If you have followed any of my coffeeneuring posts you might recall that the challenge MG set up was to go to seven different coffee shops over the last six weeks. It had to be at least two miles round trip. You could only go on the weekend, you could only go once per day, and you could not go to the same coffee shop twice, unless it was a chain and they were different locations. You could combine coffeeneuring with shopping, or other errand, but you could not combine it with sanctioned ride or randonneur brevet.
I had five visits under my belt, and last weekend was my final opportunity to complete the challenge. I had to go each day. This was going to be a little tough, as there were things needing doing at the house, but I could spare an hour and a half each day for a coffeeneuring trip.
Coffeeneuring Control #6 – Peet’s Coffee, downtown San Mateo California (not the same one from Control #1!)
One of the things I had to this weekend was to pick up more beans from Peet’s. Normally, I get them at my office in San Francisco, but I forgot last Friday. I always get a half pound so that I get a free regular coffee and also because the beans are fresher that way.
I set out in the early Saturday afternoon with my Salsa Casseroll, sadly now discontinued, and got to Peets around 2:30. Surprisingly, it was rather full and there was no place to sit at first. I maneuvered my randonneur bike over to the side wall and placed my order.
I asked for the beans to be ground at setting #3, which is a fine grind, so it worked best with our Aerobie coffee press at home. I got a peppermint mocha and a piece of coffee cake. After ordering, I saw that a table had opened up and went and grabbed it.
I had never been to this Peets before, and I quickly noticed that they operated at a much slower pace than the Financial District of San Francisco. It took about five minutes to get my mocha, and there was nobody in front of me. This barista would have been quickly overwhelmed at the downtown San Francisco Peets!
Anyway, when I finally got it, it was quite tasty and went well with my coffee cake.
When I was about halfway done, I ordered a regular mocha for Tanya and put it in my thermos and took it home for her.
Coffeeneuring Control #6 complete!
Distance: 6 miles round trip.
Coffeeneuring Control #7 – San Mateo Coffee Company
Sunday, I did a quick scan on my MacBook Pro, and saw an interesting mom-and-pop store the opposite side of San Mateo from the Peets I went to the day before. It looked to be about two miles away.
I set out at 12:30 on a very sunny and found it very easily. Nice little place, just down the block from “Vinyl Solution” which is a used record store that I haven’t popped into in 20 years. 
Thought I might as well, so pop in I did, and thought it strange that I knew all the music until I realized that since I am old enough to remember records, most of the music would be from the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s… my time!
Making a mental note to go back when I had more time to really browse, I walked my bike down two stores to San Mateo Coffee Company.
I parked my bike to the side and then went to the counter and spoke to one of the co-owners. His name was Scott and I cleverly figured out he was a bike guy after noticing his shirt:
I ordered a cup of coffee and a couple of scones, one to bring back to Tanya.
He told me he noticed my bike right away when I walked in. He said, “I could tell you like to ride in comfort after I saw your handlebar bag and Honjo fenders.” I had to tell them the fenders were actually from Velo Orange and much less expensive. He was pretty impressed with that!
The coffee was very good, a proprietary blend of theirs. I really liked it. Scott also only charged me a buck for each pastry as “We’re about to close in and they will be day-old by tomorrow anyway, so what the heck?” Now that’s great customer service and something only a mom-and-pop would do. Pretty cool!
Scott told me that they also made sandwiches. When I asked what kind, he said “anything you want!” and showed me a little card you fill out where you check the type of meat, bread, condiments, etc. Nice build-your-own set-up.
Oh, and they have other stuff too:
Scott told me about some of the bikes he had. One that really sounded interesting was an old tandem he bought and removed the rear cranks and stoker bars, and turned into a cargo bike. Sounded like an early xtracycle. He told me he sold it to some guy that wanted to take it to Burning Man. Sounded appropriate. Sadly, he couldn’t find any pictures.
All in all, San Mateo Coffee company was a nice little place, and absolutely worthy of another visit. I’ll have to go back and try their sandwiches soon.
Coffeeneuring Control #6 complete!
Distance: Four miles round trip.
Final thoughts on completing my first coffeeneuring challenge.
I thought it was a cool idea when I read about the coffeenneuring challenge when MG did it last year for the first time, but for whatever reason, I never did it. I think what got me moving this year was a desire to ride more. As I said in my first post about this, I had been injured last summer in a dooring incident and was wanting to try to get out and ride a bit more. I had only ridden my first 200K a year ago, and had done two more, a couple of populaires, and a Double Century (200 miles in one day) before I was hurt. I had hopes of completing a 300K, a 400K, and perhaps a 600K. It was very disappointing to have my riding come to a halt due to my injury.
So if I wasn’t ready for Randonneuring, then Coffeeneuring would fill in! Even though it was for short distances, I found myself looking forward to the rides. And like a brevet, I discovered new things, new places, and met some cool people and experienced things that I wouldn’t have done if not for the challenge.
The regular rides also, somehow, gave me the confidence to attempt a bit more of a physical challenge when I rode up to Mt. Hamilton with my good friend Sam last weekend, Mt. Hamilton, at 4,200 feet being the highest mountain in the San Francisco Bay Area.
It was 22 miles up and 22 miles back down. I made it all the way up to the Lick Observatory at the top, slowly, but I didn’t stop except for two five minute breaks, and I did NOT walk my bike up. My ass hurt like hell, my hand hurt like hell, and I swore I would never do it again when I was done.
It was so awesome! (Randonneurs are weird, huh?)
Bottom line is the coffeeeneuring challenge gave me the bug to try a tough ride again. Saving my receipts, watching my time. It just got me back in the mindset, and for that I am grateful. Now to work my up for a real brevet when the season starts again next January.
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