Coffeenuering #2 - Chicago Divvy Ride-Around

The first stop on my epic cross country road trip last week was Chicago, a mere 10ish hours covering DC, VA, MD, PA, OH and of course IL (we were awfully close to MI for a bit but didn't bite).  The late night arrival left time for only a stop off at Pequods Pizza followed up with check-in at the downtown Reneissance (points).  Pequod's was fantastic, amazing atmosphere, friendly people and the deep dish was exactly as we'd been envisioning over the 10 hour journey!  Once back downtown we met up with my best friend Ryan who happened to be in town for an Amtrack meet-up and wandered around enjoying the ridiculous architecture, bridges and a couple cold beverages.

But on to the Coffeeneuring!  The following morning my friend Kamal and I (the two of us were transporting his Honda Civic cross country) took to the Chicago Bike share - Divvy, to see as much of the city as possible given our short window.  We started downtown by the hotel and worked our way to the Millenium Park and from there followed the water down to the Adler Planetarium and then back up through the city to the hotel...  As you can see above, the total mileage was about 7.5.  Not bad with LOTS of stopping.  In fact we took it upon ourselves to ensure that we never exceeded the 30min grace period on the Divvy bikes and ended up hitting 6 docks by my count.  Funny that I've never actually used the DC Bikeshare bikes myself, so the experience was alot of fun in Chicago.

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, gorgeous day, good company and a fun ride around.  The coffee was almost an afterthought.  I had wanted to stop at Intelligentsia which was close to our return route but we were getting short on time and wanted to squeeze in time for a Polish Sausage on the way out of town.  The coffee back at the hotel ended up doing the trick for me anyway, as it had a great view of the river.  I'd love to come back and explore the city much more properly next time!

1. Chicago, IL
2. 10/20
3. Reneissance Marriot, Chicago Downtown - Black Coffee, drip... not bad but not noteworthy
4. Most landmarks in a new-to-me city seen during Coffeeneuring
5. 7.5 miles

What can I say... this thing was AMAZING.

I've got some more shots to stitch a pano with that needs some attention. I'll get to it sooner or later!

Out on the breakwater at the Adler Planetarium... lots of cool buildings in Chicago!

I LOVED these twin towers, very close to our hotel, the floors from the ground up to about 1/3 of the way up are parking garage, and its condo's on up from there. Not pictured is the small marina on the river. So if you lived in Chicago, and had the dough... your boat, your car, and your condo are all extremely convenient to you!

After a fashion, we did find the polish sausage... and it was good.

Coffeeneuring #4 - Back to the Commonwealth!

#4 you say... what happened to #'s 3 and 4?!?

Let's just say I have a bunch of posts to catch up on this week.  Last night concluded an epic 8 day cross country ramble that was pretty ridiculous even for my unusual standards.  Of bicycling interest, I rode a single speed for the first time, used bike share in Chicago, met Rob (owner of Ocean Air Cycles), rode the ever so sweet Ocean Air Cycles 'Rambler', and observed the effects of 3,000+ road miles on a Univega Supra Sport mounted on the back of a Honda Civic.  More on all that later, on to the Coffeeneuring!

For my welcome home ride I chose a very conservative 2 mile trip to my local Swing's in Del Ray, and honestly after sampling coffee in many of the 16 states I visited in the last 8 days there is not a better cup to be found.  After a quick once over including tire inflation my Riv Atlantis seemed happy to have me back!  I hope to get another ride in this afternoon as I enjoy a last day off from work.

Pour Over technique.... I saw this in Ventura, CA and in New Orleans, LA this past week.  Spitfire Cafe in NO made a spectacular cup, and Element Coffee in CA will be the subject of Coffeeneuring #3!

Home again - home again - jigitty - jig !!!

1. Del Ray (Alexandria), VA
2. 10/28, a day of personal leave from work
3. Swings Coffee, Pour Over, Sumatra something.... dark and nutty, very smooth
4. Welcome back ride around the neighborhood - cool decorations abound for Haloween
5. 2 miles

Lake Waccamaw #Coffeeneuring

Atlantis on the Lake...

A full week into the challenge I'm posting my first 'qualifying' #coffeeneuring outing... and of course it was a comedy of errors!  My Mom just retired from teaching at the end of the last school year and she is moving from Northern VA to a great NC lake house.  My wife, sister, brother-in-law and neice and I were down to help with some moving in and enjoy the 3 day weekend.

I brought bikes for myself and Erika but between all the moving in, hauling out and other planned events we didn't get much time for riding. (there was also some lazy sleeping in).  On Sunday I did manage a quick one hour ride around the lake and back but as it was late afternoon I didn't attempt any coffee brewing.  So Monday morning allowed for my first 'Coffee Shop without Walls' coffeeneuring attempt.

