Coffeeneuring in 2023

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 I had given up on it with competing travels and chores.  That put me in a start into November.

Mary G. Had posted in Facebook that there is still time to complete the 13th series, yesterday and I re-thought how to count the seven rides.  All I have to do is place the first two rides into the end of the week.

Thursday, 2 November 23 the rain stopped enough, and the chore was to go to the laundry mat.  The laundry is next door to a Starbucks, so I got on the e-bike to carry the rug, laundry powder, change, and spot remover, and change bag.  Rode there and got it started, then headed out on a loop to meet the 2 mile requirement. Capitol Hwy, Terwilliger, Barbur, Custer, Capitol Hill, Bertha back to Capitol Hwy and the Starbucks & laundry mat. Got a tall Pike in my grande SB cup from 2016.  Sipped it at the high school in our neighborhood.  

At the laundromat with gear and Pike Place

At the High School we live near (Ida B Wells HS)

Rode 3.5 miles and gained 368 ft of elevation

Friday, 3Novemeber. 23:   Rode the Bike Friday to the Post Office, as the wife had packages to send off. I was intending to take a new (for me) route along the Willamette River to NW Portland to get to our Credit Union. But I first had to get to the river.  Along Multnomah Blvd and over I5, the bike lane goes along an entrance/exit for SB I5. I thought it was a leaf I ran over, but it was a stone.   I first thought it was going to do some tire damage, but only 200 yards later did I feel the rear rim hitting the pavement.  Able to stand on the pedals to reduce the weight on the rear wheel, and got to the Terwilliger bridge over I5.  Then walked the bike to the Starbucks on the north end of the bridge at Barbur Blvd.

Used one of the unoccupied outdoor metal tables to lay out the tools and change the tube.   Filled it back up and decided that as I'd used my only spare tube, I'd head back home from here.  As it is Coffeeneuring, I got a Grande Friday Maocha and sipped some inside, to see if the newly installed tube would hold the air. 

Rode 5.1 miles and 417 ft of elevation gain.

Teusday 7Nov23:  third Coffeeneuring ride this is after I installed a new gear shift sensor on the Buzz with a Bafang mid drive installed. The old one had the communication wire broken, after the bike fell over after putting the pedal on a low garden wall a couple months ago, and slipped. The battery was knocked off the frame.  I got it back together, then noticed a loose wire.  I couldn’t see where it came from until I contacted Bafang, and sent them a video.  They recognized what it was, so II knew what to replace. 

Rode to Trader Joe’s and Ace Hardware and a Starbucks in the Garden Home neighborhood to the west of home. Got a battery for the Mavic ALTI wireless computer I have on the folding Bike Friday, as I had broken a few wired bike computers in the process of folding and opening it up. 

Then to TJ for a small pumpkin & potatoes to make into a soup.

Then picked up the Pike Place Coffee and sipped some in the store.

Came back the same route to look for the offensive stone, which was not found.  The bike lane was full of wet leaves, from the last couple days of rain and winds. 

Miles ridden: 8.6 miles with 676 ft of elevation gain.

Thursday, 9Nov23. 4th Coffeeneuring adventure with the Bike Friday.

Nothing seemed to work for recoding the mileage, until I unburied my phone as I was done shopping for dinner and picked up a Pike Place at the in-store Starbucks in our nearby Fred Meyers grocery store. 

With the aid of drawing a route down the hill to the FM on RWGPS, I could add that distance to the return trip. 

Phone from a table inside the Fred Meyers.  Shopping in the red bag and notes is the blue one. Coffee in the steel cup.  Total miles were the same as the 1st ride,  just a different stop.

3.5mi and 279 ft of ascent.

On to the next one, on a dry day.

Monday, 13nov23,   The 5th is done.

Only photo is of the reciept, as I “forgot” my phone as I left on the Bafang powered Buzz with the Travoy trailer, to carry the assorted items.

