Coffeeneur 7of7 at North Park's Over The Bar (OTB) Cafe

10/31/2013 217# 2.2m

This has been several days off the bike for me, in spite of excellent weather (excuse approaching!) because I've been clearing my obligations in preparation for an upcoming trip.

One thing I would not skip is my final Coffeeneuring ride. Today was my seventh in the 2013 series, and S and I rode to the boat house at Pittsburgh's North Park to see the just-opened North Park Over-The-Bar Cafe. We're fans on their long standing SouthSide OTB Cafe, and eager to see what they've done in their new, second location.

from the lake:

from the patio:

So, coffeeneuring: it's all about the coffee (and tea).

I had my favorite dish from the Southside OTB: black bean cakes, which come with a small bit of salsa on top of them, accompanied with a sort of a pineapple chutney, some guacamole, and some sour cream.

OMG. Better than Southside! So was the latte! I was very pleased.

The view was tremendous. The food was excellent. Prices reasonable.

Plentiful bike racks out front. Did I mention that OTB Cafe is a Bronze Bike-Friendly Employer, and a Business Member of BikePgh?

We were like the second party seated and we had the patio to ourselves. By the time we left, there were a lot of people there. The seating is mostly outdoors. I do think that if they were crowded and a downpour surprised them, there'd be a lot of people with no place to go for shelter - but, such is life at a boat house, I suppose.

Coffeeneur 7 of 7 complete, Coffeeneur Challenge 2013 complete.

There and Back Again: Flatlands and Crab Cakes

• Start in Baltimore, ride clockwise
  
• each day is a different color
  
• Bus route Teal-7 crosses the Susquehanna at Havre de Grace
  
• to cross the Bay Bridge Tunnel to Va Beach, the CBBT Authority offers a shuttle service
  
• Bus Route 961 crosses the Hampton Roads Tunnel (my friend Dave is giving me a lift in his pickup)
  )
• there's a pickup shuttle across the Rt 301 bridge at Dahlgren, Va
  
• Daily mileages are 67,48,66,80. 11 on a possible laundry day; 83,60,73.
  
• short url: http://goo.gl/maps/f6FFl
  

View 2013 v6 ChesBay in a larger map

Cafe Cravings, Mount Washington Coffeeneur 6 of 7

10/25/2013 15m #215

This was a cold morning for recreational riding, but no complaints; in February I'll be very happy to have a day like this, 35F clear and blue.

Started at the Bastille with R and S, intent on Coffeeneuring at Cafe Cravings (facebook) (web) on Mount Washington.

It was a cold start, and I added to the clothing I had worn yesterday: heavy gloves, running tights and pants, shoes instead of sandals, and ear muffs under the helmet. We rode the Ft. Duquesne and Ft. Pitt Bridges, and departed the South Side Trail at 18th Street.

Before we started to climb 18th Street I stopped to lose a layer of clothing, because I was over-warm as it was and there was no way to be comfortable climbing in all those clothes. I lost the overpants and the earmuffs and that was much better.

The climb was excellent and I much prefer that hill in 35F than 80F. We continued around to Grandview Park EmeraldView Park, which seems to have been recently (2005) renamed.

Coming into the park there's a steep driveway, and I had stopped for traffic. When I hit the driveway I stopped for traffic and then, in way too high a gear and faced with the steep driveway, I really pushed down on the pedals to keep the bike moving forward. I generated a lot of power, I guess, and ripped the chain apart.

This action generates the sub-title for today's blog post:
With great power comes missing links.

The timing was fortuitious, because only yesterday, in the comfort of a coffee shop the three of us had reviewed the removing and restoration of chain links. And now, on a beautiful clear day, we had a chance for a field implementation, and it wasn't raining or dark (which was a good thing).

I fixed my chain, it took about fifteen minutes, and then we got back on the bikes and rode around to Cafe Cravings at 402 Bigham Street in Mt. Washington. This place is wonderful!

Between us we had breakfast sandwiches on English muffins and croissants, lattes and hot chocolates. It was all excellent. The presentation also rocked. This place really exceeded all expectations.

The shop is excellent, quite a bit of art (some for sale) and then the more standard coffeeshop fixtures.

Departed via Grandview Street and descended into West End Circle, which was a brisk descent, then used the downstream walkway on the West End Bridge to transition into Chateau Street and back to the Bastille. Not a very long ride mileage-wise, but there was a lot of climbing and a great meal at the top. 15 miles in 35F.

Coffeeneuring 2013 5 of 7, Rule 9, Sleet and Thick Socks

10/24/2013 #216 28m

First things first: Eight weeks until Christmas Eve. You're welcome.

Started riding with R and S at the Bastille in the afternoon. Biked out to the 40th Street Bridge, crossed the river, and went further out of town. As we worked along Plummer Street we found ourselves riding in sleet, at which time I formally invoked Rule 9: If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period. It was a good sleet; no real reduction in visibility, and yet it made us feel slightly virtuous.

Rode out to HighLand Park, and once again the Wisdom of Ancient Names was evident; High-Land-Park is up on top of a hill.

