Bike and Coffee

This is my third year participating in the Coffeeneuring Challenge. Basically it’s riding your bike to seven different coffee shops of the course of seven weeks. It’s not really a challenge per se, but a reason to ride a bike casually and also enjoy a cup of coffee.

Today was a nasty, windy, rainy day and I didn’t know if I would get number 7 done.  Sustained winds of 25 MPH with gusts approaching 40 normally would make this ride difficult enough to skip.  The rain let up mid afternoon but the wind continued to howl. However, evahhhh, I have The Raza.  Raza is the name of the electric assist bike I bought in Boulder, CO during my travels this summer.  On this ride, the aforementioned wind was not a factor. I could hear it, but not feel it.  The Raza, (named after the space ship in the Dark Matter series on Netflix),  has three settings. Eco, Normal and Boost.  Boost is very much like hyper drive, it’s that fast.  On this bike, I can get to 20 mph from a standstill in 6-8 pedal strokes.  The assist mode also lets me cut through the wind like a hot knife through butter.  But alas, there is a better use for the hyper drive.

There is one of those annoying older bikers in full kit who has to catch and pass anyone on the MUP.  He never warns that he is passing and can be rude, never acknowledging a hello or howahhya or if someone is too slow getting out of the way he says something nasty.  I’m looking forward to the day that we meet while I’m on the Raza so I can pass him in excess of 20 MPH, riding “no hands”,  tipping my hat while saying  “mawnin”.

Coffeeneuring suggested a theme for the rides.  My theme is recording them on video. Soooo..

2017 Coffee Challenge #7 from John Sullivan on Vimeo.