Meet our new cycling partner!

Oh, Hi.I'm not dead or anything, just busy and not doing much cycling.


I moved out of my Polish Hill apartment and in with Marko waaaaay out in Baldwin. I've not done much riding because I've been using the car to shuttle loads of boxes from the apartment to the house.

Hi, I'm the new guy.

We also adopted a dog. His name's Gus and he's a Bugg (part Boston, part Pug). He came from a shelter in Texas. We made it a priority to get Gus outfitted in his very own trailer. Here's his maiden voyage:

We stopped at Thick to oggle the bikes

He did a fairly good job of not being a jerk in the trailer and sat quietly, enjoying his scenery from the backseat. He was surprisingly pooped when we got him back home.

Coffeenuring bonus, for good measure

I'd mis-counted our coffeeneuring trips and thought we still had one more to go... turns out we'd already completed our required trips and were all done! After a errand in Bloomfield we debated where we would go, but just would up meandering around Bloomfield and Shadyside in search of a non-chain coffee shop. We settled on Jitters. We learned later that it was, in fact a small chain of shops. Harrumph!

Coffeeneuring #6 and #7, spooky recumbents and Flocktober

Coffeeneuring #6 at Nicholas Coffee Roasters, Downtown

 

We encountered these Halloween decorated bikes... so much awesome here.

Coffeeneuring #7 was a Gasoline St Coffee Company, lots of bike themed stuff here, but no bike racks to lock to.

October's Flock ride was Halloween themed too, so again, Marko and I went as Nap Man and Wonder Woman, getting as much milage out of these costumes as we could.

Afterwards, we ended up at Wigle distillery where they were giving away free samples of locally-made whiskey, gin, absinthe (my first time tasting that spirit!) and vodka

Bike light giveaway, Underwear Ride and scavenger hunt

Bike Light Giveaway: Bike Pittsburgh has a program where they'll give away light sets to unlit cyclists. I'd volunteered us to help man this popup station on the North Side. We found 5 folks to give sets to on this chilly evening.

A former Ninja... riding off, now more visible!

 Our costumes for the final Underwear Ride of the year were Wonder Woman and Nap Man.
Naps are awesome.

Da na na na na NA... NAP MAN!

 Healthy Ride bike share held a scavenger hunt and hid 5 prizes (Aerotech cycling caps with a zombie theme) at their stations. They posted photo clues on social media and then the race was on to get to the station before someone else got the bag of goodies. We thought it good strategy to just hang out on the South Side and wait for a clue to be posted for one of the South Side stations. After the clue went up, we rode from 12th St up to the 25th St docking station and there it was!

While were posting the photo to Facebook, a woman drove up to the station and complained that this was her third Brucing of the game. She then angrily peeled out. Wow, so this woman DROVE from Lawrenceville, then to Downtown and then to the South Side to win a $20 cap? 

Neener, neener, lady!

Winning!

Coffeeneuring #5 at a florist shop

Looking to cofffeeneur at shops we'd not yet logged a ride to in previous rides (our rule is: "No repeats!") I'd found a shop in Bloomfield called 4121 MAIN and plotted a not-yet-taken route there via the sleepy single-lane backroads of Polish Hill and over the Bloomfield Bridge sidewalk. It was exactly one mile there and one mile back. We didn't enjoy the myriad of beg buttons we had to press to get across the street on the other side of the bridge, but we avoided a considerable hill by taking this route.

When we arrived and started locking up, I said "This doesn't look like a coffee shop!" Turns out it's a florist/coffee shop/event planner working out of a former 1800's bakery. Interesting place. It smelled of eucalyptus and other various dried flowers in addition to the coffee. I got a cappuccino and Marko got a pour-over.  Bonus bike rack right in front of the window. It's good to have the ability to keep an eye on one's bike.

Coffeeneuring... now with whiskey

Today was Coffeeneuring ride #4. We ventured into the realm of non-coffee drinks. Tea and ciders are permitted under the rules and the local whiskey distillery down in the Strip District, Wigle was debuting their fall-apple whiskey called Walkabout.
We had a maple hot apple cider and it was delicious. I was apprehensive about a hot alcoholic beverage but... wow, it was good. It truly warmed us on a chilly autumn day.

Coffeeneuring at Thick and the 321Ride

Thick Bikes hosted a Coffeeneuring event and I think it was well-attended, we ran into Geoffrey, Ed and Karen on the way there and Bill when we arrived at Thick.
Pittsburgh's going even bigger this year with the number of attendees. I think we'll retain our crown as the Centre of the Coffeeneuring Universe (next to DC, of course)

While the coffee and baked goods were free, I felt the urge to shop. I picked up some socks and new brake pads.

Neither Marko or I have changed disc brakes before, so we watched some videos and tutorials in the Interwebs before diving in.
Marko thinks it's humorous to use the light attached to the helmet to better see what one's doing while working on the brakes.

The next day, we helped marshal the 321Ride Ric, one of the organizers made sure I got a special "SURVIVOR" bib.

I think I need to mount that camera somewhere else #crookedhelmet

Coffeeneuring #2... Breaking rule 11

"Earth Rule. There are no geographic limitations to the Coffeeneuring Challenge, except that you must coffeeneur on planet Earth."

Ha! Rules, schmules! We're going to Mars!

Coffeeneuring 2016 Kickoff

It's Coffeeneuring time!

Emma and Q organized another kickoff gathering for all the Pittsburgh peeps to celebrate all things bikes and coffee and the out-of-doors.
The weather cooperated this year and they held it in Frick Park. I was completely unfamiliar with Frick and Marko had only ridden through once before. We found it with precise directions to the shelter.
We arrived a bit late, which is unlike us, but thankfully there were still goodies that other folks had brought. Oh my the apple fritters were delicious, I love love love hot apples of all varieties: pie, fritters, dumplings, strudel... DROOL.
It was well attended, 20 total.

Here's some photos!

I love this sticker on Emma's bike.

Cheers to Emma and Q!

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We found these posters plastered near Heinz Field not too long ago and feel compelled to share because I agree. Wholeheartedly.