Took it along to make the Coffeenuering #5 dropping off clear hardshell plastic boxes at New Seasons, then to Ari Jewelers to take the wife's earrings back for a NC service, then back along Oleson to Canby and through Spring Hill Park to the Maplewood cafe.  Got a black drip coffee and sipped it outside. Turns out I forgot to take my phone with me, so lost the opportunity to take a photo.

From there to Fred Meyers to shop for items for the Tamale Pie dinner. Got back and pulled the beans out of the Dutch Oven then started to put things away and prepare the Tamale Pie. Here's at least a photo  of the reciept.

9.73 miles and 890 feet of ascent,

Like to ride to Multnomah Village, as there are 5 coffee opportunities, there alone. Likely tomorrow 

Thursday, 16Nov23.   #6 Rode to Multnomah Village to get first to the Post Office, then a couple hundred yards to get to Grand Central Bakery for a black drip coffee. Drank it inside.  Then explored the best pavement between Capitol And Vermont Ave.  Got there and back through Hillsdale and Ida B. Wells HS.

RWGPS  5.4 miles with 517ft ascent in 0:33 minutes ride time.

Sunday 19Nov23: 7^th and Final Coffeenuering ride. Typical route to Multnomah Village along Capitol Hill and Troy. Stopped at the Starbucks and refilled my loyalty card and got a tall pike. Then fixed the non-functional ALTI by Pairing it with the wheel sensor properly, on the Bike Friday. On the return, it seemed to be a reasonable speed indicator.. Back on Troy then to Moss to 17^th to Custer, and into Fred Meyers for some shopping Saw my neighbor, Dan, at the check out. On the way over, the rear water bottle cage was noisier than usual. Checked it out and one ot the welds broke loose.

Back up the hill to home along 13^th, Bertha, then up Chestnut to Vermont.

4.2 miles and 287 ft Ascent.

 Coffeeneuring in 2022   Started two days ago.

15Oct22: Due to smoke from nearby fires,  the air quality is preventing me from getting started.  We need rain in the Pacific Northwest.

We finally got some rain, to get things green and clear the air.  

23Oct22:  it is cooler, but a dry day.  Got on my trusty e-bike and took along the Travoy trailer to pick up the sharpened garden tools we had dropped off with a vendor at the Hillsdale Farmers Market.  We walked there and had to return to get enough cash to pay for the service.  That’s only 0.5 miles so I continue south on Capitol Highway through Hillsdale shopping area.  I decided to take the brand new pedestrian/bike bridge to connect to the quiet section of Bertha Blvd.  that got me as far as 33rd and then I was happy to have the e-bike as it was a good 300 ft climb at at least 8%.  That took me to where Capito Hwy goes through Multnomah Village and at 33rd is a Starbucks for coffee along with a bag of grounds for the compost, good I had the trailer.

After I finished came back home along Troy and Moss to get to 17th Ave that ends on Capitol Hill and that ends at the busy portion of Bertha Blvd.  up the 100 ft on Vermont. And back home.  

RWGPS gave me  4.6 miles and 450ft ascent

27Oct22:  the second Coffeeneuring adventure on a sunny day. Took my personal S.W. Ramble route to get to the east end of the Fanno Creek Trail.  At 92nd Ave and Allen, it’s interrupted for about a City block. The construction to fix that is making progress, but not yet complete. Made it to the next section and then to Denny Rd, a thoroughfare that crosses the OR 217 freeway.  The Fanno Creek Trail picks up again on the south side of Denny with a crosswalk and button actuated stop light for pedestrians and cyclist to stop the traffic to get across.  Next big street crossing is Hall Blvd, same crossing situation, I need to cross to get to the Asian Food store, 99 Ranch. I needed to replenish my supply of fresh ginger, at less than 1/2 the cost at chain grocery stores. On the way back, stop just beyond the east end of the trail at strip mall in Garden Home, at a Starbucks.  I’m taking the Bike Friday to check out the new tires I put on last week. My table is the second one, the black cup has my 12 oz. Pike Place black coffee. The dog was friendly, as was his owner. 

