National Bike Challenge and Coffeeneuring

The National Bike Challenge and Falling Over
This year’s National Bike Challenge gave me the same kick in the saddle as last year’s. My goal was an average of twenty miles a day and I was doing pretty well until I fell over kinda like Arte Johnson and his tricycle on “Laugh-In”; a 3 mph moment of carelessness. Landed on my hip, the same one that’d been repaired with titanium rods to hold the ball on the neck of my femur. Wasn’t nearly as much pain as there was blood from elbow, knee and finger, so I finished the remaining 16 miles. Later there was plenty of pain and I didn’t (probably couldn’t) ride the next day or Saturday, managed a cautious few miles thereafter, returning to the scene of the fall a week later.

During the Challenge, Archer Braid Trail through Haile Plantation progressed from construction site to completion. When I was able to resume riding it was very nice to cruise cautiously on the very smooth asphalt and over the numerous transition points. I missed my Saturday morning visit to the Farmers’ Market, but will enjoy it even more now, despite the missing piece of asphalt at Kimball Wiles Elementary School.

What About After the National Bike Challenge
So, how will I fill the hole left by no longer being able to compete for a year’s supply of toilet paper (yes, one of the monthly prizes)? Along comes Mary G. and her blog; chasing mailboxes. Commencing on October 4 is the Fourth Annual Coffeeneuring Challenge; 7 Cups (of coffee) in 7 Weeks (Saturdays and Sundays only). Say what?

The basics are this; visit one place where you drink coffee, document it, do that each of the seven weekends and submit your completed “challenge” at the end. Prizes? Yeah, some, I guess.

• Difficult? Not really? Potentially a good way to discover your own back yard, so to speak.
• Rules? Yeah and you can read ‘em here.
• I’ve already planned my first several weekends; Tree City at the Haile Village Farmers’ Market, Limerock Road and patticakes (not open Sundays) also in Haile Village, Barnie’s on lower Tower Road and undoubtedly the Starbucks at Butler.

Look at chasing mailboxes and enjoy Mary’s whimsical perspective, except when she’s serious. Maybe Gainesville and GCC will turn in another stellar performance.

Bikes, Coffee and Biscotti

I'm not a Vegan and I've never played one on TV, nor have I recently stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

When I visit the Haile Farmers' Market I don't go with the intention of buying something from one of the several vendors offering Vegan products. I have my favorites and staples: Caprihaven Dairy Goats; Cypress Point Creamery; Tree City Coffee; Firefly Farm and Cross Creek Honey. Additionally, there's always a good chance that one of the local growers will have some appealing produce which can include Southern Peas, Romanesco, scallions, peppers, carrots and other things depending upon the season. Recently I've added another favorite; Sweet Thursdays Cafe, another cottage kitchen making something worth getting.

Having something to add to a morning-break cup of coffee is pleasant and biscotti are frequently the perfect thing. Christy the owner and baker of Sweet Thurdays makes a damn good biscotto which is like a step back to childhood when you dunked everything . . . well . . . I did!

This week I chose two 2 packs of her Double Chocolate. Last week it was Cherry Chocolate. I have never cared much for hard bits of stuff in dunkable confections, so nuts, typical to many commercial biscottis, while acceptable, don't win full favor. I was pleased with Christy's offerings.

Lest anyone question the relationship between Coffee and Bikes . . .

Coffee, Again

Maybe I am too old and I miss the point, but there seems to be something wrong in the world of personal coffee brewing. It’s not that I think I am an authority on coffee; I know what I like but I know that preferences are personal. What I don’t understand is why people are embracing top-dollar single cup coffee makers.

The most common reason for their use and popularity is convenience. Yet, the amount of additional waste created for the sake of spending less time making a cup of coffee seems to be extreme. I’m not a “tree hugger” but I have accepted responsibility for the waste I produce for the convenience of not making my own soup from scratch or food for my cat. I don’t keep a goat or cow out back so I can have milk without using having to buy plastic bottled products. Seems to me that there’s a range of convenience; some things are practical and others come closer to being a matter of disregard for reality. That the big name Keurig can be fitted with a reusable device thus eliminating the need for disposable containers makes more sense.

