Coffeeneuring – Austin, Texas

October 19, 2015

Austin is town number three for the Coffeeneuring Challenge 2015!

Misty hates me for making her pose here….

To recap, the Coffeeneuring Challenge is the brainchild of blogger Chasing Mailboxes. The gist is to ride to 7 different coffee shops over 7 weekends. My goal is to also make it 7 different cities and potentially 7 different bikes. So far I am 3 for 3.

This week we are back “home” in Austin to prep for a fall full of travel and another round of slimming down our possessions. (Anyone want to buy my 29er mountain bike?)

Today’s adventure was with my favorite cycling and coffee gal pal, Misty. We share a caffeine predilection so all of our rides together include at a minimum, a pre-ride coffee stop and frequently a mid- or post-ride coffee.

Today was no exception. We met at Houndstooth Coffee in downtown Austin at 4th and Congress Ave – it’s one of our favorite snobby coffee shops. (No skim milk allowed, you specify which espresso beans for your drink, lots of mustaches and plaid on the baristas… you get the idea.)

But, this being October – the biannual festival month in Austin – between the Texas Book Festival and the Livestrong Challenge, the shop was out of pastries!!

Our drinks look lonely, don’t they?

After a spin up the hill on South Congress, we rolled west on Annie St to La Patisserie. Conveniently located next to the iconic “Welcome to Austin” postcard. (See above photo.) And yes, I made Misty pose for photos here. If you look closely, you’ll see that she is grimacing, not smiling.

Yum!

Nice patio seating and they have a playpen set up inside for itty bitty kids.

La Patissere did not disappoint with delicious Chocolate Raspberry Croissants. Small enough to indulge by yourself without regrets.

Is it the truth?

I finished the ride home with a side trip through the west side of Austin’s core. I found this along Bull Creek Blvd – I can’t tell if it’s by artist Mike Johnston since it’s missing his “truth” signature. (If you like street art, I have a series of posts featuring photos from five cities including Austin Street Art.)

Stats for the Trip

Total mileage: 21 miles

Shop(s): Houndstooth Coffee & La Patisserie

Bike: Moots road bike

Observation on Bike Friendliness

Honestly, I find it hard to ride in Austin without constantly evaluating bike infrastructure. My issue is that I know the channels to get problems resolved (notice I didn’t say fixed…) which takes away from simply enjoying my ride. So, I’m going to skip any written observations today except to admit that I did take some photos of a gap in bike route 29 that is slated to be fixed sometime next year – about 10 years after I first attended a meeting with TXDoT to discuss it.