. Today our fleet was back up to 2. Getting a ride would be easy.

Then I jumped on Twitter & I saw many posts from Chicago cyclist talking about girding their loins & riding to work. There were links to blog posts that discussed layers & how to not freeze. I've read all these before & this time I felt like they were laying down a challenge. "I have mastered the layered look", I thought. I bet I could ride to work and be just fine.

And so I did. Lance has the day off so I was going it alone. He tried to talk me out of it but gave up pretty quickly. Instead he went out and started up the van, just in case I changed my mind.

As I was heading out my neighbor (who rides) came over and showed me the temperature and tried to talk me out of it. Lance quickly cut him off by saying, "No amount of facts will deter her!"

So how was the ride? It wasn't bad. The wind froze my forehead but other than that I stayed very warm. I was doubly layered with wool & fur. A full face mask would be nice but I already struggle looking both directions with my face covered like it is. And let's face it. Riding in single digits is not my norm. I love a self-imposed challenge. Now that I've done it I will feel no shame if I decide to get a ride home from work!

Frost on the scarf from my breath