First to discuss the coffee, and the apparatus...  I've been fascinated by 'pour over' coffee ever since visiting the Swings Coffee Bar in Del Ray during one of my first sequestration related furlough days over the summer.  I'm generally in somewhat of a rush with getting my coffee but I was impressed at the amount of attention the barista's put into a single cup of coffee. Fast forward several months and I just received my very own Hario Drip Coffee Kettle, a collapsable drip coffee cone, filters, and a really cool esbit alcohol stove with wind guard.  I brewed my first non-bike related cups using the kettle and drip cone in the house on Sunday morning and packed my trunk bag up with everything (or not) that night.  The coffee itself is a fairly pedestrian pre-ground duncan donuts brand... nothing special though pretty darn good in my opinion.

Second the bike... the Atlantis, fresh of it's off road adventures from the previous weekend and with a re-tuned bottom bracket made the trip. For anyone who needs to know, a 64cm Atlantis without the front wheel mounted will fit upside down inside a 2010 Rav4 with the seats down.  I put the bars and seat down and braced it up against the side of the car.  Worked pretty well.

Third (but not finally) the ride... I did about 10-12 miles the day before and my mind was set on the coffee so I picked a public pier right on the lake that was 2.1 miles from my Mom's new place.  The ride was nice, just a touch of misting rain but not bad at all.  I even rode the bike directly out onto the dock which was cool and I'm sure not a behavior which is encouraged.  It was about the time I had assembled my alcohol stove that I realized a fatal flaw... no manner to produce a flame.  No lighter, no matches, no flint and steel...

Fourth, and finally... the humbling 2.1 miles back home where I gathered matches, realized I had also set out without a coffee mug, grabbed one of those and then proceeded out to the dock at my Mom's place and made my first cup of #coffeeneuring coffee in my shop without walls.   Great morning that I ended up sharing with my Mom!

To make sure I didn't miss anything;

1. Lake Waccamaw, NC
2. 10/12-10/14, #coffeeneuring on 10/14
3. Dunkin Donuts ground coffee, pour-over style, alcohol stove
4. Forgetful morning ride on the Atlantis, and I rode on a dock... :)
5. 4.2 miles

Packed up... minus the matches and a mug... :( fail

First time the esbit was set up... nothing to light it

Matches and coffee mug included

Discovered that the little rest for the solid fuel tab must be removed to allow enough room for the alcohol stove to breathe... 10 min later I had a healthy boil going

success

Shutdown Solo Century

Government shutdown, gorgeous weather, a bike that was ready to ride, and I was open to a 'longer' ride....  that equals my first ever Century distance ride.  Significant not only due to the milestone of 100miles, but also becuase, as recorded on this blog, my previous distance best was less than 55miles.  As soon as the Government shutdown seeemed likely to hold up on Tues night I took about an hour to tweak some things on my Trek (the Atlantis is down with a BB issue).  New rear innertube, shifting cables tweaked, VO Front Wheel Stabilizer installed, and bar tape installed on the tops of my Noodle bars... she was looking good, poised and ready.

Wednesday morning came and to be honest I was not very motivated, I dallyed around the house, walking the dog and on the verge of throwing in the towel and focusing on house projects... then I got a note from my friend Wes wishing me a good ride and that was the last straw.  I set out without the commitment to do a Century, in fact my bar for success was to exceed my 50 mile previous best... but even as I rolled out of Alexandria I was arleady thinking that if my legs and mechanics were in good shape when I got out towards Herndon that I would reserve the right to go further...

I'm so happy to have successfully completed the ride yesterday, among the highlights was running into Mary of Chasing Mailboxes and #FridayCoffeeClub fame...  really awesome person who I got to share a couple miles with in and around Herndon on the way home.  I was in the neighbourhood of 70-75miles into my day and will say without an ounce of shame that I was not able to keep up with her despite the fact she was riding her gorgeous singlespeed, a Rivendell Moonbeam.  My day was about endurance and finishing, not time.

Another happy coincidence was stopping in at Best Buns in Shirlington on my way out and running into the Bike Arlington forums Wednesday Coffee Club... Cynthia, Dana, Mark? and others... awesome to have met you on the way and I'll have to check out that forum soon!

So many thoughts about the ride, spending 11 hours in an outing, with at least 9.5 of those directly in the saddle gave me plenty of time.  I really struggled badly with cramps in my hamstrings starting around mile 35.  After stopping mulitple times to stretch out and walk it out I ended up cycling through the cramps most of the way back, the pain was pretty intense at times but I gained confidence with each bout that I could muddle through.  Definitely need to work harder on staying hydrated.  I"m going to cut off the words here and go to the images, maybe a follow up post with lessons learned and gear notes will come to me later.

Pointed towards adventure...

The front basket with that elastic hook net is one of my all time favorite additions for any bike.  How do you like the tops only bartape?  That is the old tape off the Albatross cockpit on top of innertubes of course.

