Coffeeneuring 2015 Wrap-Up

This is a post with the sole purpose of recycling and recounting. Shameless self-promotion. "Hey, read my blog posts again!"

Recylcing (links to original posts):

It's over.

Shop 1: Devout Coffee (previously visited ...recycled)
Shop 2: The Cool Bean Cafe
Shop 3: Panama Red
Shop 4: Sunol Railway Cafe
Shop 5: Sugarie Bake Shop (previously visited ...recycled)
Shop 6: Pacific Bay Coffee
Shop 7: The Bubble Tree Cafe
Control Card: Here

Recounting:

Except for the Cool Bean, all the coffee shops were relatively close to home.

My Top Three Overall (coffee and "the experience")

1. Devout Coffee - cool place, cool people, good coffee, happy to talk about coffee, nice town
2. Sugarie - cool people, good pastries, good coffee, close to home
3. Cool Bean - cool place, good coffee, cool people, halo effect from Yosemite trip

Total mileage: 130 miles

And the answers to the questions you all want to ask:

What's with the duck?

Mendo, and the stunt-doubles

Well, really it's a failed attempt at doing something clever. I have a stuffed monkey that I take on cycling trips and have created a whole story around him. I cloned the Coffeeneuring interactive map and use it to track his travels. Next I plan to find his original owner and return the monkey along with this amazing story of where it's been. Cool, eh? Mendo the coffeeneuring rubber ducky was a spontaneous idea along the same lines. The monkey was scheduled to be elsewhere for much of the coffeeneuring challenge, so I couldn't use him. So the duck substituted for the monkey. 

Sorry you asked?

Why Coffeeneuring?

CycloMonkey loves coffee!

This is Mary's question to all of us. Two years ago, I was not a coffee drinker. But my cycling hobby had evolved to be my primary mode of transportation. So I was waking up at 5am for a two-hour commute a few times a week. That left me rather sleepy at work, so I started with a half-cup of coffee for the caffeine and grew from there. I figured if I was going to drink coffee, I'd rather drink good coffee and had better learn about it. That's one part of the answer: I wanted to learn more about coffee. A forced taste-testing event served that purpose.

A second part is that I'm a little nerdy (perhaps geeky) and have an abnormal affinity for checklists, accumulating logs of things, record-keeping, or most any form of organizing things. Much like my involvement in Randonneuring, I like to look at the list of things I've accomplished. So here was a chance to display my list to others who also might appreciate a list.

Part and parcel with my nerdiness is general introversion, introspection and creativity in need of an outlet. Facebook and blogging allow me to pretend to be extroverted at a nice, safe distance. So I suspected that I might get a captive audience in this Coffeeneuring group and I might get some pre-made topics on which to write. More practice at writing. More practice at cell-phone photography. And low and behold, I may have gained some friends ...well, acquaintances. Can I get a "like" or a "+1" for that?

Why Food Pairing?

Coffee, like wine or beer, can be very complex and varied. I've had good food with good coffee and the combination made both taste a little off. Look it up, it's a thing. I'm a believer. When is the cycling and donut challenge?

Was There a Theme Within a Theme?

Yes, did you miss it? Actually, I had hoped that one would evolve. So I sub-titled my rides with something and the name of the coffee shop. Nothing clever evolved. So no, there was ultimately no theme within a theme - except for the rubber ducky. If you can find some creative theme, leave a comment.

Thanks for indulging me.