Day 246: A Ride to the Tea Palace Turns into a Coffee Break

I was hoping to loan a friend of mine a full suspension bike to try out today, but as I found out pretty quickly, the bike was in no shape for loaning it to a friend. As with most of the bikes that I’m riding these days, they all need parts, and they all require work. Today I rode the one that has the least worn drive train, but even so, it was clicking away as I pedaled up the hill today.

So I had to retract my offer to loan out the bike for a ride up to the West Point Inn. Fortunately we were still able to get out for a ride at our agreed upon time.

We’ve ridden up to the Inn before in order to have tea on the porch. A long time ago I wrote about the idea of doing “civilized” rides, during which you actually stop and enjoy a cup of tea, or a coffee. Long before Riding to Recovery I had forgotten about that idea. Over the past couple of decades, there had been a few birthday rides during which we’d stop at places like the Pelican Inn and such, but we’d never stop for tea, or to take a coffee break. Today’s plan was to ride up to the West Point Inn for a cup of tea. ;-)

After a enjoying nicely paced ride up the hill, we reached the Inn. There were dozens of people up there doing volunteer maintenance, and of course hikers and mountain bikers. We walked upstairs to the Inn’s foyer where we found a dozen people warming themselves inside. It was windy and cold up there at noontime. On the table where they normally sell tea and cider, there were thermoses filled with coffee, and a sign that said “real coffee.” So after a rather cold trip up to the inn, we decided to opt for the coffee instead of tea.

We sat on the inn's amazing wraparound porch and talked while warming up over our coffees and good conversation. For some reason I was colder than I should have been given the layers that I had on. I was happy to head back down as soon as we'd finished our coffees.

We rode down the same that we’d ascended, and I played around on the way down. There are many little jumps, and fun obstacles on the way down, and I used most of them today. I know that trail so well that it feels like an extension of myself at this point.

It was a nice mellow ride and a good one before I head out on a longer and harder ride tomorrow. Thanks for the ride “C.”