A recall notice for my car had me drive to Fall River, Ma for the minor repair.  Naturally I decided to take the bike along and try to do the final coffee challenge ride.  This one has been difficult.  I saved this last challenge for a road trip to Columbus Ohio, tried three different places,  and none are worth mentioning. A couple more local failures led to this ride.  It worked out pretty good.

En route today, I called a bike friend in Fall River and he gave me a hilly 15 mile loop to ride during the two hour repair.  A cappuccino and sandwich at the Moose Cafe in Tiverton, RI was a good way to finish the challenge.   If I had waited a bit and kept riding, I could have done #7 at the Goose Cafe.  But the Moose Cafe got the honor.

2016 Coffee Challenge #7 Tiverton RI from John Sullivan on Vimeo.

We arrived Thursday evening with plenty of time to join the festivities.  We chose Sam’s Army over the American Outlaws party.  Sam’s Army is for us older fans who have passed our hooligan prime, and like a much quieter pre match gathering.

There was a new and unusual friendliness between the fans of the two countries that I’m sure was caused by our election.  As Leonard Cohen said, “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in”.  It was great to be a part of this event.

 

US_Mexico WCC in Columbus Ohio from John Sullivan on Vimeo.

It was another unusually warm day which screamed for a bike ride.   I still have one more coffee challenge ride to complete but I’m saving it for a possible road trip coffee stop.  I’ll be in Columbus, OH a couple of day to attend the Friday night  US/Mexico World Cup Qualifier.  My fourth time there.

A ride into New Bedford, MA for lunch at Destination Soup was followed by a ride around the South End Peninsula.  On the way back, a few things got my attention enough to stop and take some videos.

I just finished the promo final edit of the 2016 Ride. If your a fanatical bike rider, this is a good ride for your bucket list.

We meet at South Station in Boston, load our bikes on trucks and take the commuter train to Hopkinton.

We ride the Boston Marathon route beginning at midnight on the day of the marathon. This year there were 3200 riders and it’s growing every year.

It’s not an organized ride as we know it. The only organization is the truck transportation, otherwise everyone is on their own.

This is without a doubt one of my highlight rides every year and is done on Patriots day in April, which is a state holiday in Massachusetts.

2016 BOSTON MIDNIGHT MARATHON BIKE RIDE from John Sullivan on Vimeo.

I am a lover of the beautiful game.  Columbus, OH is a comfortable home venue for US men’s soccer.  I have been to three World Cup Qualifying matches over the years at the Crew Stadium including the first 2-0 win on a cold February night in  2001.   I applied for, and got tickets to the match on Nov. 11 in Columbus for the US/Mexico game.  Dos e cero is our mantra and I’ll be there with the American Outlaws to cheer on the red, white and blue next on Friday.  “I believe that we will win”.

I got a hot tip from a friend about a wonderful coffee shop in Padanaram Village located in Dartmouth MA.   Locally it’s pronounced  “paid nair’ im” and “Daht mith”.  I didn’t remember the name of the place, but the village only has a handful of shops in an area that can easily be cleared with a nine iron.

I rode up and back on the two streets and for the life of me, could not find a coffee shop.  Finally I got to ask a walker and she told me that it was inside the Farm and Coast Market.  I got myself a fruit and ricotta tart and a very good latte.

2016 Coffee Challenge #6 from John Sullivan on Vimeo.

It was a recovery day from Halloween of sorts.  I hosted a gathering at my home so friends could witness what it’s like to have your street overrun by ghosts, goblins and other scary creatures.  Instead of riding, I took the dogs for a very long walk in the Buzzards Bay Coalition trail, The Bogs.  It’s always a wonderful, flat place to hike or run.  In the fall, with the burst of colors, it’s a whole different world.

Along with the Coffeeneuring Challenge I have been participating in a Halloween Mileage Challenge at bikejournal.com. The coffee challenge was to ride at least two miles to have coffee. Click the link above for all the rules.  This is more fun than I anticipated and I get quite a few suggestions from friends to visit their favorite coffee shops.  I made a list and plan to hit them all.  Also, part of the challenge is to come up with a theme.  Last year, I wore a different bike cap to each coffee shop.  This year, I decided to make of video of each ride.

The bikejournal challenge was to ride 310 miles during the month of October to win a tootsie roll.  If your rode 620, you get two tootsie rolls.  Virtual candy naturally.  For those of us who ride, 310 miles in a month is pretty easy.

Today, two of us did a 38 mile bike ride from the terminus of the East Bay Bike Path in East Providence, to the Blackstone River Bike Path and ride that path to Woonsocket, R.I. We followed, sometimes not, the Blackstone Bikeway through Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls and Cumberland to get to the bike path.  We did need the help of the Pawtucket Fire Department and a friendly rider we met in Central Falls, to get us through some of the many turns and finally to the start of the Blackstone River Bike Path.

2016 Coffee Challenge #5 Providence R.I. from John Sullivan on Vimeo.

There was not enough time to do a long bike ride with the impending rain storm.  I decided to stay in town in case I had to make a mad dash home to keep from getting soaked. I rode to the Flower Girls Bakery and Cafe that was only a couple of block from the property that I use to store my new RV, to satisfy the Coffeeneur Challange #4/

Q. How do you get a 40’6″ wide ship into a 40′ hole?

A.  Do it at high tide.

Sometimes it’s all in the timing.  I saw the Provincetown fast ferry in dry dock at the Fairhaven Shipyard, and almost took a short video and left.  I decided however to continue down the dock to film the Buzzards Bay Whaleboats and some of the scallop boats.  I back tracked to the ferry in time to see the start of the transfer from dry dock to the bay.  The boat was wider than the slip but fortunately the hull is tapered into a V shape.  At high tide, the widest part of the boat was above the slip walls.  It was a tight fit.

The bus riding friend I mention in the video from Indiana is from Iowa.  What I didn’t mention is when he does charter road trips for groups and sports teams. Dan brings his bike along and does lots of riding while his passengers do whatever it is that brought on the road trip.  Pretty cool if you ask me.

2916 COFFEENEURING CHALLENGE #4 from John Sullivan on Vimeo.

A stormy October day was the setting for this coffee challenge riding the Shining Sea Bike Way from North Falmouth to Wood’s Hole, MA.

The winds were howling with gusts up to 40 MPH in the open spaces.  Most of the path is protected from the wind by trees as it winds inland.  Today’s coffee challenge stop was Pie in the Sky Bakery and Cafe in Wood’s Hole for a latte and a delicious rum raisin pudding.  The return route took me along Nobska Light and beach, with it’s spectacular vistas.

 

Untitled from John Sullivan on Vimeo.