Another Kind of Early Morning Coffee Ride

First off – an update on my bike. I took the wheels in last week to have them sealed and made tubeless to hopefully have less chance of flats. Given how hard it was to get the tire off to try to fix it and almost impossible to get it back on, I thought it best to minimize the amount of time I might have to do this.

As it turns out, though, the one tire turns out to not just have a small hole but an actual slash in it. Now I’m waiting for a new tire to come in. It should be any day now but that means I’m out on my other bike.

The bike that’s out of commission is a light, fast bike (by my standards anyway). It feels fun and agile. My other bike is a very solid commuter/touring bike that weighs about 10 lbs heavier. On the plus side it can carry everything I need for a camping trip, a load of groceries or just my laptop on the way to work. But it isn’t nearly as fun. It feels like going from an Audi A4 to a Toyota Land Cruiser. Both are good for what they are, but to go out and smash out a hour workout, I know which one I prefer! So it’s honestly been tough to motivate myself to go out.

In the cycling community there’s the idea of the “coffee ride” – for many that looks like settling in with a pack of people on a fast road bike, putting your head down and going all out for 30-40 km until you get to a cafe, grab a coffee and a couple of pastries then go back. Hang on tight and ride hard or you’ll get dropped.

But today I finally got around to a different sort of coffee ride. I woke up early, put a pannier with coffee maker, coffee, mug (the mug alone weighed 500 grams) and headed out an hour before dawn. No coyotes or deer today. I did see two skunks – one who did threaten me a bit with its tail from the side of the path – though I was gone before it could decide to get me. Rabbits darted across the path as I came and the occasional literal early bird turned onto the path in front of me, and then no doubt blamed me for “chasing” it. Finally I arrived at a park about 15 km away.

I found an empty picnic table near the forest – oddly enough with a single uncooked potato sitting in the middle of it. I tossed it into the woods for an animal to enjoy and unpacked as the sun came up. While I waited for the water to boil, I noticed others were also waking up. Two people came with their dogs, one of whom was named Moonshine. I learned this from her owner saying “Get over here Moonshine!” as she ran toward me. He eventually dissuaded her with the promise of a treat. Once the water was boiling I made my coffee and drank it while listening to the blue jays scolding me from nearby trees. Once done I packed up, had a little ride around the park (I haven’t been there in a couple of years) and then headed back home, well in time for Hindi class. While I might average 22-23 km/hr on my currently wheel-less bike, I just squeaked in at 17 – almost 25% slower. But that’s the price for a relaxing homemade coffee in the park.