Week #5 – Zumbar Coffee & Tea
Friday, November 4
Weather: Perfect (sunny and about 68)
111 Chesterfield, Cardiff, CA 92007

I had absolutely no plan this week when I showed up for our weekly Friday coffee ride. It was the first time since I started the ride about a year ago that not a single person had RSVP’d on our meetup page. I figured I would just go wherever I felt like riding and wherever I felt like having coffee and a snack – the perfect spirit of the challenge.

The ride is enough of an institution now, however, that I was fortunate to have six others join me this morning, with two of the six joining us somewhere on the road. It was the perfect day for a coffee ride – mild temperatures, blue skies and no wind.

I have been asked a few times recently about my cycling past, especially with regard to cycling in Idaho. It is an amazingly stark contrast: I typically always rode alone, and until the end of my tenure there, there was actually no coffee shop to ride to (Idaho Falls, c. 2000-2010). There was always Great Harvest Bread, where you could get a passable mug and a thick slice of free bread and call it a morning. The pumpkin chocolate chip bread is one of the main things I miss about IF, now that I think about it. The weather could almost never be described as perfect.

About Zumbar:

The location in Cardiff is very close to the coast, being easy walking distance from Cardiff State Beach and Campground (one of my favorite local beaches, and one you can take dogs to – at least, part of it).  Their coffee is simply outstanding, and while they do not offer a ton of baked goods, what they have are delicious.  I didn’t take a picture of either because a mug of french press isn’t super amazing looking, and my short bread cookie with jam was consumed before I remembered anything about pictures.

There is not a huge seating area, nor a ton of room for bikes, so this is definitely a place for a solo or small group visit.

About our ride:

Total distance was around 20 miles today, with the pace being a little on the swift side for a typical Friday coffee.  It’s too bad I didn’t catch a group photo, as Fred was particularly decked out this morning in matching Swami’s gear, including kit, bike and shoes matching.  Coming from Idaho, I never dreamed of aspiring to such Joe-pro heights.  And speaking of pros, one thing that you almost get used to in San Diego is the fact that you will often find yourself in the company of former Olympians.  We have had the pleasure of having Shaun Wallace join us on a few of our Friday coffee rides (https://www.olympic.org/shaun-wallace).  A super low key guy who shows up on all manners of bikes, you would almost never guess he is a former British pro – unless you start talking about training, and you realize here is someone who really knows his stuff.

It was such a lovely day for early November, it was hard to get motivated to head back to our daily grinds.