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Coffeeneuring Challenge 2020 #3: Starbucks Family Picnic

November 07, 2020

  • Ride #3
  • Date: 2020-11-07
  • Instagram
  • Distance: 8.19 miles – Strava
  • Drink: Cold Foam Cold Brew + Two Lemonades
  • Location: Starbucks (everywhere) + the park

I definitely wanted to bring the kids on one of my coffeeneuring rides. One day we’ll all be out on our own bikes, but for now the easiest way is to use the bike trailer. Saturday proved to be a good day as the weather was nice (although windy) and our morning was wide open (like pretty much every Saturday morning these days). The kids were enticed with a choice between hot chocolate and lemonade, and lemonade was the resounding favorite. I guess that’s Phoenix in November for ya. I think lemonade counts as a kid coffee style beverage, so they can now say they’ve gone on their first official coffeeneuring ride.

Two kids sitting on a picnic blanket with a Surly Cross-Check with a bike trailer attached leaning against a tree behind them

The Ride

Pulling the 5 year old and 2 year old in the Burley means I try to avoid any major intersections. For all the bike friendliness of the neighborhoods around us, there’s some directions that are still difficult to go, especially with the trailer. The canals and numbered bike routes are very nice, but in this case even the numbered bike route, crosses a 5 lane road with the signal being 0.5 miles of not-very-bikeable sidewalk away.

But I was able to mostly stay on quiet streets with wide bike lanes, but I still had to opt for a short distance on the sidewalk to cross one major road. It’s not the best route but provides the closest Starbucks/park combo, and the company more than made up for it.

A close up of a Surly Cross-Check leaning against a tree with the Burley trailer attached

The Drink(s)

Starbucks lemonade (or any lemonade) is a favorite of my kids. In fact, Starbucks is basically a lemonade shop to them. I always prefer a small coffeeshop but use Starbucks as a break-glass-in-case-of-needing-coffee-coffeeshop. It has a few drinks that I like. Seeing how it was warm day, I opted for the cold brew (which is decent) with the cold foam (which is delicious).

One Starbucks cold brew and two Starbucks lemonades sitting in some grass on the edge of the picnic blanket

One Good Thing

My kids always come up with some good park games. We brought the soccer ball but it turned into a game of “Steal the Ball from the Sleeping Tiger”. There are rules that the 5 year old came up with, but they evolved rapidly during gameplay and I’m not sure I could explain them in any case.

One kid running toward another kid laying down in some grass with a fall at their feet
The "tiger" "sleeping" with the soccer ball while a kids runs towards them
One kid bending over to pick up the soccer ball from the feet of the other kid
A kid "quietly" stealing the soccer ball from the "sleeping" "tiger"
One kid with the ball in their hands turning to run away from the other kid laying in the grass
A kid turns to run away from the "sleeping" "tiger"
One kid laughing and holding the soccer ball while the other kid is on their knees getting up from the grass
The "tiger" is beginning to get up from sleeping
One kid laughing and running while holding the soccer ball as the other kid runs toward them
A kid holding a soccer ball and laughing as the "tiger" sprints towards them
One kid is running out of frame of the picture as the other kid continues to run towards them
The sprinting "tiger" gains ground on the kid running away with the soccer ball

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coffeeneuringcoffeeneuring2020bikescross-check

I'm Luke.
I live in Arizona but I'm from the Internet.