Coffeeneuring Ride 3: Pumpkin Spice

Since I've gotten a bit behind on the coffee rides, I am going to have to start doing two a weekend to get caught up.


Sunday morning was a bit cooler than Saturday, so I decided to take it indoors to Perk Place, where I enjoyed a pumpkin spice latte and also bought a bag of locally roasted beans. Perk Place is a family owned shop that just opened last winter. Although I've been here several times, this was the first time that I biked.


Being located in a strip mall, my parking choices were limited to either: a chain link fence 100 yards away, a wheel bender bike rack 200 yards away, or unsecured on the sidewalk. Being the lazy guy that I am, I chose the closest option. Since I could watch the bike from the window, I didn't feel quite as nervous leaving it there. Bike thieves probably sleep in on Sundays anyway.

Date: October 26
Location: Perk Place, 1336 W Arrowhead Rd, Duluth MN
Beverage: Pumpkin Spice Latte with almond milk.
Distance: 10 miles, which included a stop at the grocery store.
Observation: Sunday morning is the best time to ride into town.

Coffeeneuring Ride 2: Lake Superior Sunrise

We're on week four of the Coffeeneuring Challenge already, and I've only done one ride so far, so I guess it's time to get my butt in gear.
For my second outing I decided to do a coffee shop without walls while watching the sun rise over Lake Superior.


I chose a perfect day for it. When I left the house 45 minutes before sunrise the temp was 48 and the skies were clear. I made very good time. The ride was all downhill with a strong tailwind.


Oh the joy one feels upon learning he hasn't forgotten anything.


Although the water was a bit slow to boil, I got the coffee pressed with a few minutes to spare.


Hot on the rocks.


For your (quick) viewing pleasure.

My coffee companion. I didn't share. He seemed high strung enough.


Here is just one small contributor of Lake Superior's water. It's much more impressive in the spring.


Although I left my squirrel friend behind I still had some pleasant, and quiet, company for the ride home. Even if he would have spoken, I never would have heard him over the wind.

Date: October 25
Location: Skyline Parkway overlooking Lake Superior
Beverage: French Press with soy creamer and salted caramel agave syrup
Distance: 14.9 miles
Observation: Nature is beautiful, hills and headwinds, not so much.

Coffeeneuring Ride 1: Stretch It Out

It's Coffeeneuring time once again and I'm a week late getting started, so let's get this thing going.

I hate to admit it, but I was a bit coffee'd out by the time I had a chance to get out to ride, so I invoked  the buying beans rule and went to Caribou coffee to pick some up.


It was a beautiful day and I wanted to stretch what would have been an 8 mile ride out a bit, so I took the scenic route.


I stopped at Hawk Ridge to admire the view and check out the....um.....hawks.


While there were no hawks to be found I did spot a laker out on the water. Despite the lack of raptors, it worked out ok. Thousand foot ships are much easier to photograph than soaring hawks.


Eventually I made my way to the coffee shop. I didn't really want to include this picture, or even ride across the parking lot, but this where I went so here it is.


Date: October 12
Location: Caribou Coffee, Woodland Ave
One pound of Amy's Blend
Distance: 14.4 miles
Observation: The longer path is always more enjoyable.

Holey Rollers

For a while now, I've been looking for ways to make riding my Mukluk more enjoyable. Although it's great fun to ride, it takes so much effort just to get the thing moving, that riding it becomes quite a chore. So I decided that a bit of weight loss was in order.  Since they say the best weight to lose is rotational weight, I took the plunge and drilled out my rims.

Because there are already a ton of how-to's on the subject ( I learned the most from Vic at The Lazy Rondo Blog) and because I'm terrible at stopping what I'm doing to take pictures, I'm not going to go into too much depth on what I did, but there are a couple things I learned that I will touch upon.


A jig really helps to hold the wheel steady while you drill. I made mine by nailing some pieces of cedar fencing together.


A template helps get the holes lined up right where they should be. I used a center punch so the drill bit wouldn't wander.


Drilling the holes was the easy part. Smoothing the edges was a pain. I used a grinding wheel on my dremel and it took forever. Before I do Trish's wheels I think I'll pick up a deburring tool. It should be quicker and will probably do a better job.


The most vital part of the whole project is picking a fun tape. Musn't be boring.


The final numbers: It took me 7 hours which I would have just spent reading bike blogs, $20ish in tools and supplies, and 1.2 lbs lost between the two wheels.

Coming up next time: An even less detailed look at my tubeless conversion. Stay tuned.