Coffeeneuring Challenge 2025

Interior, Stillwater Coffee

Week One

1. Tuesday, October 14 (Cloudy, 64F)

Coffee at: Stillwater Coffee Company, 1275 N Center Point Road, Hiawatha [round trip 15 miles]

Trees have many uses

Coffeeneuring is back for its 15th year, and I'm back for my second year. This is a great way to celebrate cycling and small businesses (as well as natural spaces, which feature in some coffeeneuring projects but not this one). Last year, my rides-to-fall-drinks occurred on days with high temperatures between 55 and 84 degrees, and as the weather turns colder with occasional rain, I could use some motivation wherever I can find it. The rules (Mary G 2025) call for seven rides of at least two miles round trip, to six different places, between October 11 and November 24, with no more than two per week. With so many coffee places in the core of Cedar Rapids, these rules pose no difficulty. Outside of the core, though, chains predominate--not a problem for the rules, but I'd prefer to keep it local. Given the length of some of the rides others reported on the Coffeeneurs Facebook page last year, I feel challenged to get out of town some in 2025.

Cedar Valley Nature Trail in Cedar Rapids
under cloudy skies

Today was cloudy and chilly. I rode, mostly on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, to suburban Hiawatha. To give myself an extra mile, and to avoid a complicated intersection at Center Point and Boyson, I stayed on the trail as far as Tower Terrace Road before riding back through the factories to Stillwater.

Cedar Valley Nature Trail splits off from Center Point Road

That might have been unwise; I only had to be on Tower Terrace for about 0.1 mile, but it's a two-lane high speed road with gravel shoulders. Fortunately, no cars appeared as I panic-pedaled. 

Stillwater has no bike rack, despite its proximity to the trail--maybe I'm the first person ever to cycle here!--but I did find fellow blogger Robert Manson as well as a lot of Johnny Cash references in the decor, and free refills. Free or cheap refills are everywhere in eastern Iowa, but not in "real" cities... I'm guessing the rent determines this.

North window at Stillwater Coffee

While enjoying my coffee and apple muffin, I watched the biweekly Cities for Everyone webinar. This week Gil Penalosa hosted the legendary Ellen Dunham-Jones. She talked about the need through policy to "disrupt auto dependence" in order to meet the many challenges of aging suburban areas. A lot of her examples were from high-demand areas (Atlanta, Austin, Bethesda, Denver, e.g.); I'm glad she talked specifically about areas without change-forcing levels of demand, because that's where we are here. I imagine retrofit is a tough sell anywhere, though, as witness Addison Del Maestro's post today quoting someone from Vienna, Virginia, worried about how increasing population through denser development would disrupt basic aspects of daily life like grocery shopping.

Blairs Ferry and Center Point Roads, Cedar Rapids:
One of several complicated intersections on the CVNT

While I was inside Stillwater, we got a brief rain shower outside. It was over before the webinar was, but my ride home made my butt look wet.

2. Thursday, October 16 (Sunny, 77F)

Coffee at: Dash Coffee Roasters, 120 3rd Avenue SW [round trip 4.6 miles + 0.5 miles swimming]

SOURCE: Mary G., "Coffeeneuring Challenge 2025: You're Only 15 Once," Chasing Mailboxes, 20 September 2025

LAST YEAR: "Coffeeneuring Challenge 2024," 15 October 2024

COFFEENEURING IN THE BLOGOSPHERE:

Brent Lineberry (Orange Gnome) is in the Atlanta area