Wednesday Coffee Club at Best Buns

Golf course rest stop near Reston

A fantastic coffee shop bike shop in Herndon, I recomend the Espresso

A bike on the ground cannot fall...

Luck Quarry doesn't seem affected by Gov't shutdowns

At the Turn...  reaching Purceville was the biggest hurdel in my own head.  I was dissappointed to find Trail's End Bike Shop closed.

 

Carolina Bro's BBQ.... I ate a LOT of bbq on my way back... 

Can't say enough about how well the Trek did yesterday...

Victory Lap... home-Purcevill-home = 96 miles, so I added the Custis Trail/Mount Vernon Trail loop to tack on the extra 4 miles.  Just in time for sunset over the Monuments.

Centurion (note the dyno lights still hot! :))

Coffeeneuring

I'm going to make a big effort to include at least one Waffle House in the challenge this year!

A hilariously funny coinciding of bicycles, coffee and long distance endurance event rules equals the Coffeeneuring Challenge put out by the local to me chasingmailboxes blog and I am pretty darn excited to particpate this year!

I'll be using the blog to record my minimum of 7 Coffee Shop visits, based on my travel schedule between now and Nov I may get the opportunity to do some random out-of-town options too.  Stay tuned!

Tony

Philly Ride-Around

Great loop around the schuylkill River Trail from a couple week's ago.  One of the Trek's last adventures with the inverted albatross bars!

The XO-3

New-Old-Broke Bike Day!

A bike I've been on the look out for for the past year or so has been a copy from the Bridgestone 'XO' series from the early 1990's... These bikes were some of the first instantiations of Grant Peterson's philosophy of an all-rounder bicycle. They had road oriented geometry but 26" mountain bike wheels and rear spacing with clearance for (at the time) fat tires and of course the infamous moustache handlebars...  They were the first sketch of what today is the Rivendell Atlantis.  So a cool bike with a story, built by a quality manufacturer in steel.

This brings us to the copy that I located via ebay in Ocean City, MD... it is a 1993 Bridgestone XO-3, here is the catalog description courtesy of Sheldon Brown's site;

In 1993 the XO-1 was the top of the line, with skinnier tires, a fancier fork crown and about 1 lb lighter overall with the stock components, oh and the moustache bars came with bar ends instead of MTB levers.  The XO-2 appears to be the same frame as the XO-3 but with drop bars and lighter components.  Bringing us to the XO-3 which combined the moustache bars with MTB levers but kept the 'dummy lever' hand rests.  My copy is the Red color and has been pretty well abused/used over its lifetime as you'll see in the pictures.  

The possibilities are endless!!  I'm willing to take my time on this one as I'm still finishing up the Atlantis wheel-build and finetuning the drop bar setup on the Trek...  what to do with the XO-3?!?

-uitility/grocery getter with large baskets or a porteur rack?

-rough and ready offroad?

-singlespeed/fixie testbed (I've never ridden one)?

-Winter/wet weather commuter.. IGH drivetrain...?

-S&S Coupler candidate

Questions on the re-build;

-Restore vs rebuild; rebuild.  The orginal components are mostly shot and there is too much good stuff available now to try to make a period correct XO-3. I'd rather take the opportunity to make it work for me.

-Rust treatment/inhibition; obviously I need to treat the frame in a number of places.  Get the surface rust off then protect the steel.

-Handlebar orientation;  does it look to you like the bars are upside down? 

-Strip and repaint/powdercoat.... I'd hate to loose the decals, but this is a definite possibility 

My end '3 bike' solution then will be;

Atlantis, upright, primary commuter

Trek 650B, drops, sporty day rides

XO-3, .........see above..........

Pictures for anyone who made it through all the musings;

Even the headbadge is not on correctly.... crooked to the right...

Pitted and cosmeticaly awful, the headset does seem to turn ok.

None of the decals are in perfect shape, Velocals has XO-1 decals but no XO-3... anyone have a lead?

No rear shift cable, or shifter for that matter.  Chain is rusted, cassette is as well.

 I think the tires are the original 'Tom Slick' editions but the sidewalls are completely shot though there is tread left.

Even the quick release is pitted with rust.

The saddle is in remarkably good shape.

The stem and bars are also in good shape, retaining a pearl-like luster.

Cool Ritchey grips

I'm hoping to salvage the SS-4 Diacompe levers.  Pretty simple levers so a clean/lube should do the trick.

One of the dummy lever hoods is torn but otherwise the cockpit is in decent shape.  Of course minus a right hand shifter.

The shifter it does have is ineffective, not sure if its the front derailleur, cable or shifter yet, but we'll see.  Notice the rise in the bars here, I think the bars were inverted based on the way the catalog looks.

Non drive side front took a real beating at some point.  Talk about 'beausage'!