Coffeeneuring Ride 2: Ninth Street Espresso

Ride 2: October 12 / Ninth Street Espresso / 11.2 miles / Espresso & Coffee Black

Once again it was raining on Saturday, so I had to wait until Sunday to fit in a ride.  Again, it was in the high 50s to start the day and very sunny, so I dressed up*, stashed a jacket on the bike just in case, and picked out where to go next. 

*A quick note about my riding outfit:  there are people who ride bikes out there that dress up in spandex and team kits to make themselves aerodynamically "fast."  I am not that guy.  When I say "dressed up," I usually mean a pair of well worn Carhartts, a t-shirt, a Melanzana hoodie, some high-top Chuck Taylors, and a trusty Colorado Rockies hat.  No, I don't wear a helmet.  Yes, I am aware of whatever thought that just provoked. 

Ninth Street Espresso is in Alphabet City, and, again, was on an Internet list that said I should go there.  Can't argue with the Internet.

The shop is a little under 6 miles away and I had several choices of how to go.  Remember last week when I said to avoid Midtown?  Well, for whatever reason, I ignored my own advice and decided to rely on the Broadway bike lane below Times Square to get me to 20th St.  So, I rode down Columbus Ave, which also has a bike lane that is pretty good until Hell's Kitchen, took a left on 40th, which kinda has a bike lane, and then to Broadway.  This is when I began to hate myself.  Sure, there is a bike lane on Broadway, but between the diagonal avenue crossings, pedestrian malls, and weekend crowds, it was really a miserable time trying to ride down 20 streets.  I definitely should have done a river ride.  Once I got to 20th St, the ride over and down to Alphabet City was easy.  Pluses for this ride: I didn't get hit by a car, and the weather was FANTASTIC for riding. 

It did take me 40 minutes to get there, and this place is only a few blocks away from MUD Coffee (25 min ride, way better route).  The shop itself <Point B> is much wider than MUD coffee, has some outdoor seating, and is nice and open inside.  Only drawback: because of the sun angles it was in the shade.

I met a friend that lives on the Lower East Side there, so we ordered some coffee and talked about pretty much nothing.  The menu there is very simple, so I decided to go with a plain espresso.

 

The espresso was great and the caffeine definitely got the motor going, but it's so small.  I don't usually do too well with small quantities of food or drink, so I quickly followed that up with a regular cup of Coffee Black (Black Coffee, for those of you who didn't ski patrol at Copper Mountain before).  Even drinking inside they were using paper cups for coffee, which seemed odd to me.  Is it too much to ask for a regular mug in my hand?  We're all adults here. (Maybe?)

After that, I headed to a bar on 7th and 2nd called Standings <Point C> to watch the Broncos beat the Jets, keep track of my fantasy team, and heckle my friends. 

I rode home about 4pm up Third Avenue, which doesn't have a bike lane, but moves at a good clip, so I just ride in the right lane.  West on 60th St, and I cut through Central Park to get home. 

The coffee shop was OK, the riding was fantastic (except for Midtown...) because of the great weather.   Also, Go America, Go Broncos.

Ride 2: check. 

Coffeeneuring Ride 1: MUD Coffee

Ride 1: October 5 / MUD Coffee / 11.1 miles / Caramel Macchiato

I live on the Upper West Side.  I have plenty of coffee shops nearby, but also have the advantage of having plenty of coffee shops that are not nearby.  This is also a disadvantage, because with so many coffee shops in NYC, I find it difficult to figure out where to go because I'm not very familiar with any coffee shop outside of my neighborhood.  So, where did I turn?  Thrillist, and their "The best coffee shop in 30 NYC neighborhoods" article.

I haven't been to the East Side of town very much, and though I fear change more than I fear most other things, I decided on MUD Coffee 5.5 miles away on the Lower East Side.  Here is a non-Strava map of my ride.

Since I live on the UWS most of my rides start with me riding down the Hudson Bike Path, or through Central Park.  I decided a nice Hudson River ride would be great. 

It had rained Saturday and was still 55F when I got going, but it was sunny and the ride along the river was beautiful. Once I got down to 16th St, I chose to work my way across Manhattan towards the East side.  16th St has a great bike lane, but the lights are poorly timed, so the same car will fly by you, yell at you for riding too slow, stop a the next red light, watch you pass alongside and pull in front of him, wait for the light to turn green, and then speed by again, yelling or honking.  Great plus for this particular ride: I was NOT almost hit by a cab.  The 5.5 mile ride took me 25 min to get down there <PointB>.  I didn't set any speed records, but, again, didn't get hit by a cab.  Not too shabby.

MUD Coffee is a hole-in-the-wall coffee shop.  It was also crazy hipster line-out-the-door busy. However, the lines moved quickly, and it looks like a great place to get your brunch on.

I decided on a Caramel Macchiato...I had heard good things, what can I say?

It was very good.

So, with coffee on board, proof of my ride in hand, and a Broncos game starting soon, I started my ride home.  I started with the 1st Ave bike lane going north.  Pedestrians in the bike lane, delivery guys salmoning, cars merging to turn left poorly...all pretty par for the course, but it's a buffered bike lane and a lot more pleasant than just riding on most of the avenues in Manhattan.  Then I did something ridiculous...I turned towards Midtown.

I don't know why I ever think that riding through Midtown is a good idea.  It never is, and yet, like a moth to a flame, I somehow think that 6th Ave still has a bike lane running up it, and I always work my way that way.  Anyhow, check out the map: Park Ave for a little bit, over to 6th Ave, and then up to 57th where I headed over to 8th Ave.  Remember that lovely Hudson River ride and coffee that put me in a good mood?  Well, I can only get honked at while riding with the flow of traffic so many times. 

Through Columbus Circle, up Central Park West, and finally over to Amsterdam to head home. 

The ride was fantastic, except, again, for Midtown.  Coffee: ridiculously good.  They also sell beans, and have brunch.  Week 1: check.

Blog Post #1: Coffeeneuring 2014

I live and ride a bike in NYC. Let's just get that out of the way and have everybody agree that I might be a little crazy.

My bike is a Surly Cross Check, with Schwalbe Big Apple tires, and one gear. It's not a fixie because I like coasting too much, and I have breaks on it.  Apparently, if you have a fixie, you can't be cool AND have breaks...so I choose breaks over being cool.

I heard about coffeeneuring one day in November of 2013 after clicking on too many links on too many different bike blogs. I eventually ended up here: http://chasingmailboxes.com/, read about coffeeneuring, and instantly loved the idea. You see, I can be a bit lazy, so having a challege to get me out the door and on my bike is exactly what I need...otherwise, there's a Broncos game on that I can happily watch.

The drawback of finding out last November, is that it was only one week from being over, and there is no way that I could still participate. So, I had to wait until Fall 2014. Skip over a lot of stuff... and Coffeeneuring season 2014 is now here!