Monday, October 5, 2015

Coffee Ride #1: Coffeeneuring Challenge

High winds, chilly temps, and rough surf on Sunday
No filter on this pic.

It's that time of year again... the Coffeneuring Challenge. I didn't do well at coffeeneuring last year, as we had several things going on that prevented me from making the commitment, but I intend to do better this year! Several of my Strava/30 Days of Biking pals are in on the challenge, and reminded me it started over the weekend.

Chip's football game didn't end until 3:30, and the winds and temps were chilly, but I rallied to head out at 4:00.  Fighting the headwinds, I managed a loop of Marblehad neck, stopping at the beach to catch the high surf coming in from Tropical Storm Joaquin. Sun fading fast, I ventured on to downtown Marblehead for coffee, but lo and behold, the streets were deserted, and I discovered Java Sun was closed!

No worries (yet). I continued on to Atomic Cafe... quickly discovering that they were closed as well! Oh no! Ride #1 of my coffeeneuring challenge was in jeopardy!!

Coffeeneuring Ride #1, rescued by Shubie's Marketplace

I turned back down Atlantic Ave, noting the 'OPEN' flag was still flying outside Shubie's Marketplace -- so, crossing my fingers, I gave it a shot and went inside. It was ten minutes to five, and they were closing shortly, but lucky for me they still had coffee available! Success!

The gentlemen who assisted me was sweet as can be, and gave me the coffee free of charge! How nice was that?!?! (Of course I made a complete mess of it and sloshed coffee all over the counter, because, ME, but he laughed it off. Nicest guy!!) Subie's Marketplace is just awesome.

Coffeeneuring Ride ONE is in the books, rescued by Shubie's!! The challenge over the next seven weeks is to ride to a coffee shop each weekend -- 7 coffee rides, 7 weekends, (though I believe you can double up on a weekend if you must.) The challenge ends November 15th. Cross your fingers for good weekend weather!

(The rules for the Coffeeneuring Challenge can be found at ChasingMailboxes.com.)