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.

  

Bafang mid drive is installed

And I’ve ridden it enough times to come up with a best route to get to and back from Costco.  Still working on determining what the range the battery has.  So far, I had to pedal it the last 1/2 mile, as the battery level went from 50% to 25% within 4 miles, and then died multiple times when using anything except the lowest level of assistance. A manual from Bafang would be useful.

Later got a video, of the display blanking out.  They then let me know of a battery level meter on the battery, itself. And that the console isn’t reliable?

aug20 now keeping track of odometer readings in relation to the 4 LED on the battery, see if they correlate. 

November 2021:  have settled on a range of 50 miles per charge. 

10Sept20: Last charge got to slightly over 42 miles, virtually all on level 1 assist 

Rented a Specialized e-bike.

 Rode it for a total of about 40 miles.  Returned for the ebike store’s opening today. It was in the low 40s so my gloved hands got cold cruising about 20 mph all the time with about an effort usually needed to maintain 10 mph.   The almost 2” wide tires did well on rough roadways. The overwhelming sensation was that it was like being on the front of a tandem, more power than you put in to it so it seems the bike is surging ahead. Hill climbing was the most gratifying, as that motor can climb, even with a load.   Got the Navarro Buzz back and am planning to put a Bafang mid drive on it.  The cheapest way to enter the e-bike world.