RWGPS  says I went 16.8 miles and gained 1,299 ft. 

30Oct22:  Third Coffeeneuring ride of 2022.  Although rain is threatened, went on the e-bike to make a Bottle Drop run and extended it for mileage and tried to find the reverse route of what I had taken last Sunday.  Succeeded and got my Pike Place Coffee at the Starbucks nearest to home, in Hillsdale  fortunately the cleaners next door are closed on Sunday so I could park this rig in their enterance and still see the front wheel from inside the SB. 

The display on the Bafang e-bike conversion was 4.4 miles for this route. 

5Nov22:  the fourth Coffeeneuring ride.  Coupled with shopping for dinner ingredients and then to meet my riding buddy at Grand Central Bakery.  Used the e-bike and trailer as it was threatening rain and convenient for the shopping. 

RWGPS gave it 8.0 miles and 715 ft of ascent.   The photos are out of order as I picked up the Pike Place at Fred Meyers and that’s the lower photo with my trailer and coffee and an inside bench.    My riding buddy contacted me there, and wanted to meet at the GCB, the upper photo of these two.  Though obscure, the e-bike is in the bike noodle tipped over (no kickstand) on the outside of the bakery.  

10Nov22 :  5th ride today.  First down to the Willamette River and across the Sellwood bridge. Then up to the Portland U Brew store to pick up enough bottle tops to replace the non-sealing IKEA flip top bottles.  They held the pressure for up to 4 years before not being reliable to build up CO2 in the second fermentation of Kombucha. 

Then onto the  Springwater Trail and cross the river on the Tillikum bridge.  I stopped at the Starbucks on the west end of the bridge. 

I was at the same store last year.  The coffee is a tall Pike Place.  Then came home along Terwilliger Blvd, the original road built to connect Portland withe the Capitol in Salem. 

14.3 miles added to my total.  RWGPS said the vertical gain was a bit over 900 feet. 

15Nov22:  6th ride today, after a couple hours sucking up leaves with the electric leaf blower and composter. Rode around the neighborhood and crossed I5 twice as it divided the older part of the neighborhood from the newer one developed in the late 1950s.  

Got a black coffee at SB that is closest and most pleasant of those close to home. 

My bike is outside. That’s my coffee on the table. 

A better view of my ride.  

RWGPS says the ride was 4.0 miles and a bit under 500 ft of ascent. 

17Nov22:  the 7th ride on the same route I’ve done a couple times with the e-bike to get to Multnomah Village.  There are at least four coffee places there this time I went to Village Coffee, a block from the Starbucks.  A view from the interior.

My bike is barely visible but is there.  

The round trip distance was 4.7 miles.  RWGPS gave me 451 ft of gain. My Garmin GPS was saying over 500. 

Coffeeneuring in 2021

1st 19Oct21  Rode down the hill to the Willamette river on LaView then contra flow on Taylors Ferry to Virginia then a right on Nevada which makes an elegant crossing of MacAdam and and entrance to the Willamette Greenway trail.  That's a bike path between downtown and the Selllwood bridge, which provides another great connection to the Springwater Corridor.  Followed the Greenway north to the newest bridge, the Tillikum, a pedestriann, bike and Tri-Met transit bridge ONLY.   Best bridge to be on in the big subduction zone earthquake.   

The bridge is in the background , obscured by the art installation and poles.

There's a Starbucks at the west end and I got my coffee there.

That's my shadow in the foregound, as I took the picture.

Came back up along Harrrison to 1st Ave, to Hooker to Barbur Blvd, Total mileage of 9.3 miles and some 400 ft. of climbing.

2nd 23Oct21 As the sky was gray and I had to do some shopping, anyway, I took the e-bike down the hill with the trailer and picked up 2 liter bottles of water and some frozen vegetables.  On the way back, I took the gentelest grade possible and came through the Hilldsale Shoping Zone and stopped at the Starbucks there.  Sipped my Pike Place black at one the tables outside.

