Haven't you got better things to do with your time?

Many years ago, as I was approaching my mid life crisis, I received back our holiday photos from the developers (this was in a time before we had even heard of 'digital' this and 'I-' that). I was convinced that we had been sent the wrong pictures as there was some fat bloke that I didn't recognise in all them all. On closer examination it became apparent that the fat bloke was me. Action was needed and a 3 point plan developed.

1.  better diet,
2.  take up running again 
3.  track my weight on a spreadsheet. 

As a result of this plan then my love of running and spreadsheets was born, both of which still rule my life today. 

About 4 years ago with many races run and a C: Drive crammed with Excels it became clear that running wasn't enough and triathlon was the obvious step forward. I had always been a keen leisure cyclist but never had a proper road bike, so a quick trip to the cycle shop and five hundred quid later I was the proud owner of a Giant Defy 3.5 (which is a bit better than a 4 but not quiet as good as a 3, apparently).

I quickly found I loved road cycling as much as running and took every opportunity to go for a ride or persuade friends and family that they should take up cycling so I could go riding with them. I had a couple of friends who were keen cyclists and they helped show me the way of a 'proper' cyclist.

One of these, Big George, suggested we included a stop at a cafe on our rides so we could go a bit further. Although his knowledge of cafes appeared good unfortunately his route management was poor and a great deal of each ride was spent looking at maps. I, on the other hand, liked to plan my routes in advance and load on to my GPS for easy of navigation and more flowing riding experience. Sadly I had no knowledge of the local cycle cafe scene so had to rely on Big George.

What I needed was to develop a superior set of cafe options so  that I could take control of both route and refreshment stops. 

As it transpired Big George only seemed to know of 3 cafes so I quickly developed a longer list and route planning was all mine. However I have particular needs from my stops, I don't drink coffee or tea so the quality of the hot chocolate was most important, also no stop is complete without the energy giving properties of cake. So cake choice and quality are important too.

I was discussing this dilemma with Jodie (my Aussie sister in law), who, knowing my love of spreadsheets and challenges suggested I rate all the cafes (and tearooms) in Norfolk against my criteria and record the information so as to avoid disappointing cycle breaks in the future.

The Cafe (or tea room) review system was therefore born and my quest had begun. 

I shall explain more about it and the initial results in my next posts.