Ad Lib Jittery Java Tour

The first official Jittery Java Tour was yesterday, April 22nd, and it was ad lib because we changed the third cafe due to time constraints.  As tour leader, I'm nothing if not flexible to the needs of the participants.  Ha!  Don't I sound official?  Anyway, there were 4 of us, so the route slips were really not that necessary because we were all going to stay together.  The route slips also turned out to be wrong because I missed a line in my spread sheet halfway through the ride and all the turns after that were off by one.  Which was fine because we changed the route on the way back from Claremont.  The official route was going to be Mary's Market and Cafe in Sierra Madre, 42nd Street Bagel Cafe in Claremont for the turnaround, and Kaldi's in South Pasadena for the little pick-me-up before we turned for home.  But because we turned the ride into more of a social event, we got pressed for time and we made Monrovia Coffee Co. in Monrovia (duh) the last stop before ending back at Victory Park in Pasadena.

Our first stop went as scheduled.  One of our more seasoned riders, Bill, appreciated the new places and routes he was seeing.  Keith enjoyed all the extra climbing I was throwing in.  We had a nice visit at Mary's Market.  Take a look at the extra large "cups" we put on the table:

 

Hello, I ordered the large cappuccino!

 

Now, Mary's Market & Cafe was only 4 miles from the start, but Mike appreciated the proximity because he hadn't had his morning coffee yet.  After the cups of joe, we were ready to tackle the rolling hills of Duarte, Azusa, and Glendora before landing in Claremont.

 

Keith's legs are ready to go.

 

Well, about halfway through Glendora, the nuisance of Mike's dry chain became more worrisome than just some noise.  The chain was starting to skip and pop, so we decided to visit Ron over at Foothill Cyclery in La Verne.  It wasn't that much of a detour off our planned route, which turned out well anyway, because we ended up ditching the rest of the route after Claremont.  Bill noticed that I missed a turn onto Route 66.  So, after getting some free lube, and doing some shopping (hey, we're guys in a bike shop, you figure it out), we turned toward Claremont.

Two of our good friends live on the street between La Verne and Claremont, so we decided to drop in on them and take a look at the landscaping and renovation in progress.  So, we had another visit during our ride as Vince gave us the tour of the new hardwood floors, the new trees, and the new walkway in the backyard.  By then, we were really ready for a bagel and coffee, so it was good that our next destination was 42nd Street Bagel Cafe.

 

Okay, everybody hold up your coffee cups, and try not to shake so much.

 

While we were there, I took a look at my route slip to see if there were any other problems besides the missed turn.  Uh, yeah... because I missed that turn, all the other turns were out of sequence to the last coffee shop.  Rights were lefts and lefts were rights.  All very annoying.  But, like I said before, it worked out anyway because we now had a time constraint.  With all the socializing, we were not going to make it back in time for some peoples' schedules, so we came up with Plan B.  Instead of South Pasadena, we ride back to Monrovia and we cut 8 miles off of the ride.  Mike and I had done that flatter route from Claremont many times, so it was no big deal to us to be the tour guides back to Pasadena.  From Claremont, we landed at the Monrovia Coffee Company.  We all shared a cookie.  Thanks Bill!  And I decided on froo froo espresso drink, which I call espresso candy.

 

There's some nice people-watching on this street, huh Keith?

 

Seriously, though, the foot traffic in Claremont was much more entertaining if you were a heterosexual male living in Southern California.  That got us on a fun topic of conversation about college towns, young women, and, in Keith's case since he went to UNLV, what those young women have to do to get out of debt.  A college job in some college towns means something else besides serving coffee in the local in cafe.

 

Espresso Candy and Cookie.

 

And then, half an hour later, we were done.  We got back to the cars in plenty of time for those who had to be somewhere, and we were all pretty alert being jazzed on sugar and caffeine.  Now, I have to plan on a Jittery Java Tour Central so we can hit the cool spots in Glendale, Montrose, and La Canada.  Looks like I'll have to some more riding and research, searching for a good climb to get some good coffee.

Jittery Java Tour East

Well, my friends, this last Saturday, I explored the possible route for the eastern leg of the Jittery Java Tour.  I came home thinking that I really need to address the logistics of this ride.  Number 1: do not sip coffee at each stop.  I tried and I only hit four places, but by mile 40, I was feeling jittery, really!  I was anxious, excited, very alert.  Now, believe me, I've been a coffee abuser since my days in college, and I have never had a caffeine rush like this one.  I once ordered a triple espresso, and the girl behind the counter wanted to make sure I could handle it before she handed it over.  That sensation was a yawner compared to what 4 cups of coffee and an increased heart rate can do.  If you recall, I cruise on my bike with a 172 bpm.  Now, rush caffeine through all parts of your body at that rate.  Yowza!  The feeling passed in about 10 minutes, but I was seriously concentrating on increasing my pedal cadence so that I could metabolize the caffeine faster.

Anyway, here's how the day began.  From Pasadena, my first stop was Mary's Market and Cafe.  There it is:

 

Nice Day, huh? Cup #1

 

Beantown is actually closer to Pasadena than Mary's Market and they are only separated by about 5 or 6 blocks.  Mind you, the 6 blocks from Mary's Market to Beantown is a lot shorter than the climb up those 6 blocks.  So, I forewent stopping at Beantown and began to wonder about the feasability of all those stops.

Next stop was Monrovia Coffee Company, which was only 4 miles away.  Here's espresso detritus:

 

Coffee and Bike.  Hmm, I sense a theme coming...

 

This was the last stop for coffee before landing in La Verne.  So, that was a good 20 miles or so.  Just in time for the croissant and coffee craving coming from my middle.

 

See!  I knew there was theme forming here.  I also couldn't wait to bite into that french pastry.

 

From La Verne, Claremont is only a hop, skip, and a pedal stroke or three away, so I found that independent place up from the Schmucks.  It's called 42nd Street Bagel Cafe.  I guess that's supposed to be a Manhattan reference, but I could be wrong (not likely).

 

Here's some appreciative folk signage.

 

So, at this point, I had just had a coffee and croissant not more than 20 minutes ago.  Dare I attempt the Jittery Java Requisite?

 

Ooh, I dared!

 

How's that for branding?  By this time, I was considerably juiced, and I had gone to the bathroom twice already.  I've heard tell that caffeine is a diuretic, but I think that's just a story made up to scare little cyclists before dropping off to sleep.  The wind had picked up, and it was not going to be fun going east into a head wind, so I decided not to head down into South Pasadena and Altadena.  But in between Glendora and Duarte, I had the caffeine spazz out, and had to go to the bathroom again.  4 coffee drinks in 3 hours while doing cardio work is not a good mix.  And then I was back safely in Pasadena, coming down from my freakout and feeling pretty good for 60 miles in a head wind.  Oh yeah, there was that little bit of climbing through Sierra Madre, this nice hill in Duarte,and all those rolling hills through Glendora.  Perhaps the Jittery Java Tour should have a couple of different versions.  Like a Climber's Delight and a Fat Frothy Jaunt.  That could work.