5Nov21: 3rd Coffeeneuring,  Rode 4.2 miles round trip to Multnomah Village for my Friday Mocha, and the weather cleared up to accommodate it. The mocha is in the black tumbler on the table, and my Bike Friday is at the rack in the background near the street. 

4th on 7Nov21:  Took a bag of deposit bottles down the hill to Fred Meyers and placed it in the Bottle Drop collection site.  Then went inside to the Starbucks and got a senior discount black coffee and sat down in the now open again indoor seating area that is the ambience of the store.

In the foreground is the coffee, in the background is the grocery store’s interior.

2.2 miles round trip with the e-bike and Travoy trailer.  Started to rain as soon as I got all set up in the driveway, but the shower stopped and the sun was trying to come out again on my return trip to come back home. 

14Nov21: 5th Coffeeneuring ride. this time with the Surly and a pannier to take the same route down to the river as the 1st ride, but with a smoother ride (bigger wheels).   Decided to climb back up the same route, to try that out with the triple chainring. the pannier was for the lock and to carry whatever I pick up at the grocery store.

5.8 miles and 713 ft of elevation gain.

At the Starbucks with the Surly and a pannier as I plan to shop for dinner and the way back.

Above the Willamette River upstream from downtown Portland. Along LaView St. A break in the La Niña river of atmospheric water, today,  made this a dry ride. I made it to Fred Meyers and go ready to lock the bike, and couldn't find my keys for the lock,  So back home and found them.

19Nov21: 6th Coffeeneuring with a trip along a section of the Fanno Creek Trail I had yet to ride along., discovered due to Google Maps.   17.1 miles. 1,157 ft of climging.

Picked up a free Friday Mocha at the Grand Central Bakery on the way home from getting almost 5 lb, ginger to flavor my kombucha. I have been there many times and it was the first time using a digital Chinook Book to keep track of my coffee purchases there. 
That’s a Surly Disk Trucker with the pannier. 

24Nov21 : 7th Coffeeneuring ride,8.0 miles and 988 ft of elevation gained. Went down memory lane by taking my commute ride to work and continued on to downtown. The Starbucks I had intended to go to, was no more, so one to another one just down the street. Got my black Pike Place and sat outside on the cool overcast day, with all the regalia.

Below is my ride.As it's the middle of the Portland State University, there are plenty of bike noodles to lock up to.

 Came home along Barbur Blvd and stopped to take a photo of our snow clad jewel to the east, Mt Hood, though a bit obscured by the buildings and thoroughfares.

 

To get warmer, came up the 8% hill from Barbur to Terwilliger on a low traffic side street called Parkhill

200k done 1June2021

 Rode it for Dieter’s 60th birthday. I made it, but felt fairly beat coming back to Dayton and the rest of the way.  Got coffee at Orenco Station, and that helped. Did make it with time to spare, had we been asking for credit. 

Longest ride of 2021, so far.

 Some 70 miles but mostly flat, and no particular discomfort!  

Out west based on Ken Mattina’s route back to Portland on Outside the Gates and getting south from North Plain to Verboort using the Randonneurs Verboort Sausage Populaire, then return on Lynn’s return from Hagg Lake 200km skirting the south edge of the urban growth boundary.  Then the Fanno Creek trail and Multnomah Blvd. 

46th President has his first day!

 We survived the narcissistic previous one, now a rational one.  Glad we survived!

Coffeeneuring is on for 2020. Yippee

 14Oct20: 1st Ride  Started this season with a longer than direct trip to our local Fred Meyers grocery store. Took the Navarra Buzz with a Bafang mid drive electric motor along with the Travoy trailer that makes coming back up the hill possible with the heavy shipping loads. The FM has an in store Starbucks, so I picked up a Tall Pike Place and sipped I most of it out in the parking lot, along OR 99 the predecessor to I5 which is on the other side of Barbur Blvd in oder to get through the gap in thec west hills to connect downtown with the Willamette Valley.   Turns out that on this route there are 6 different coffee places, the Freddy’s being the third. 

