Category: Coffee Ride

With growing interest in the Wednesday morning coffee outside I am starting to get more friends going along for the ride.  Having friends there definitely adds to the fun, but cuts down on the number of photos.  We all headed south along the coast to Channel Islands Harbor so Aaron could be closest to his job.  Mike grabbed a good shot of us on the Ramblers.

Setting up on the north side of the harbor offered plenty of flat spots for the stoves. Scenery was great, sun hitting the islands out beyond the fog, boats heading out, sea lions and great company.  This is a spot that will be added to the routine for sure.

Really a great way to start the day, done by 7:30.

What did you do on your way into work?

Things were moving a bit slow and discoordinated this morning.  I am not really sure how people do it in the places of perpetual fog, but with multiple days of clear mornings, today’s overcast caused a minor malfunction of the internal alarm clock.  This is where having a buddy asking if you left yet, 45 minutes ago, helps to get you going.  The tide was high so it was off to find a bench.

Getting started I had decided to revert to cowboy coffee today

Doing my best to patiently wait for the morning’s jump start

Then Mike showed up, built his wood fire, and in the distraction I had a boil over, and a really slow filter trying to recover the brew

In the end it all worked out, the coffee did what it should, had some fun hanging out, and a pretty great way to start the day.

From time to time I get asked about Brooks Select saddles and how they wear in.  Mike has been loving his for over a year now, as well as the bike.  There is some near perfect beausage going on there, signs of a bike with a good life.

Yesterday morning’s ride went off well.  I used my Caldera Keg with an Esbit tab in the Gram Cracker as my fuel bottle was low, and I had the fuel tap out of the pack for shooting pictures earlier in the week.  One tablet was perfect for bringing 25oz of water to a rolling boil in a light breeze.

Mission accomplished, 30 minutes getting the morning coffee and outdoors fix, and yes it is a heck of a lot of FUN.

The night-cap version, still digging out today, and that is a good thing

made the time this morning as usual to take 30 minutes of personal time, brew some coffee, make some photos and cross paths with friends.  This time mike was out running with Red, but we made rough plans for a ride next week and possibly an overnighter in a month.

Whether it is brewing coffee on the ride, just riding, a surf a walk what ever make the time to get outside, it is amazing how much better your day will be for it.

This morning I went for a ride to make some sunrise pictures of the Springs Fire that is burning about 20 miles from our side of town.  With wildfire season starting early this year it had me thinking about the fact that I am encouraging people to get outside and use camping stoves.  This is a catch 22.  The stoves, either the ones I am using or any stove for that matter, bear a certain amount of rink in their use.  Just like the stove at home they can burn you or set stuff on fire.  In some regards that is the point of using them.  The thing is that if you are going to use one outside, you MUST be knowledgeable in how to use it safely.  You may notice that even when I am up in the hills I find an area of wide open dirt, NOT all surrounded by dry brush 2 feet from the stove.  Most of the time I prefer to set up down on the beach sand or a flat rock at the beach.  Should something go wrong there is no shortage of water to throw on it.

One point of the coffee rides is to give you a reason to get the knowledge and skills required to use the stove safely, making longer trips more approachable.  If you have never used one before, practice at home with no wind and a fire extinguisher close by.  Once that seems easy, move on to more exciting venues, but safety first, park benches surrounded by concrete or dirt make good sense.  Always be prepared to put out a fire, have backup water etc.

That said here are some pictures of todays ride:

It was in incredibly beautiful day to head out and shoot some photos, brew up a cup etc.  When you are out there, and you should be, think about where you choose to heat up your water, your skill set, and always be mindful during the entire process.  As with everything we do in life there is inherent risk, and risk often bares rewards.  Twenty miles from me some people are having a very long day/weekend.

As an aside about being prepared this fire season, when I worked construction most of the guys had a fire extinguisher in their truck, and had all used it at some point, usually to help someone else.  Most of my readers are on the west coast where wild fires are a real threat.  It does not make sense to always keep an extinguisher on the bike, but know who to call in an emergency.  You never know when you might be a first responder.