I hadn’t paid any attention before and was stunned when I saw the cost of the little prefilled coffee things for the Keurig; almost $10 for 4.2 ounces of coffee? Fifty dollars a pound for coffee? Does the desire for variety of choice justify paying that much for convenience? I bet it’d be much cheaper to buy some imitation hazelnut flavoring or ground cinnamon in the spice section of a grocery store.
Makes no sense for me to promote that idea that there are much less expensive single cup coffee makers; $12 versus $100. As with everything, it’s about personal preference and choice. I drove English sports cars (’66 and ’67 MGB) in a past life and there weren’t too many less practical vehicles in the cold and wet than cars with Lucas electrics.

The bottom line, as we tend to say now, is that it makes no sense to add additional plastic to our waste. My Kitchen Selective single cup coffee maker with a reusable filter makes coffee equal to the single cup French press I formerly used. Water is heated to 190 degrees. I can use as much or as little coffee of any variety. I can add flavorings if I wish. And the coffee, roasted locally, costs me $10 a pound.

How Does Coffee Relate to Bicycles?

Maybe because I ride a bike and truly live locally that I find the idea of buying locally more relevant. It is especially uplifting and satisfying when locally produced stuff is competitively priced, but frugality and indulgence create conflict. I have resolved any conflicts regarding cheese, goat milk, soap, honey and herb plants. The quality of each of these locally produced products settles any discussion about value. Each is well worth their cost. That none are remarkably more (and sometimes less) than other more commercially available things makes it even better. Sometimes you have to do the math. Sometimes you have try the alternatives.

I met the namesake of Carmelo's Coffee one morning recently. He lives locally and was in my neighborhood grocery store (Publix) promoting his products. I bought a bag of his "House Roast, Delicious Blend" which he said contained a significant percentage of Central American beads. The cost was under $8 for a 12 ounce bag. It makes decent coffee that is certainly as satisfying to me as any other up-scale coffee.

I'll digress briefly about me and coffee. I enjoy it, but I don't drink much. A cup each morning is often all I consume. This fact alone makes the amount of money I spend on coffee pretty insignificant, so buying "better" coffee is not going to create a financial hardship. I lack the taste and qualities necessary to be a coffee connoisseur. I may appreciate the "full bodied fruitiness" of a coffee variety, but I wouldn't know how to detect and describe it. Lacking those abilities does not prevent me from recognizing that I do not care for Indonesian or African coffee and do like Central and South American.

The other thing about me and coffee is that it's "sweet and greasy," meaning I use both sugar and half and half. Some coffee aficionados insist that I drink coffee incorrectly. The roaster (and co-owner) at the San Francisco Coffee Roasting Company, many years ago, offered that anyone saying there is a right way to drink your cup of coffee is an effete intellectual snob. A bit harsh, but an attitude I have accepted.

After having several cups of Carmelo's I went looking for more information, especially related to his statement that he'd found people in suburban Cleveland to do the roasting. Cleveland, GA, isn't local to G'ville and Cleveland, OH, is almost foreign! Carmelo's Coffee is roasted and packaged by Generations Coffee Company who make private label coffee for numerous entities, so while Carmelo is local his coffee isn't.

There are two truly local coffee companies; Sweetwater and Tree City. Sweetwater still maintains there business locally, but their website says that legal issues will be resolved in Sumter County, Georgia. Doesn't make 'em Bulldogs, still . . . ? I haven't purchased any Sweetwater yet, but will when next I make it to Bo Diddley. Because Tree City is in Haile every Saturday I did buy a bag of their Mexican.

I like Tree City's coffee. Is it better than Carmelo's? Will it be better than Sweetwater's? Aside from liking how it tastes, it offers two significant advantages over Carmelo's and other single origin coffees. Most coffee producers have switched to "relative pounds." It's a common approach to manipulating prices. Ice cream did it a long time ago. When's the last time you actually purchased a half gallon of Breyer's? Tree City packages a pound (and so does Sweetwater) and sells it for $10, meaning it's cost no more than Carmelo's or other upscale brands. Adding to the extrinsic value of what they do is their paper bags!

So, here's what I say about this unscientific study of coffee. Tree City wins. It fulfills all my taste preferences, is made locally, maintains as green a foot print as is practical and is reasonably priced. I enjoyed conversing with Razia and will add Tree City to my regular stops on Saturdays. It's a multiple level win for me and I get to have one more neat thing to experience when I take my Saturday morning ride.