Coffeeneuring 2020, Ride 5: Bi-Partisan Cafe and Berrydale Park, 12 Nov 2020

It was inevitable: The initial enthusiasm for Coffeeneuring wanes for me as the challenge goes on. This happens in ordinary years, and is no doubt helped/hurt by my tendency to start off with a bang, then trying to make each ride “special”. (After making coffee on the beach with the roar of the Pacific just a few years away, there’s no place to go but down.) And COVID ain’t helping. As much as I’d love to go in and plop myself down in a cozy and comfy coffee shop for several hours, that isn’t going to happen. Now it’s darker, colder, and wetter, which really saps my motivation to sit outdoors and make/drink coffee. But motivate myself I will. And right now, keeping it simple is helping to motivate me.

Keeping it simple is what I did on Thursday November 12. I got out my trusty Raleigh Crested Butte, the bike I can’t quit (but sometimes wants to quit me) and rode the couple miles into the heart of Montavilla. Bipartisan Cafe has been a go-to over the past decade plus, not just for their great pies and decent coffee, but because it’s one of the few shops that’s open past 6 PM. (And I’ve coffeeneured to it before, ironically as a Ride Number 5.) But I’m not going to go inside, I’m simply here to pick up a cup “to-go”, which I will transfer into my travel mug, and ride to a park to enjoy it.

The park I chose is Berrydale Park, a fairly obscure greenspace located at SE 92nd Av and Taylor St, just a mile from the cafe. It’s not a bad park, but it’s the type of unremarkable greenspace scattered around the city: Unless you live close-by, you’d not know of its existence. That’s fine, every neighborhood needs their own little spot. Not every park has to be a Laurelhurst or Tabor. I drank my coffee while doing a little writing, savoring the moment.

The coffee drained and light failing, I rolled home. It was a 4 1/2 mile total journey.

Here’s hoping for the motivation to finish up my last two rides…