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2021 Coffeeneuring Challenge: Finisher’s Premium and Submission Details
Coffeeneurs, you are in my thoughts as you continue your Coffeeneuring Challenge journeys. Some of you will be completing the challenge this very week and will enter c+1 bonus rounds. If you still have rides to go, that’s awesome! Make the most of the season. The challenge continues through November 30 (a Tuesday) so technically… Continue reading
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Coffeeneuring Challenge c+1: It’s Go Time!
Friends! Four full weekends until the 2021 Coffeeneuring Challenge concludes so if you think you’re too late you’re wrong. You’re right on time! Start this weekend! Two rides per week and you will be coasting across the finish line in style. If you are on the fence about participating, get off the fence and hop… Continue reading
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Coffeeneuring Challenge 2021 Control Cards and Design Reveal!
The 2021 Coffeeneuring Challenge kicked off this past Monday, October 18 and the official season is now upon us! Many pedaled out early on their challenge pursuits, but if you have not, do not fret. You have plenty of time to cross the finish line. Still wondering what this coffeeneuring business is all about? Click… Continue reading
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Coffeeneuring Challenge 2021: the c+1 edition
October 18, 2021, the Chasing Mailboxes Coffeeneuring Challenge returns, now in its eleventh year. Yes, 11! My friends, if you ride a bike and drink coffee or tea (or even hot chocolate, coffee stouts, or cider) please consider this fall challenge. The Coffeeneuring Challenge is a time to lightly turn the pedals, make the most… Continue reading
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Coffeeneuring Challenge 2021: Starts October 18
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Get ready friends, due to popular demand we’re bringing back the Coffeeneuring Challenge for 2021. Let’s make it the best year yet! It all starts October 18. Rules forthcoming, put it on your calendar now! Continue reading
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Errandonnee 2021 Grand Patch Prize!
The time to unveil the grand patch prize for the 2021 Errandonnee has arrived! This edition recognizes the back to basics nature of this year, a time when many of us are more focused on simple moments close to home. This year’s prize is made up entirely of basic shapes – three triangles, two circle,… Continue reading
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How Riding Bikes Taught Me Financial Accounting
A few hours ago I turned in the last assignment of my first semester as an MBA student. This was never a phrase I thought would ever apply to me, but an opportunity too good to pass up came my way so here I am – an MBA student. Of all the classes on… Continue reading
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Errandonnee 2021: Hyperlocal Edition
Big news, friends! After a lengthy hiatus the Errandonnee returns in 2021. This challenge is for bike riders, runners, and walking enthusiasts everywhere! It’s been a tough year for us. Some walked and rode bikes to relieve stress and explore close to home. Others kept working stalwartly throughout. I’d like to continue this close-to-home exploring… Continue reading
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Cracking the Perfect Ride Code
This is an article I wrote for the March 2021 edition of American Randonneur. It evolved from a piece about our club’s fall 200K that I wrote here. Enjoy, and hope you all are well. My home club, the D.C. Randonneurs, has quite a few good courses in its brevet library, thanks to the expert… Continue reading
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Winter Skies and In Betweens
Sunrise greets us earlier now, while the last streaks of day creep over the clouds well past six p.m. Each morning the sun sprinkles more gold on the earth. Aesthetically the outdoors invites us, but be sure to take a hat and gloves. Temperatures confirm that winter’s departure will not be rushed. March begins with… Continue reading
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Precious Now: Valentine’s Day
Recently I was thinking back to March of last year. (Can you believe March is almost here again – my birthday month, don’t forget!) I remember listening to Tom Hanks do the monologue for Saturday Night Live. He said that the days of the week held no meaning anymore. Every day is today. The pandemic… Continue reading
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Making Time: Free Reading
I started grad school last month. Being exposed to completely new concepts, committing them to memory, and then learning how to implement them is a lot for my brain. My brain needs some yoga stretches so I can find space for all this new material! Over 10 years since my last grad school rodeo, this… Continue reading
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Cures for Listless Days
Sometimes when I think about how I’ve lived for the last nine months, it reminds me of summer vacations growing up in my little Midwest town. My family seldom traveled, and with basically just a library, a gas station, and a café, it was not exactly a cultural or commercial hub. We had no cable,… Continue reading
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Enough
This is a piece I wrote for the December 2020 edition of American Randonneur. People have asked about reading it, so I’ve posted it here as well. It’s been slightly updated from the original, mostly because I love to edit and update! Thanks all, and I hope everyone is well. Growing up, and especially during… Continue reading
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January in the District
I moved to the D.C. in the spring of 2001, and watched the Pentagon burn a few months later. I thought those would be the worst days I would see in the city, but last week jolted me with how wrong I was. I’ve lived in the city – actual, inside the District line, D.C.… Continue reading
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2020 on Two Feet
Running is what I do when I want to sift thoughts through my head. A run helps me believe that life is manageable. I ran steadily in 2020 and ended up with 1,280 miles. I walked, too – 614 miles – because walking is a good tool for not only doing errands around town, but also… Continue reading
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2020 on Two Wheels
Nothing like waiting until the last day of the year to put together the year end posts! I lost a lot of motivation for writing this year because all my thoughts and activities felt frivolous in light of current events. Still, I love doing the wrap-up and seeing what the year in photos looked like… Continue reading
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One Good Thing Coffeeneuring Challenge 2020 Update
Fellow coffeeneurs and friends of the blog, it’s been a frenetic time at Coffeeneuring Headquarters. The Coffeeneuring Challenge Committee is reviewing submissions as quickly as possible in between socks fulfillment and other pressing activities of the day (such as work and laundry). Note that submissions requiring additional scrutiny are then raised to the Coffeeneuring Challenge… Continue reading
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Socks Final Update: Coffeeneuring Socks Are Here!
