Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Coffeeneuring 2015

It's that time of year again- The mornings are crisp and cool, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and it's time for the Coffeeneuring Challenge write-up! This is my fourth consecutive year, and the rules have remained very much the same- 7 different weekend bike rides to 7 different coffee shops, etc. "Coffee shops without walls" count for those of us who like to make coffee in the wild, and this year they added a "Theme Within a Theme" category! I have always imposed the rule of no corporate chain coffee shops on myself (with mixed success) and I've always tried to visit 7 shops I haven't coffeeneured to before (with no success.) I decided that my Theme Within a Theme would be 7 different bikes! My problem was that at the start of the challenge I only owned 6 bikes that were rideable, but since I had a couple of frames and way too many spare parts in storage I figured I could cobble something together… Imagine my surprise when I visited one of my favorite shops, Oak City Cycling Project and they had a beautiful used chrome Bianchi Pista in my size just hanging on the wall and begging me to take her home. So I slept in the doghouse for a week, but I had my 7 different bikes… My "weekend" days are Sundays and Tuesdays thanks to a retail job, so here we go!

Coffeeneuring #1 Sunday Oct. 4th, Boulted Bread in Raleigh, NC



I rode from home in Garner to downtown Raleigh, about 17 miles round trip to visit Boulted Bread and meet up with my friend Geof who was out & about on his Sunday ride. My bike choice was my 1973 Nishiki International, I've owned this frame since I was 13 and bought the bike with $50 I'd saved up from mowing lawns. It spent a long time rusting away in my Mom's basement until 5 or 6 years ago I brought it back to life and converted it to a single speed commuter. Geof and I enjoyed coffee and apple turnovers, then I headed back home since it was looking like rain.

Coffeeneuring #2 Tuesday Oct. 6th, Cocoa Cinnamon in Durham, NC


I've been telling the guys at OCCP about coffeeneuring- it's right up their alley! Plus their shop is closed on Tuesdays, so they're some of the only folks I know with the same days off I have. Anyway, I managed to convince David and Brandon to join me for a coffeeneuring jaunt. Of course, their idea of a quick coffee run was to ride from the shop in Raleigh 50ish miles to a great little coffeeshop in Durham and back! Sure, it's 100 miles round trip, but only 50 miles for coffee (the other 50 is riding home…) They had a route planned, and knowing that they love mixed terrain I brought my Soma Doublecross. This is my "Swiss Army bike." I can do anything with it- randonneuring, gravel, commuting, cyclocross, etc. Sure enough, we were on roads, flooded greenways, American Tobacco Trail, and the gravel roads of Umstead State Park. I enjoyed a drip coffee and a chocolate croissant- nowhere near as good as the pain au chocolate I enjoyed so much in France, but quite edible. By the time we got back to Raleigh I was worn out, but it was a great ride!




Coffeeneuring #3 Sunday Oct. 11th Velo Coffee Roasters in Chattanooga, TN



We were visiting my sister-in-law and her new baby in Hixson, TN and I was bringing a bike to go ride a mountainous 200K on Monday, so Sunday I got up early and rode about 15 miles into Chattanooga to visit Velo Coffee. I rode my Scott CR1 Team, what I call my "plastic bike." It's basically an off-the-rack mid-level components carbon road bike- black, white, and red like they all are these days, but it's great for climbing mountains! I had an iced coffee, then explored downtown Chattanooga for awhile before meeting up with the family for lunch.

Coffeeneuring #4 Tuesday Oct. 20th Cup-a-Joe on Hillsborough in Raleigh. NC



Another Tuesday outing, I again convinced David and Brandon to join me. They were going out to ride gravel at Umstead, but I just rode the 9 miles from home through the NC State Campus on my new fixed gear, the Bianchi Pista I just bought from their shop. Mainly I wanted to show them the changes and upgrades I'd already done to it… We enjoyed coffee at Cup-a-Joe where I forgot to take a picture and then we rode over to the Roast Grill- a Raleigh landmark and home of the famous Roast Grill hot wieners. It was David's first time, and I'm betting he'll be back!