Trying to insert some photos. Distance was 4.8 miles.   The first is the original sign at this store, before the freeway. 

Here’s a traffic highway board a few steps from where I am able to park the bike. 

A view of the Bafang’s display, showing the mileage in the lower right corner. I had just charged the battery and reset the mileage, as I’m still trying to figure out what a reliable range is on a single charge. 

Here’s the rig, loaded and ready to star sipping that drink ( on the rear rack) , then head back to home. To unload what I’d picked up and is now in the Burly Travoy, with my wave helmet hanging off it also. That heavy lock goes in the top bag of the trailer, so I don’t really feel it. 

16Oct20: 2nd ride for coffee. Total of 21 miles and 2,050 feet of elevation gain., today. 

This time my riding buddy and I did our south of town Lake Oswego loop.  While in the bisiness distric wes stopped at Peet's Coffee and we were chatting with a couple that wanted one of the chairs at the table we were sitting at.  They explained they use a route to avoid the high speed often shoulderless street that connects Lake Oswego to SW Portland.(Terwilliger Blvd). There is a multipurpose path that parallels the same route, but in this time of pandemic, it's hard to avoid walkers  on the 4ft wide path, but that's not what they used. The coursed throught the tony neighborhood that puts the rider on the southermost descent of Terwilliger, very close to the Willamette River.  

We did find a way going up the hill through that neighborhood, and was definatlely less traffic.

That's my Surly Disk Trucker hiding behing the column. 

Third ride today, 22Oct20, date of the final Presidential Debate.

Took the Buzz a round about way down the hill to the Starbucks at Barbur & Terwilliger. I was on a mission to go back to the Fred Meyers to drop off accumulated plastic bags and pick up 10 2l bottles of Club Soda.  

Here’s the photo outside of the SB

With Barbur Blvd in the background.  More pleasant than the parking lot in front of the Fred Meyers.

Afterward, took another circuitous route to get to the store, then home. 5.2 miles according to the Bafang display. 

27Oct20: 4th ride for getting coffee and what else. 

Pizza  from Papa Murphy’s.5.7 miles ridden. 

5th coffeeneuring ride on 1 Nov20  at the 3.51 mile stop to meet up and wait.   We then continued into the 25 miles to go south through Lake Oswego and back. Note the coffee cup on the post , it’s from the Grand Central Bakery. Meeting my riding partner there. 

This ride was the same route as for #2, except we experimented with the climb back up the hill through the neighborhood.  A great sunny day for the 1st of Novemnber.

6th Coffeeneuring on the day after the election 5Nov20, and the counting continues. my riding buddy met at the bakery from the 5th and then went on our Lake Oswego loop, but in reverse, checking out improvements to the descent into Lake Oswego and going through the neighborhod and avoid Terwilliger Blvd.  Battery issues with both my GPS and Garmin watch, I needed to use RWGPS to stich the three segments together to find out I had gone 19.6 miles with an ascent of 1,281 feet.

There's the tall Pike Place at one of the outside tables.  My bike is parked inthe background, in front of the bush.  Beyond that is Barbur Blvd, and unseen behind that is Interstate 5.   The blue Showers Pass jacket and iPhone are my riding buddy's. He's about 6 years younger than I so I reliably get behind on the ascents.

7th Coffeeneuring ride running errands before the predicted rain storm. 12Nov20  6.4 miles to take a bag of empty deposit bottles to the Bottle Drop at the Fred Meyers.  Then out to the Post Office to mail a knitted creation for the wife.  Then back to Fred Meyers for some grocery shopping.  Then took a round about way to reach a SB that I hadn't already visited this year.    It turned out the store was closed, but right next door is a bakery that serves only espresso drinks,  So I got an Americano and came back toward home through the High School parking lot,  which due to the pandemic, has been a large open space for us to at least use the parking lots and sidewalks.    Stopped at one of the benches near the gym and under an oak tree, sipped the drink.  

thanks again for making this excuse to go out for coffee again. 

Let's hope DC gets to become a state.