Coffeeneuring 2018 no. 3 — Mountain ash, tree ferns, bad coffee
@ Adrian Tritschler · Saturday, Oct 27, 2018 · 4 minute read · Update at Oct 27, 2018 · Image Credit

My third ride of the eighth coffeeneuring challenge; far better weather than a , but much worse coffee.

A six thirty start, first time back on the AWOL after it spent the week at the LBS having the bottom bracket replaced. Last was the last straw, although it had seemed OK on Sunday when we went out exploring, on Monday morning it was dead – the occasional noise under load was now a constant grinding.

The ride out to the Dandenongs along Ferntree Gully road is not my favourite, at least early in the morning traffic is fairly light. The road has little or no shoulder, the traffic is fast, and the further away from the city you get the worse behaved seemed to be the drivers.

Rode past one major crash at an intersection; two motorists had driven into each other. Perhaps I can paraphrase the Victorian Police and suggest that the cars should have been wearing bright colours and have their lights on to avoid being driven into by other cars – that seems to be their endless victim-blaming statement to cyclists.

Arrived at The Basin and had to make my choice; up the 1 in 20 or take the dirt road … I’d been looking forward to a spin in the forest so I took the gravel option. Its been ages since I’ve been out this way and I’d forgotten that there’s both the Old Mountain Highway and the Basin-Olinda road as choices, I kept going straight ahead on the Basin-Olinda road and wound my way up through the forest, towering Mountain Ash overhead and tree ferns and all manner of scrub underneath. Lots of white cockatoos and Crimson rosellas, as well as other birds calling from the forest around.

From about two thirds of the way up I could see another pair of cyclists behind me, gradually catching up, and I kept expecting them to meet or pass me, but was still ahead – just – when we finally came out of the forest and rejoined the tarmac at Olinda.

After a breather I headed back towards Ferntree Gully along the main tourist road, amazed at how many other rides I could see coming towards me, and sometimes catching and passing me from behind. I’m just not used to seeing other riders in my weekday riding.

On along the ridge, then swooping down the main road back to Ferntree Gully and back to the ugly reality of Saturday morning traffic in outer suburbia. Lots of noise, lots of close passes, too many people in too much of a hurry.

My plan for the morning’s coffee was to call in at Frank’s Pasticceria, on the corner of Ferntree Gully road and Scorsby road, I’d seen them on the way out and thought it an interesting place to visit. I pulled up and the immediate greeting was of a dog at one of the outside tables going absolutely berserk as soon as it saw me. The owner was barely able to hold it down but told me “He’ll be alright once you take your helmet off.” Sure enough, once I’d parked and taken helmet and gloves off it calmed down! Then for the disappointment; I walked inside, saw the big sign telling me “Table service, please take a seat” so I did. Then I sat… and I sat. Meanwhile the people who came in before me got their menus, and managed to order, and started to get coffees, and one of the couples who came in after me got their menus… After over ten minutes of this I gave up, got up and walked back out, put my helmet & gloves back on and rode off up the road.

A block or two up the road there was an advertising board by the footpath, pointing down a side street and a sign “Something Something cafe, open for breakfast and Lunch” so I turned off and rode down the street to it. Nope, closed. Turn around and head back to the main road.

There’s a McDonald’s McCafé on the corner, but I have my standards so I kept on going.

Another block or two and there’s a small shopping centre on the right – surely there’s a coffee shop here! I pulled in and saw almost side by side a café and a bakery and chose the former, mostly because I was closest to it. Well strike three for today’s coffee choices. It looked good, and had a lovely thick chocolatey foam on top, but the coffee was very weak and scaldingly hot. The bacon and egg muffin wasn’t that crash hot either. Add that to the blaringly loud daytime television blasting out through the otherwise empty cafe and I’ll have to say I’ll try the bakery next time!

Still, I had my ride and I visited a previously unvisited location and I had their coffee. Onwards and upwards, three down, four to go.