Coffeeneuring #5 Sunday Oct. 25th Aversboro Coffee in Garner, NC



We had lots of rain in central NC in October. This Sunday I got up early and there was a short break in the rain, so I got out the old steel Nishiki Manitoba mountain bike and rode 2 miles over to Aversboro Coffee, my favorite local shop. Had a medium coffee and some blueberry mini-muffins, then rode the bike over to check out the local trails. Of course they were too wet, and it's good to stay off the trails when wet so we don't destroy them. I got back home and my wife and I headed into downtown Garner for a food truck rodeo. Mmmm...

Coffeeneuring #6 Sunday Nov. 1st "Coffeeshop Without Walls" in Garner, NC



After a solid week of rain I decided to just take a quick trip over to Lake Benson Park, about 2 miles from my house in Garner and make some coffee outside. I rode my Douglas Titanium S&S coupled travel bike- this is the bike I rode at Paris-Brest-Paris back in August. I brought along my camp stove and all the fix ins to make a pour over dark roast. Got some really strange looks from a few of the hearty runners who were out despite the drizzle- the park is popular for joggers. I half expected to have to start fixing coffee for everybody, but I guess they didn't want to approach the weirdo making coffee on a rainy day at the park shelter, so nobody asked!

Coffeeneuring #7 Tuesday, Nov. 10th- 5th Avenue Coffee in Garner, NC


I may have saved my favorite bike for last. This is my early 80's Ciocc San Cristobal that I carefully restored a few years ago. I waited till it warmed up a bit in the afternoon, then rode from home about 14 miles down to The Coffee Mill in Clayton, but they were already closed. So I headed back to Garner and stopped in at 5th Avenue- not my favorite shop but it got the job done. Just had coffee and an apple danish. The Ciocc is a dream to ride and just a beautiful, elegant bike so it's always fun even if the coffee is sub-par. I got nearly 30 miles in and finished just as the Sun was going down- a fitting end to this year's Coffeeneuring Challenge for me!

I learned something with my 7 bike Theme Within a Theme... my mountain bike sucks. Other than that one I really love all my bikes. Each has a specific purpose, or fills a niche, or just has sentimental value. But I'm going to have to think about a mountain bike. Truly, the optimum number of bikes is N+1!


Wednesday, May 27, 2015

North Carolina's own Strade Bianche

Last weekend I rode the Wilkes County Gravel Grind, a 200k RUSA Permanent route that starts in Clemmons, NC. It's a perm that I've had on my list for a couple of years because of three things: #1 It's tough, 126 miles with 7,500 feet of climbing... #2 It's unique- it includes about 18 miles of gravel roads, with one of those sections being the big climb of the day... And #3 It starts just about 20minutes from my Mom's house!

No one answered my invitation to join in the fun, so I rode solo all day. I chose to ride my Soma Doublecross with 700x32 Pasela TG tires. I had a nice conversation with Jimmy Williams, the perm owner at the start and heeded his advice on tire pressures. The first gravel section was just a taste- an easy 1.4 miles, but I could tell I was set up well. The bike had a nice floaty feel on the gravel and my legs were feeling good. I pushed a bit to see how fast I could go on the dirt roads...


The scenery aint too shabby

Paved roads for awhile and then the cue sheet tells me I'm approaching the 2nd gravel section, but it never comes... The state has been busy and they went and paved the road! Fresh asphalt took over about a 1.5 mile section of what looked like it was good fun dirt road. Oh well, it's on to the first control at a convenience store- but it's Memorial Day weekend and the store is closed. I lurked around the buildings a bit looking for a spigot to fill my bottles, but to no avail. I was down to about half a bottle of water and the next section included the big gravel climb up Brushy Mountain.

