Coffeeneuring 2025: Six weeks, seven rides

 I used to be a regular Coffeeneur (and have the patches to prove it). For a few years, though, I have been on a break. I'm not sure why. Probably a lack of new destinations, riding indoors more? Anyways, this year I returned. 

Ride 1: Crossroads Coffeehouse

A mostly overcast fall day took me out to Cross Plains. I'd been to Crossroads Coffeehouse before, but it was a long time ago. It's a very nice coffee shop right on the main street and I had an iced coffee (3/5) and a surprisingly good vegan/gluten free brownie. 

65 km / 40 miles 

 

 

 

Ride 2: Bodihow Brewing in Oregon

My favorite coffee shop in Oregon, Firefly, changed their hours last year and is no longer open on weekends. I considered trying a new-to-me place downtown, Kickback Cafe, but eventually landed on Bodihow Brewing. It's a cool place that combines a bike shop, cafe, and brewpub. During previous visits I had had their beers, and I have to say they definitely beat their coffee. Anyways, it was warm enough to sit outside and the overall ride was excellent.

70 km / 43 mi 

 

 

The Trail of Grades

 

 

Ride 3: Grace Coffee in Verona

The third ride was the first one to take me to a new coffee shop: Grace in Verona. I've been to other Grace locations previously, but this one was new to me. Grace has (had?) a bad reputation among some but I have to say the espresso I had was very good, they have comfortable seats, and staff were friendly.

 

44 km / 27 mi 

 Ride 4: Liv's Drink Emporium in Sun Prairie

I wasn't sure if I'd been here before: I remembered a coffeeneuring ride to this part of Sun Prairie, and how many coffee shops can there be? But the name didn't seem familiar and neither did the interior. Well, after some digging through Strava records, it turns out that I had been in this location, back in 2017, but the shop had a different name and presumably owner back then. The espresso exceeded my expectations and they had a vegan protein bar, which was okay. Notably, I had a blazing tail wind on the way north, which was fun! (And no, I didn't hate the headwind on the way back as much as I had feared.)

 65 km / 40 mi

Ride 5: Alice Good in Verona

Another ride to Verona, but this time to a shop I'd been to before: Alice Good. I really enjoyed my previous visits, but their limited opening hours had prevented me from going there more frequently. I was glad to find out that their hours are much better now and so I headed there on a Friday afternoon. Again, I loved it: Their staff are very friendly, the espresso was excellent, and I also picked up some excellent light roast beans to take home. On the way back I got rained on a little, but that was fine too. 

 

 

 

45 km / 28 mi

 
 

Ride 6: Fat Cat Coffee Works in New Glarus

Mid November. But warm enough to wear knickers and sit outside, with a cold brew coffee! I spontaneously took the day off and set out for the longest coffeeneuring expedition of the year: Fat Cat Coffee Works in New Glarus is an old favorite, right off the Badger State Trail. I included some detours and new-to-me roads and it was all glorious. The coffee itself was as usual: Fine but nothing to rave about. But I didn't care in the slightest on a day like that. 

 

  

108 km / 67 mi

Ride 7: Barriques in Middleton

My buddy Ben had sold me on a new Zwift race series, schedule at 7:45 am on Sundays. The race was long and extremely hard. But it was also another uncharacteristically warm and sunny day and so Nicole and I headed out to Middleton for the last Coffeeneuring ride. Another destination that I'd been too many times: Barriques. While I don't like their filtered coffees, the espresso is reliably decent. 

 26 km / 16 mi

#coffeeneuring 2021 Ride 3: Errandonnee, and some details about my coffee setup

I took the day off from work and instead spent the morning cutting down a dying tree at our condo complex. The tree was sizable and I needed to take some of the wood over to a friend's place. So why not combine an errandonee with a coffeeneuring ride? After dropping off and stacking the wood, I continued west to Marshall Park, right at the border between Madison and Middleton. Riding my fixed gear bike with a trailer in tow made the hills a little challenging, but fortunately it wasn't far. 

Wood in the trailer; coffee stuff in the basket

Marshall Park is right on the shore of Lake Monona, providing great views. While windy, it was a gorgeous day for coffee outside, and I didn't even bother putting on the puffy jacket I had brought. When I posted about my previous ride, I received some questions about my coffee making setup, and so here is some more detail:

Coffee maker, windscreen, potstand, tent stakes, burner, fuel bottle

 The coffee maker itself is a 3-cup Bialetti Moka Express. For a burner I use a very small and lightweight alcohol jet burner that I built a couple years back. It is made out of 5.5 oz tomato juice cans and weighs only 0.3 oz (8 grams). The pot stand is made from a metal illy espresso can and two broken tent stakes. For additional wind protection (which was needed today!) I have cut a strip of aluminum flashing used for roofing. The stove, pot stand, windscreen, a Nalgene bottle for fuel, tent stakes and cup all fit neatly into each other. I highly recommend this setup.

All packed up

 

You'll be hard pressed to find a lighter stove

 

On the way back, I stopped by the UW marching band's practice field -- it's always fun to see all the players arrive by bikes, shouldering their instruments! 

Distance: 20 kilometers

#coffeeneuring 2021 Ride 2: Coffee and 'cross in Sun Prairie

Today's ride was a bit of a repeat of a 2017 coffeeneuring adventure. The weekend before Halloween means it's time for the Cross Fire cyclocross race in Sun Prairie. Of course 'cross on Halloween means there are costumes involved, and so I figured this would be a good destination. I packed the #coffeeoutside kit, homemade ginger snaps, and my Sony A6000. On the way I checked out some new bike infrastructure and collected some new roads for my Wandrer account. 70 km total distance.

Ginger snaps had so much snap they'd warrant a Paul Hollywood handshake

Cool bike infrastructure

New bike path on the edge of Madison

The number of bike repair stations in the greater Madison area is astounding

#coffeeneuring 2021 Ride 1: Brigham County Park

 First ride of this year's Coffeeneuring season for me. I had missed last year because of an injury, and so it's good to be back.

 

Ride 1 was #coffeeoutside at Brigham County Park, with Just Coffee Humdinger prepared in a Moka Express with a DIY alcohol stove. I felt (and was) slow, but it was warmer than expected, sunny, beautiful, and I got to visit the turtles. A little over 100k.