2018 Coffeeneuring no. 3 -- Mountain Ash, Tree ferns and bad coffee

2018 Coffeeneuring no. 3 – Mountain Ash, Tree ferns and bad coffee

References

Avatar of Adrian Tritschler

Adrian Tritschler's stuff

My website, an agglomerative mess, probably half-eaten by a grue
1960s 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 250cc 2fa 30daysofbiking 3cr 3pbs 3rrr 403 404 4wd 9-11 a1000 a4000 aaac aabill aac abbotsford act additives adfa adsl adventure advertising afl agf agl airline airport ajft alley amazon ambulance amiga amiga1000 amiga4000 amys-ride angkor-wat anniversary antelope anzac apollo apple aps arboretum archicentre architecture armour aroundtuit art artwork ascension-records asus atbiad atomic attic au audax aus auspost aussiebirdcount australia australia-post australianbirds autoconfiguration autumn avatar avebury baaw baboon baby backup baklava ballarat balloon bandcamp bank barbecue bath bbq beach beer beeroclock beetle beijing benchmark benwerrin beryl bialetti bicycle bicycle-lane bigpond bigride bike-touring bikelane bikepath bikevic bingo bionicle bird birding birdingathome birds birdsseenin2023 birdsseenin2024 birthday bitcoin bite blackout blade blog blogging blogmax blogx blondie blossom blosxom bluestone bluetooth bmw bnsw boardgame boat boobs book bookmark books bouncy-castle bp breakdown breakfast brewery bridge bridge-road briefcase bright broadband brolga bromeliad brothel bsd buddy bugger-grips builder bulky bullant bund bungendore bunyip bureaucracy bus bus-lane bushwalking butterfly buzzword bv cactus cafe cake calculator callistemon cambodia camera cameraphone cameron camping cannondale canon cappuccino cappucino capuccino car carnegie casio cat caterpiller cats cbx cbx750 cbx750f cd cemetery censorship centro cereal chadstone challenge change cheese chef childhood chilli chimneyduck china chn chocolate christening christmas christmasbeetlecount church cicada cider cigarettebutts civet clayton clock clumsiness cm cms cockatoo cockroach coco coffee coffeemug coffeeneuring coffeeneuring2020 coffeeneuring2021 coffeeneuring2022 coffeeneuring2023 coffeeoutside coffeepot cold collision colnago comedy comet commonwealth-games commute commuting compiz computer concrete confusion connex coral corn couch court covid19 coworker crab crawl cremorne cricket crime critical-mass crossstitch crumpler css ctc ctw2850s curry custard customer-service cycle-path cycle-touring cycledindi cycledindi24 cycling cycliq cyclist cyclops dadjoke dalek dandenongs date death debian demo demo-scene demolition dentist derailment desk developer development dial-up dig digitisation digitise dinner disaster disgusting disk disqus distributed dizzy djerring-trail djerringtrail docbook dog dogs door dooring dorset dragon dragster dream driving drumming dtt duck dungeon durrell dvd dvico dyndns e-text e18 earworm easyshare echidna edge edge305 edge705 egret electronics elephant elevenses emacs email endomondo engagement england english engrish environment eofy eric-newby error erskine-river escooters esp estuary evening excom exif exiftool f3jr f3jv facebook fafnir fail2ban failure falcon family fancy fancy-dress fault fediverse feet fence festival fiat fiat-500 fiat500 fidel filter fire firefox firmware fish fishandchips fitbit fitzroy fixie flex flickr float flood floriade flower fly12 foaf fog food footy for-sale forums fotothing fountain fra fragile france freebsd friday friendship frog frogmouth frogs frost froty fruit fruittoast fungi gadabunud gadubanud gang-gang gansu garbage garden gardening garfish gariwerd garmin gas gbr geelong gemini genres geocache geocaching geography geotagged getoffmylawn gibberish gig gippsland giraffe girlfriend glass glen-waverley gmail gnome gnuplot goanna goat goatbeer golang goodreads goofey google gor gorse government gplus gps gpx graffiti grammar granfondo gravelbike gravelroad grddl greatsouthernrailtrail grenda groundeffect gru grub gsrt gsx1000z gtd guiness guinness guns gunzel gvbr gvrt gyroscope h1n1 habit hail hardrubbish hardware harvest hat hawkwind hdtv headwind health heatwave helicopter heraldsun hfbv hide hiking hippo history holiday honda honeymoon hope hospital hot hotel hrb hsfff huffy hug hughesdale hugo hume-highway humour huntingdale hyundai ibis ibm icon identity idiot ikea imagemagick imap incentivise incompetence indieweb inferno infographic injury ink inktapril inktob2020 inktober inktober2020 insect insects instagram intel interest internode intrepidtravel invertebrate invertebrates invitation iot iphone ipod iptc ipv6 iso8601 issue itch itsp itunes ixus ixus300 ixus700 jaywalker jekyll jersey jey jigsaw journal jrb june justice justjoey kangaroo kangaroos katana kawasaki kay-and-burton kde kellybrook kings-couriers kneejerk knitting koala kodak kookaburra kubernetes kudu ladder lake laneway laneways laptop lastfm lastpass laterpixel lawyer leather lego lemon lemons leslie-charteris lifelogging light lighthouse lilo limar limes linkedin linkrot linux lion litter lizard lj location lockdown logrotate lorne lroty lufthansa lunch lunchbreak lvm lxra lysterfield macchiato machine_tags machinereadymonday machinery magazine maglev magnolia magpie map mapping marksense markup marsupials matches mathjax mathml mattress maze mbtc mc6809 mc6809e md5 meerkat mekong melbourne melburn melburn-roobaix meme memolane memories memory meta metadata microformats microk8s microsoft