During our conversation in the early morning, Jimmy told me lots of stuff about the route- more than I could possibly recall, but when I saw a sign for Love Valley I remembered him suggesting I could go past a turn half a mile to visit the town. "Real old west" feel to it he said, horse country with hitching posts outside the general store and whatnot. I'd pretty much figured I couldn't take the extra time, but now I needed to go look for water. What I found was a real watering hole! The owner was quite a character, and when I told him I was heading up the gravel roads to climb Brushy Mountain he gave me another bottle of water for my jersey pocket. Full up with H2O and a dash of good rando luck I headed up the mountain, passing friendly folks on horses and enjoying some beautiful weather.


 Gravel climbing


Turns out I climb on gravel just about as slow as I do on paved roads. This is a serious climb, too with a few steep turns that had me losing traction and sliding out sideways. I walked a couple or 3 times.  Each time I was able to get going again once the steepness wore off. Finally I got to the top and back on paved roads. My reward for the climb was a really fun descent with fast switchbacks on asphalt. I'm glad I didn't have to go back down the gravel road!!


I stopped... to take a picture...


The control in North Wilkesboro is the Coffee House, and by this time it was after 1PM and I was hungry. I sat down for a ham & cheese sandwich and fries. Refilled the bottles and got back on the road in just about half an hour. There aren't any more controls for the last 50 miles or so back to Clemmons. The cue sheet does mention one store, but I missed it and after awhile I began to worry about water again. The day had gotten hot and I was riding in some of those areas you just know it's a long way to a store. Twice the road was closed due to a bridge out. the first one was a scramble down rocks and hop a creek, but the second was a river crossing. The bridge workers had stretched a couple of I-beams across the river to go back & forth.


Extreme rando cyclocross! 

Did a couple more easy gravel sections and then stopped at an old gas station that was closed but had a spigot out front. I was down to less than half a bottle. The water was rust-colored at first, but then became slightly less rust-colored so I filled my empty bottle and carried it in case I ran out before finding a store. A little while later I passed a school with a ball field and went on the hunt again, finding a much better spigot. I dumped the rust water, rinsed and filled up for the last 20 miles.


Nice paved roads, too

The last gravel section came at 11 miles to go, and I was happy to be well ahead of time limits- now it looked like I'd finish in under 12 hours so once I got back to asphalt I texted Jimmy and let him know my ETA. Rolled up to the Starbucks finish at 11 hours, 46 minutes! I had a great time, and this was a beautiful & challenging route. Afterwards I've looked at the RUSA results for this route and I am just the 6th person to finish it. Jimmy is the only one who had done it twice, and no one had ridden it since 2012! There really are some great gravel roads still in Wilkes County, but watch out- the state is out there paving them...


Yep, still in NC


Tuesday, January 20, 2015

It's time.

It is 2015… a  Paris-Brest-Paris year. The last time it was held was 2011, and I couldn't afford to go. Instead I rode the Taste of Carolina 1200K that year and both the ToC1200 and the Shenandoah 1200K in 2012. Since then I've done tons more Randonneuring but I scaled back my goals (and slacked off on my blogging.)

In both 2013 and 2014 I abstained from 1200K's but completed 1000K rides. My 2014 Super Randonneur series (200K, 300K, 400K, and 600K) and bonus 1000K put me in great position for PBP pre-registration. It's currently midway through January and I've already completed my 2015 200K and 300K, my 400K is coming up in 2 weeks and the 600K is at the end of February…

This year I'm going to France. I've been saving my pennies. My bike is ready, my body however needs a bit of a tune-up. It's time for me to get back to serious training. My goal is NOT to set any record time- I just want to be fit enough to enjoy the ride. On the long randonees, the faster you can ride the more you get to sleep. I want to enjoy the experience of PBP- I want to meet locals, volunteers, and fellow Randonneurs.  I want to stop for coffee and a pastry often. I want to take pictures. And yes, I want to sleep in a French ditch. To ride it this way I need to be able to make up some time on the road.

I'm going for a ride.