Coffeeneuring Trip 6 - Friday November 11, 2016 Sunrise coffee outside version 2

Coffeeneuring Trip 6 - It's not the quantity, but the quality

Ride: 3.2 miles round trip
Trek Pure, and Electra Townie 3i Art
Joe and Amber on their townies

Every year we try to camp out at Fort Pickens for the weekend for Veteran's day.  This year Vets day fell on a Friday, so, unfortunately we were not prepared and were not able to book our sites for the weekend.  Luckily since we were all OFF on Friday, we decided we would camp on Thursday night for a modified s24o, dinner for Amber's 40th birthday, and some nice camp weather, fueled by a roaring campfire.  It was the first decent cold spell of the season (for us anyway) with temps in the high 40's low 50's at night.  We took our bikes with us knowing we'd be up with the sun the next morning.  Jen had an appointment in the morning with her Doctor at 9am, so this coffeeneuring ride would be an early one, and a short ride.

Needless to say, once the sun came up it was beautiful.  We rode straight to the beach down the pedestrian only deck, oops #sorrynotsorry :)  on the gulf to get some photos and warm our bodies with a cup of instant coffee from the stoves, then down the one mile path to the fort, around the fort then back to the campground. Instant Folgers for Joe, Jen and I, while Amber opted for her tea. This short ride is always one of my favorites as coffee in the morning after a night of camping is always the absolute best!

Our natural reflecting Pool

Waiting for the sun

There it is--time to fire up the stoves

Now we can see--that beautiful beach light

 

Joe blocking the wind and staying warm

Amber's tea was ready, and Joe's selfie for his own blog

The look of satisfaction--even if it was a Folgers instant pack

obligatory coffee gang photo

Fort laps on comfort bikes after our coffee

Those dangerous riding selfies on lonely National Park Roads :)

 

They're so cute at this age :)

Coffeeneuring Trip 5 - Saturday November 5, 2016

Coffeeneuring Ride 5
Rob and Jen on the Burley Tandem
27.5 miles to Pensacola/bike shop for spare tube/Foskos coffee shop
75 degrees/sunny some wind from the east on the ride home
Rode with Eisensees

Today we and the Eisensee's made our annual coffeeneuring trip to Pensacola.  Although I used to ride to Pcola all the time, I haven't been riding there as much, due to shoulder issues, and just basically being a busy parent with all the kiddos activities.  Anyway---

We left around 1PM to head to a coffee shop we really like that is downtown in Pensacola, Fosko's Coffee Bar.  We were a little worried about winds, especially since it felt like we were being 'pushed' to our destination, but too late to worry about that-we'd deal with that on the way home!  I'm always happier with winds pushing us on the way home than on the way to our destination!

We had a few stops on the trip today.  Our first (which we wanted to do last year but couldn't due to extremely high winds and rain) was to stop at the Pensacola Graffiti Bridge on 17th Av.  It was on the way, so Jen and I figured we'd stop and give kudos to this fun event!  We painted over some garbage political ramblings on the bridge, then threw up our 'art' and gave thanks for Coffeeneuring!  I was able to get some pictures taken from all of us, get rid of some old spray paint in an amnesty kind of way, then we headed to our next destination.

Unfortunately there is a bunch of trash located here. When Joe lifted his bike, he must have placed his tire on a piece of glass or sharp metal causing a slow leak.  Luckily, we were only about 10 blocks away from a local bike shop.  Because it was a slow leak, Amber was able to ride the townie to the local Trek shop and we were able to get it fixed.  We usually come prepared with pumps and spare tubes, but I remembered I left my kit on my other bike, and neither Joe nor Amber had tubes.  Lucky break for us.

Minutes later we arrived at the Fosko Coffee bar--Amber grabbing a Cinnabon Cappuccino, Joe, a Frappuccino, Jen had a Chocolate frappuccino with protein, and me, a Foskarino cold brew.

Foskarino and frappuccinos

Turned out to be just the jump start we needed as we later hit the local Annual Gulf Coast Arts Festival a few blocks away, then the trip home with a stop at the Bridgebar halfway (to replenish after battling winds) home to grab some authentic Tacos and a beer before finishing off the ride. A beautiful day to ride 28 miles on the tandem with wifey and our two very cool neighbors.

Coffeeneuring Ride 4 - Wednesday November 2, 2016

Coffeeneuring Ride 4
Ride 4-Short (catch-up ride) to local Starbucks
Townie and Trek Pure comfort bikes
83 muggy degrees, blustery tropical winds
5.4 mile round trip to Starbucks through local connecting neighborhoods.

Today was an easy ride day, in the afternoon to one of our staple stops for a short trip--STARBUCKS. Jen and I both love their holiday seasonal brews, and, even though it was 83 degrees when we left the house on our short 5 miler, I got a good tall cup of the Salty Caramel Latte (complete with large particles of salt found between my teeth on final consumption:), while Jen and my son opted for much cooler, much sweeter Peppermint Mocha Frappuccinos. The five-o-clock traffic rush didn't bother us too bad as we were able to roll through local neighborhoods on the back side of the main highway.  A good ride, but for some reason, I was quite overheated when I got back.  My son had PLENTY of energy for everyone after having his.  He's not participating, but he definitely enjoys riding his bike when there is a 'reward' at the end!


A beautiful but hot day to ride--we rode after work due to the fact that we were hoping to watch the Cubbies win game 7 tonight while at trivia in town.  Glad I got a strong cup of Joe since the game ended at midnight!  GO CUBS!  What an awesome end to a 108 year drought.