Coffeeneuring Challenge: Ride 1

Destination: Markyate Village Cafe, 71/73 High Street, Markyate, Hertfordshire AL3 8PJ
Date: Monday, 14 October 2013

Hot drink of choice: Cappuccino

Ride details/report: below, with photos

Total mileage: 14.92 km

Background

"Coffeeneuring" is the term given to a series of challenges set over the past few years by Mary G at Chasing Mailboxes in Washington, D.C. The basic premise is to ride your bike out somewhere to drink coffee. For most people this will be a leisurely ride, perhaps also social if they go with a friend or three! The "fun" though is in documenting your rides in accordance with The Rules and then submitting them for validation in typical French style. The Third Annual Chasing Mailboxes Coffeeneuring Challenge is currently running, with a full complement of 19 rules.

I became aware of coffeeneuring sometime last year. I thought it sounded fun but my interest was fleeting and, anyway, I think I was too late to participate within the timeframe. 

This year, I 'caught on' via Twitter only a week into it, so last night I read the new rules, worked out how I could conceivably meet the challenge, and so here we are. Most weeks, I work Tuesday through Saturday, so I am nominating Sunday and Monday as my qualifying "weekend" for the duration of the challenge.  

Today's Destination

I chose the Village Cafe in Markyate as my first coffeeneuring ride destination. This cafe opened earlier this year with a flurry of cycling-related advertising, as the proprietors posted on a number of cycling websites, forums and Facebook pages inviting Sunday club run groups to try them out for their mid-ride stop. They seemed to know what cyclists want:  Bike Parking!  CAKE!

Through the summer, I was aware that the local Breeze Ride ladies were using the Village Cafe as the cake stop whenever they did their Dunstable-to-Redbourn route. Reports sounded good, backed up with appealing photos of the ladies basking at tables in a garden at the back of the cafe with their bikes propped around the garden wall. 

Today's Ride: Damp and Chilly

Looking out the window today, it was quite clear that summer is over. We were away all weekend in Liverpool, where it turns out the weather was much better than at home! Here, it apparently lashed with rain and wind all weekend - lots of friends bailed out on their Sunday rides. So today I dug out the Gore full length bib tights. That turned out to be a good move. 

It wasn't exactly raining, but everything was dripping wet. I was spattered in mud from head to toe by the time I got home.

The Coffee:  Cappuccino

Unfortunately, it was obviously made from a mix. Drinkable but only just. 

The Parking: Amongst the Dripping Neglected Table, Chairs and Rubbish Bins (sad)

Summer is so obviously over.

Impulse: Lunch

I realised that if I waited til I got home to have lunch, that would not be until nearly 2pm. So I asked if they were still serving breakfast and was delighted to learn that they were. A full English arrived in short order (missing exactly the items I asked them to omit - proof the waitress was paying attention!)  As cooked breakfasts go, it was okay but frankly ours at home are nicer. I think all the ingredients were budget range from the supermarket, instead of locally sourced. The sausage was tasty but cooked in a microwave and a bit undercooked. 

Bonus: Tree Tunnels! Flooded Crossroads!

Summary:  A nice start. Quiet and leisurely - almost no traffic today. But with just a touch of adventure. Looking forward to Coffeeneuring Ride 2 next weekend.