This fall start #coffeeneuring

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Love coffee and bikes? Brace the weather this fall and go coffeeneuring!

For a third year in a row, Chasing Mailboxes D.C. is hosting a Coffeeneuring Challenge, “a relaxed weekend cycling endeavor for cyclists everywhere”.

Based on an idea from Cascade Bicycle Club Boardmember and Seattle randonneur, Joe Platzner, coffeeneuring is an invitation to round up your friends, go for a relaxing bike ride and enjoy a beverage at your local coffee shop. Pretty easy.

“It’s bringing the rando stuff to the average rider,” said Platzner.

Of course, this being a challenge, there are some rules. Here’s what you have to do to be an official Coffeeneur Challenge contender as detailed by Chasing Mailboxes D.C.:

1. Starting on Saturday, Oct. 5, you have seven weekends to ride to seven coffee shops. Any place that sells coffee qualifies as a coffee shop. (Easy. Here in Seattle, you could easily find seven coffee shops within three miles).

- You may also coffeeneur to a Coffee Shop Without Walls -  any place you ride your bike to proceed to make and/or drink coffee. The Coffee Shop Without Walls is geared toward the bike overnight or bike camping participant. It also captures the farmers’ markets. To qualify, you must specify how you brewed your coffee (if it was a bike overnight or camping trip) and the type of coffee you drank.

- Tara Rule: During Columbus Day weekend (October 12-14), you have three days to accomplish two qualifying coffeeneuring rides. (This is the Tara Rule.)

- Vacation Rule: You may substitute a weekend of coffeeneuring for ONE coffeeneuring outing on vacation for every week you are on vacation.

- Veterans Day Rule: You may coffeeneur on November 11, Veteran’s, INSTEAD of the previous Saturday or Sunday (November 9 and 10). Veterans are permitted to coffeeneur on November 11 in ADDITION to Nov. 9 and 10, in recognition of their service.

- Buying Beans Rule: You may use ONE of your seven coffeeneuring trips to purchase beans (or tea) from your local roaster or tea emporium for future consumption. If you do, you must describe your purchase.

2. Only Saturday and Sunday rides qualify. Weekday rides are ineligible, unless one of the following applies to you:  a. You have a job that does not have a Monday through Friday tour of duty. In that case, your days off are considered your weekend; or b. You are retired, in which case you may choose the two days that you consider to be your weekend days for the sake of the challenge and stick to them for the duration. No other exceptions, unless you can make a convincing case for one.

3. Only one coffee shop per day counts and a maximum of two rides per weekend. If you visit seven coffee shops in one day, you may choose only one as a qualifying ride.

4. Jot down a summary of your experience that includes: 1. where you went (address and website, if possible), 2. the date you went there, 3.  what you drank 4. a detail or two about your coffeeneuring ride, and 5. total mileage. Also, if you find any “you must visit” coffee shops or tea places please share that as well.

5. Take a photo during your outing, caption it, and submit it as verification that you actually went to the coffee shop and drank a beverage there.

6. Hot chocolate qualifies, as do tea beverages. Apple cider is also a coffeeneuring-approved beverage.

7. You may not combine your coffeeneuring ride with any other ride such as an organized century, populaire, or brevet. You may, however, combine your coffeeneuring ride with a grocery run, ride to the gym, an informal ride with your friends, or other transportation/utility-oriented ride.

8. Your ride must be at least two miles total, but there is no maximum so yes, you could ride 100 miles for a cup of coffee.

9. There are no geographic limitations to the Coffeeneuring Challenge, except that your coffeeneuring must occur on planet Earth.

10. Deadline for submission for the Coffeeneuring Challenge is whenever the clock strikes midnight in your area on Monday, Nov. 25.

- Send submissions to gersemalina “at” gmail.com. Submissions may be in the form of links to blog writeups, screenshots of or links to your coffeeneuring Tweets, online photo galleries with accompanying narrative, Word documents with attached or embedded photos or e-mail writeups with photos attached.

- Submit all qualifying rides at the same time. That is, send me all seven together, NOT ride 1, ride 2, etc.

In the meantime, document your journey on social media:

- Twitter: The Twitter hashtag for the Coffeeneuring Challenge is #coffeeneuring.

- Flickr: You may also share your photos in the Coffeeneuring group on flickr.

 

There will be a small prize for those who successfully finish the challenge (though don’t quit your day job, as it is not a mountain of money), and you will be featured on the Chasing Mailboxes blog.

Have fun, ride safe and enjoy your coffee!

 

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