The socks truck showed up at my house yesterday and deposited over 350 pairs of coffeeneuring socks on my doorstep. That’s right, everybody, the coffeeneuring socks are here, just waiting for you to put your feet in them! Check out these beauties and see below for all the housekeeping info. Final Socks Cost Info: The… Continue reading
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Once, Twice, Ten Years of Coffeeneuring: Prize for 2020!
Hello coffeeneurs, what’s been going on? Wait, don’t answer that, I’ll tell you what. We are down to the final weeks of the Coffeeneuring Challenge and it’s time for the grand prize reveal for the 10th Annual Coffeeneuring Challenge: One Good Thing. In keeping with the tradition of previous years, this year’s prize is an… Continue reading
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Coffeeneuring Results 2019: and Last Weekend to Start 2020 Coffeeneuring!
Greetings coffeeneurs and readers! In better late than never news, I finally tallied some results from last year’s Coffeeneuring Challenge. The information and graphs below give you a snapshot of who participated in 2019. If you are so inclined, you can compare it to the 2018 roundup here. After the last count was in for… Continue reading
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Old Rag 200K Fall Edition: Time Sandwich
My. Feet. Are. So. Cold. Even though Felkerino and I waited to start the Old Rag 200K with the sun, it’s one of the first chilly mornings of fall. I had booties in hand, but left them home at the last minute, thinking they would just take up space for the majority of the day. … Continue reading
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Escape into Fall: Northern Virginia Randonneurs 400K
Over the last couple of weeks, Fall has been trying to catch my eye. The tumble of a golden leaf, a surprise wave of red from a tree. These gestures reach out to me as I briefly interrupt my stay-at-home life with an errand or workout. Can’t talk now, Fall, don’t you know what’s going… Continue reading
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The 50 States Ride, 2020 Edition
The ultimate concept ride, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) put their creativity to work and pulled off a socially distanced edition of the 50 States Ride – a here, there, and everywhere course that traverses all four D.C. quadrants and covers all streets named after states (except D.C., that’s a pending addition). Despite having… Continue reading
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Coffeeneuring Challenge 2020: One Good Thing
Where shall we start with 2020? I have an idea. Let’s start with one good thing. On October 10, 2020, the Chasing Mailboxes Coffeeneuring Challenge returns. That’s right my friends, if you ride a bike and drink coffee or tea (or even hot chocolate, coffee stouts, or cider) and are on the hunt for one… Continue reading
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Ride Your Own Ride
Ask a randonneur what it takes to tackle a big brevet and you’ll get a million pieces of advice (at minimum!). Most of this wisdom can find a home under the Ride Your Own Ride umbrella. How long will I ride before taking a break? What kind of speed will I carry, given the course’s… Continue reading
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N-1 Right Sizing Resulting from N+1
Years ago, I wrote about n+1, the silly philosophy that people should perpetually aspire for their bike stables to have one more bike. I called the piece The Truth and Nonsense of the N+1 Principle and shared my own n+1 journey, which ultimately resulted in a collection of 10 bicycles just for me scattered throughout my… Continue reading
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Message in a Bottle: Stillness
Back in April, I wrote some initial thoughts about the pandemic and cycling in a column for American Randonneur – the quarterly newsletter of Randonneurs USA. Like sending a message in a bottle, I didn’t know how I or others would relate to these early observations in three months. Three months seems a long time… Continue reading
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Letter from Washington, D.C.
Hello, everyone. In mid-March, the mayor directed D.C. residents to stay at home and since then it’s been strikingly quiet. People venture outside like they’re taking their vitamins, no one casually strolls. Most keep to themselves. Pedestrians crab about runners, the occasional cyclist rides around instructing others to wear masks, and more runners take to… Continue reading
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Dandelions and Big Hair Blossom Days
Back in the days when a house with a yard was part of my life, my dad – who prided himself on a dandelion-free lawn – would enlist my sisters and I to run around and remove all the bright yellow intruders. We would yank the dandelions out by their stems and collect them in… Continue reading
Chasing MailBoxes 