millpond miniadventure minutae mist mlp mobile-phone modem mona monash monash-city-council monash-university monday mondegreen monitoring monument moon mooramong mortality motionbased motorbike motorcycle motorcycling motorist motorola movie movies mozilla mrtg msi mtb muarc mug mural murder murrumbeena muse muse-mode mushrooming music mycommute myflickryear2022 mysql names nanoadventure national-trust nbn neatstreets neighbour nest netbook netbsd netware network newspaper nigeria nightworks nocleanfeed nofilter noise nomnomnom noneshallpass nope norco norky-bike north-road nostalgia notebook notes novell nsw number1son nvidia nye nzl oakleigh obesity obituary obp obstruction oes2 offeeneuring oldcar ominous onenet open-tabs openbsd openid openindiana openphoto opensolaris opml oranges org-mode orgmode orgzly orly ostrich otter otways outage outpost owl oww oxford p100 palm-pilot panda paperwork parenting park parking parrot passbox pasta pbs pc pc3000 pc3121 pc3166 pc3232 pc3800 pentium pentium-4 pentium-iv peregrine perentie perl pesos pet petrol peugeot philosophy phone photo photograph photography photos php picasa picnic piggies pii piii pineapple piv pixelfed pizza plan9 plogging plu pobblebonk podargus podargus-strigoides poem police politics pollution portugal possum postcard postmarks postnuke pothole power ppp prawn prime probe problem proofreading prt pub pubs puck pumpkin pun punchcards puncture pyblosxom qantas qdos qfl qnx qotd quail quaxing r-class r707 radius raido rail-trail railtrail railway rain rainbow rainfall rainforest ramones random rant raven rc17 rdf rdup reading reading-books-rdf real-estate realestate recipe redevelopment renovation rent renting repair repairs reptile restaurant retrocomputing review rhino richmond rickroll ride2work ridetoworkday ring ringtail rip ritual river road-rage roadie roadrage roadsidefind robot rocket rockpool rockshox rodent rose roses roundabout rowing rrd rrdtool rrr rss rta rtabigride rtfm rtwd rubbish ruby ruins ruok russian-women samba samsonite samsung sasl sbs scam scanning scent schmap science scribble script sculpture sculptures seabird seaslug security self-reference selfie sensationalism sgml shakespeare shark shimano shoes shopping shopping-trolley sign signwriting silverbirch singing singlespeed sink site site-news site-stuff skateboard skink skink-link skip skyrail slashdot sleep sles sles10 slippery smarthome smidsy smog smoke smoker snake snakes sneakernet snow snow-train social-media software soloslog solstice soup souvenir spain spam spelling spider spiegeltent spotify spotty-bike spring springer ssh stagecoach station-trail steam-engine storage storm storm-trooper storytlr strava stupidity submarine suburbia summer sunos sunrise sunset supergirl supersunday supertuesday support surveillance survey suzuki svg switzerland syncthing t-shirt table tag tagging taikoz tailwind tandem tax taxi tdf teac teamrc17 technicomps technology teeth telemarketing telephone television telstra tent terrorism tgif the-saint the-slog theftbyfinding theme throw thunderstorm thursday ti ti99a til time toastie tomato touring tourism towel toys tradesman traffic trailgator train-spotter tram trap travel trek trek-t50 triffid tritschler trivia trovebox trustpilot tunnel turtle tv tvix twat-o-tron twitter typo ubuntu ugliness ui uk uluru unprecedented update upgrade uptime usb vandalism vcr vegemite veges vhs vic vicroads victoria video vietnam virus visitstanleytas vista visualisation vitriol vline vlocity vmware vpn vpnc walking wandrer warmshowers warranty wasp water water-meter waterfall wearegoingawol wearitpurple weather web webcam webfinger wedding weevil wellbeing wemo wetlands wfh whatcouldpossiblygowrong wideopenroad wifi wig wildebeeste wildlife wildoz win10 win2000 wind window windows windows7 windy wine winery winxp wired wisp witness wor wordplay work workflow worldbicycleday wpa www wyvern xemacs xml xp xrd xsl xslt yak yarrabug yellow ytbc yumcha zaf zebra zfs zoo zope zorse

© 1984 - 2024 Adrian Tritschler

Powered by Hugo with theme Dream.

About

author portrait

ajft looking stylish and black

…The Owner

There’s not much more I can add to who I am.

…The Site

Vanity site? Technology experiment? Learning tool? Blog? Journal? Diary? Photo album? I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you…

I experiment. I play. I write and I take pictures. Some of the site is organised around topics, other parts are organized by date, then there’s always the cross-references between them.

Its all been here a fairly long time. Like the papers on my desk, or the books on the bedside table, the pile just grew… and it all grew without much plan or structure. I try not to break URLs, so historical oddities abound.

Long ago it started as a learning experiment with a few static HTML pages, then I added a bit of server-side includes and some very ugly PHP. A hand-built journal/blog on top of that PHP, then a few experiments in moving to various static publishing systems. I’ve never wanted a database-based blogging engine, so over the years I’ve tried PHP, nanoblogger, emacs-muse, silkpage and docbook before settling on Emacs Org mode for writing and jekyll for publishing. But the itch remained… I never really liked jekyll and the ruby underneath always seemed so much black magic. So now the latest incarnation is Org mode and hugo.

…The ISP

  • Hosted by @cos

…The Grue