Coffee Shop Rides

Peanut butter & chocolate coffee yums

One Sunday awhile back I rode out to the Bittersweet Coffee and Bakery in downtown Louisville. Louisville is about 10 miles east of Boulder, with one or two steep sections to remind you that although you are headed east and away from the mountains, you may still be riding up hill.

We’d had a dump of snow earlier in the week leaving sections of the bike path icy and slick, which kept me extra vigilant and a bit on guard. There were only a couple of spots, where I dismounted. I canvassed the Twitter crowd on one area in particular and it came back pretty evenly split between dismounting and riding through. I dismounted and hobbled across the ice patch realizing too late how slick cleats are on ice.

What would you do? Ride or dismount?

I took the South Boulder Creek Path to Old Tale Road then onto Baseline. Old Tale Road has to be one of my favorite streets in Boulder: wide, bucolic, and with a feeling of an old country road. I rode Baseline until turning right onto 42, then followed the sign to Main St. Louisville. Pretty easy shot. You can make it even easier by going down South Boulder Road but I find it neither as scenic or as pleasant a ride.

The extra energy to remain upright in the icy conditions meant that I made a spectacle of

Santa and the Pinky DeRosa

myself wolfing and scarfing down a gluten-free peanut butter/chocolate dollop before I even got seated. I had intended to take a picture of it, but like many the plans of mice and men and something or other. But the coffee was good and the view of the inflatable Santa impressive.  Bittersweet is a coffee shop lover’s coffee shop. It looks like it used to be someone’s home with the dark wood paneling, divided rooms and tiny bathroom. You could imagine a family living sitting comfortably in one of the big chairs drinking a coffee. But now it’s an assortment of families, students and cyclists drinking mugs of coffee and indulging in the really amazing baked goods. The coffee is not bad either. I thought the americano was a bit bitter but hubby disagreed and said it was one of the best he had. I think the dollop may have coated my taste buds with a fine layer of sugar and made the espresso taste more tart than it probably actually was.

Since my ride we’ve received yet another big wallop of snow and the streets are more iced up now so it may be several weeks before I get out there again. Although, that may not be a bad thing after the holiday’s rampage through the pies and ice cream.