Went to Tazza D'Oro for Coffeeneuring 5 of 7.

I had a double espresso. The offerings board suggested this particular bean would have a hint of citrus and it delivered just that, I really enjoyed it. I also had a localvore apple from Kistaco Farm which was excellent. R had a latte and a baked apple pastry, and S had tea with lemon and the baked apple pastry. Everybody was pleased.

After we ate and enjoyed the drinks, we broke out chain tools and an old chain that R had, and we had a brief hands-on session about chain repair, something you only get to do about once every three years (hopefully) and it was a good review.

Departed Tazza D'Oro and rode to Squirrel Hill so S. could do some shopping. Then we biked Forbes inbound through Schenley Park, the Junction Hollow Trail down to the Jail Trail, and the Hot Metal Bridge over to the South Side Trail (whew!) over to Thick Bikes to pick up some of their excellent new Sock-Clops socks (by Colin!)

Rode back via the Ft Pitt bridge and the Ft Duquesne bridge, with the sun setting behind Mt. Washington as we passed Peggy's Marina. We squeezed every bit of daylight out of this afternoon ride, really an excellent time even with the few bands of sleet we experienced.

No Smokestacks or Chimney Plumes over Pittsburgh

10/22/2013 #218 30m

Just a remarkably blue-skies, sunny day in Pittsbugh.

Fooled around with the location and loading of my bike gear a bit. Moved my rear trunk bag to the top of my front rack, which should permit me to place my rear panniers (when I carry them) on and off the rear rack without messing with the trunk bag. (My front rack has a separate level for the top-shelf and the panniers.) I think I'm going to like this, although I need to see how it affects my light beams.

Started at the Bastille, rode around the NorthSide to the 40th Street Bridge and crossed the Allegheny. Rode inbound to Point State Park, took Blvd of the Allies to the Jail Trail and the Hot Metal Bridge.

The wind was strong but shifting and I instinctively looked around to find a smokestack, which was something Ron Farley had taught me a million years ago; look for smokestacks, chimney plumes, flags and trees to tell the wind direction, but there just weren't any smokestacks or chimneys giving off any smoke at all. The once "smoky city" was emission-zero; nothing but unstained blue sky.

Finally I spotted the flag at the FBI building and it promised a headwind on the final leg. I spend a few minutes remembering Ron Farley, he was a good, funny man.

Rode the Baldwin Borough Trail down to Costco. Reversed; this time stayed on the west bank of the Mon up to the Ft. Pitt Bridge, across the Ft. Pitt and Duquesne Bridges and back to the car that was still there. 30 miles on a very pretty day.

Duck Death Watch, MTBF, Bumbles, and a Mural

10/21/2013 220# 36m

A magnificent day for a ride. Started about 0930 at about 50F.

Rode around to see the Duck's last hurrah. #DeadDuckWalking, #TheLastMile, etc.

Coming around the Science Center, there was a large group opposite direction on the crowded sidewalk up to the Langely Observatory sculpture, so I decided to try a new "little known shortcut" I had just read about online. It does in fact exist, but it was a bit slick and I fell down and went boom, and fortunately S. remembered her priorities and took a picture fast.

This is the second time in two weeks I've fallen on the bike. My MTBF (Mean Time Between Falls) has been unusually high this year, hovering at around 1500 hours MTBF, but now it's down to about 750 hours MTBF. Fortunately, as Yukon Cornelious explained, Bumbles Bounce™.

Rode up to Oakland and Pitt's Upper Campus, to retrieve a headlight I'd lent to somebody during the Flock Ride. Took a detour through West Oakland. Descended Bates Street into the Second Avenue BioEngineering Park, and took this photo of the elegant and unfortunately still closed to the public Southside Riverfront Park:

Rode down to Homestead, so S. could pick up something at the Blue Bonnet Bakery. Encountered this mural along the main drag:

Awesome ride. Only 8 more weeks until the days start getting longer.

Last day for No Finger Gloves

10/19/2013 31m #220

Rode with my neighbor Jack for the first time today, excellent ride.

Started early on the Montour Trail at the Boggs Trailhead. As we were taking the bikes off the rack, a figure in camo materialized out of the background; really effective camouflage. He was hunting deer in bow season, carrying a really impressive crossbow and using the trail to walk out from his position to his car. Puts the Multi in Multi-Use-Path, I guess.

We rode from Boggs to McDonald and then use the Connector Trail to join the Panhandle Trail, made a left turn and rode East. After a few minutes we stopped and I was so pleased to take off my no-finger-gloves and put on my full-finger gloves; I will not use the no-fingers until spring, or until I change latitudes. Or longitudes, I keep mixing those up and I won't rely on a Jimmy Buffet song title as a mnemonic.

We continued east to Walkers Mill. The Panhandle Trail is much improved over the last few years. We reversed and rode back, and although it was a few degrees warmer the skies looked a bit darker. There's a tree down across the trail at MP16.2, with a white flag attached to help you recognize it.

A very nice ride, trail conditions are very good.