Cars and Coffee

Ryan, a participant in Friday Coffee Club, asked me if I was interested in doing a ride today. I turned him down because I have a back log of stuff to do around the homestead.  I was moderately successful in accomplishing them today.

I dropped the Millennium Falcon, my son's car, off Friday night to get new front tires.  Teenage boys go through tires and breaks like buttah.  The garage called at 8:15 and said the tires were on but the front brakes (pads and rotors) needed to be replaced.  They said it would be done by around 10:30. Apparently, they are on Central Standard Time because the car wasn't ready until 12:30.  While waiting for the car, I received my October credit card statement. I spent $45 on gasoline for the entire month. Not bad.  Unfortunately, all the car repairs today totaled over $700.  Ugh. That's probably my entire bike-related spending for a year.

I walked over to get the car. The wind was a blowin' and the 50 degree air temperature felt like 40.  After getting the car, I took it to get inspected. My usual inspector will pass a wheel barrow full of loose car parts but he wasn't there today. Please pass me so I can get on with my day.

The Falcon passed. Yesss,,,,

Next stop was the bank,

The car has had some gunk on the windshield for a couple of days. That turned out to be egg.  Some very small birds egg had broken on the windshield. I spent a few minutes cleaning it off.

At this point I should have mowed the lawn. I decided instead to ride The Mule to the local bike shop to get my left toe clip (that could be the title of a Daniel Day Lewis cycling movie) fixed. They were up to the task. (Bolt through hole. Attach nut. Turn.)

Now that The Mule was back in proper working order, I rode around the shopping center looking for coffee.  The only coffee was at Drunken Donuts (Their slogan is "America runs on Dunkin' " which says nothing about biking) so I rode into Old Town Alexandria and had an Americano at Misha's coffeeshop. Misha's, and the cleverly named Coffeehouse before it, have been serving coffee on the corner of King and Patrick for well over a decade. The coffee was fine and the chocolate chip cookie hit the spot. Misha's is pretty big inside but the place is swarming with WiFi refugees. I sat on the Group W bench in the back room.

The Mule shares bike parking with another steed at Micha's

Coffee, cookie and bike paraphernalia at Misha's

With my veins coursing with caffeine, I hit the road again. I now had a gusty, lusty, and dusty tail wind. The ride home was, excuse the expression, a breeze. About a mile from home, The Mule told me to pull over.  He had something to tell me. Here's what he said:

Ain't no decimals, baby.

Today's 14-mile coffeeneuring adventure was either my fifth or my sixth depending on whether the wise and beauteous Queen of Coffeeneuring gives me credit for last week's rule-bending ride.

One thing that I learned from today's misadventures is that I have a cold and have had one for over a week. There is no pump to my pedalling. So I am applying medicinal Merlot as I type this.
 
Tomorrow should hold enough daylight for me to affect repairs to Big Nellie's seat, mow my lawn, and bag another coffeeneuring trip.  Then I will grab a Snuggie and dream of warmer climes and perpetual downhills on smooth pavement.