Coffeeneuring 2016 Ride 4 - Green Valley Market, US 1 Elkridge Maryland

For week 4, I'm at the cafe in the Green Valley Market, across Route 1 from last week's stop at the Snax Convenience Store. Continuing the "Commuting in the Route 1 Corridor" theme.

Green Valley Market used to be a Super Fresh, which went out of business. For good reason. But we here is the Route 1 Corridor were very concerned that we would have no grocery store here any more, and a gaping hole in our neighborhood shopping strip. Happily, Green Valley stepped right up and it's a really nice neighborhood grocery! They even have Zeke's coffee, which is what I'm fueled by every day when I'm not Coffeeneuring. My wife buys Zeke's from their stand at the Baltimore Farmers' Market. But the farmers' market is closed in the winter, and GVM is a total life saver during those dark months.

GVM has a little cafe inside, and I had high hopes that this week I would have a nice fresh brewed cup of some exotic variety of Zeke's. Unfortunately, this was not the case. It's K-Cups.

This is sadder sad coffee than a Starbucks kiosk in a Safeway. 

There is a little counter you can sit at, with TVs playing informericals right in front of your face.

My coffee drink was "coffee", with a pistachio biscotti, as Cindy Crawford yammered away about something I don't care about over my head.

Other amenities for bikers include heavy metal barriers to keep people from driving their cars into the store, which you can lean your bike against.

The GVM coffee stop added 0.7 miles  to my 10.2 mile commute. Easy access off Montgomery Road.

Coffeeneuring 2016 Ride 3 - Snax Convenience Store/Dunkin Donuts on US 1 in Elkridge, MD

Week 3 of the Coffeeneuring Challenge finds me at the Snax Convenience Store/Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins on US 1 at Montgomery Road, in Elkridge. The "Commuting in the Route 1 Corrodor" theme is going strong. This is 1.7 miles from home, by an indirect route so I don't have to ride on Route 1. It adds 0.7 miles to my commute.

Amenities for bikers include a window to lean your bike against, with seats to sit at on the other side so you can keep an eye on your bike. You can also fill out your lotto tickets, watch the simulated video horse races, and play Keno.

My coffee drink was "coffee", accompanied by a maple glaze and an eclair. The coffee was the usual pretty good Dunkin Donuts coffee. Not bad at all.

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Other services available in this little shopping strip is the Main Street Barber Shop, which is nowhere near Main St., but is where I got this haircut I'm wearing a couple weeks ago. It was $17, no appointment, no waiting. I gave them $20, keep the change.

Coffeeneuring 2016 Ride 2 - McDonalds on US 1 in Elkridge, MD

Continuing my theme of "Commuting in the Route 1 Corridor", this week's coffee stop is the McDonalds on Route 1, near the intersection with Bonnie View Lane.

This is one hilly mile along Bonnie View Lane from my house, which probably not coincidentally is called "Bonniewood".

I went for the full McDonalds breakfast here, with a large coffee to have some left to fill my thermos for the rest of the ride to work. My coffee drink was "coffee". It was special because it had a bit of the flavor of dried up banana peel to it.

This stop at McDonalds only added .2 miles to my commute. Amenities for bikers include a wall you can lean your bike against. There is also a traffic light a half mile up the road, which will make an occasional break in traffic so you can scurry across Route 1.

I rarely eat at McDonalds, but when I do I like to eat at this one. Because of the sign below.

It seems when they put up the sign 15 years ago, the Burger King next door planted a baby pine tree in front of it. Then the pine tree grew up and nobody can see the McDonalds sign. So the McDonalds guys went to the county and said "Nobody can see our sign, we need to put up a giant 40 foot sign so drivers can see it all the way from the MD 100 exit two miles up the road."

Here in Elkridge, we have GECA, the Greater Elkridge Community Association. (I am the current president of GECA.) GECA put a stop to the giant sign right away. We want Route 1 to be scenic and lovely, not with 40 foot high McDonalds signs for freeway exits. 

Here is the scenic and lovely view across the street from McDonalds. The Terrace Motel there had a recent bit of notoriety related to this bit of news: 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3018167/Two-men-dressed-women-shot-NSA-HQ-stolen-SUV-hotel-partying-hours-earlier.html

What was that hotel the two men dressed as women had been partying at? You guessed it. The Terrace Motel. Yay Route 1.

Seagull Century 2016

Here I am at the end of the Seagull Century. I am so happy because this is the first time I have done a century in less than 5 hours rolling time! 

4:59:29 to be exact. The clock time was 5:04.

Here is the sun rising over the start at Salisbury University. 

It was supposed to rain all day from the remnant fringes of Hurricane Matthew, but for me it was intermittent light rain, no biggie. Temperatures in the mid 60s, light wind from the northeast. Which was great because it was a tailwind on the last 40 miles.

Here is my first stop, which was the second rest stop on the ride. I had a Kind bar, which was the only thing I ate.

I'm riding the recumbent, a Reynolds Weld Lab Z-Bone. I just got new wheels on it, which are amazing.

This picture of the ocean is why my clock time wasn't under 5 hours.

But you have to take a picture of the ocean when you do the Seagull. I think it's a rule somewhere.

Pretty great day, I beat the heavy rain, and feel really good.

Here is the Strava Page.

Coffeeneuring 2016 Ride 1 - BP at US 1 and Levering Ave

I have decided to attempt the Coffeeneuring Challenge!

I gather from the Coffeeneuring link above that this might often be about having a scenic ride on a beautiful bike trail to a quaint and charming cafe, where you imbibe some exotic coffee-based concoction.

I've decided to do my own theme, which might not be like that. My theme is going to be "Commuting to Work in the Route 1 Corridor."

We will start off with the BP gas station at US 1 and Levering Ave. in lower Elkridge. October 7.

What's nice about this coffee stop is it is 100% all downhill from my house, which is very nice when you have not had your coffee yet.

Other amenities of this location are a sidewalk you can sit on out front while you drink your coffee, which is sheltered from any rain. They only charge $1.16 for putting coffee in your own container. My coffee drink was "coffee". I had a blueberry pastry to go with it. 

This is also an excellent stop if you are going between the BWI trail and the Grist Mill Trail in Patapsco State Park since you will ride right by it.

The total mileage for the ride was 12.0 miles, which is 1.6 miles longer than my typical commute.

I felt invigorated by my coffee!

Here is a picture of this coffee spot on Google Street View.