The Espresso Express

It's 6:51 a.m. at 827 West Morgan Street. The only sounds are birds twittering in the tree across the street, the hum of Hillsborough Street waking up a block over, and the air conditioner on the corner of the building starting up.

Jacob rolls up first, as he always does. Then, Lauren and I coast in. It's 6:55 a.m.

As I give Jacob a hard time for always being early to the rides, Lisa and Maggie pull up. It's Lisa's first Espresso Express.

Kaleb, Aaron, Zahra, Sarah, Becca, David, David, Darius and Jordan arrive in the next wave. Conversations start popping up. People gravitate toward those who invited them—it really is a "BYO Friends" event, after all. Then: Vance, Sarah, Capen, Alex, Anastasia, Sydney, Christopher, Aubri, Thomas, Mia, Clayson, and Anna.

I give a small speech and plug Oaks and Spokes' SteerCo meeting this Thursday (you should go). I also plug Coffee Outside on Thursday (you should go to that too). Jake rolls up just in time.

We head out to Benchwarmers. Eddy intercepts us as we cross Saint Marys.

Halfway across the Boylan Bridge, Lauren suggests we adjust course to Boulted. Good call—we have a few new faces on the ride, and I'd like to make it smooth for them, minimizing big road crossings. McDowell, I'm looking at you. NCDOT, I'm looking at you.

I update my mental map to loop around Boylan Heights through some nice side streets, alleys, and one cool neighborhood of funky townhouses.

A group gets lost after a light split and separation. There are nearly 30 of us on the ride. They regroup with the rest of us as we pull up to Boulted.

The bakery is empty when we arrive. By the time everyone settles into conversations with friends, new and old, accompanied by coffee and sweet treats, there are no empty seats left in the whole place.

Hira brings the first batch of newly embroidered TBL shirts.

It's just another Tuesday. Just another episode of The Espresso Express. And it's incredible.