FDR Little White House 200K Brevet

The FDR Little White House 200K route is a great one.  I enjoyed doing it as a permanent last year (see my 8/3/14 blog entry), but it also made for a memorable brevet.

Because it was a brevet, many more people rode it yesterday than when I did it as a permanent.  Yesterday, Daniel the speed demon flew off the front.  I'm not sure I could have kept up with him even if I tried.  I was happy to keep up a much more sustainable pace with Julie, Josh, and Ed.  We talked about everything from biscuits to civil rights.  Actually, Julie and I did most of the talking.  It was a lot more than I'm used to; at the end of the day, my throat was sore!

At the control in Manchester, Ed got a frozen treat that was shaped like an old fashioned Push-Up:

Ed's purchase was a multicolored all-fruit frozen concoction, but the plastic push-up part was the same.  It reminded me of something I hadn't thought of in years.  When I was little, I collected four of the plastic push-up parts to make axles and wheels, taping them together in pairs.  I attached them to a shoebox, cut a portion of the shoebox lid off, and made a car for my stuffed animal rabbit.  Let the good times roll.

Midway through the brevet was a control at FDR State Park.  Because food options are limited in the area, Ian arranged a wonderful picnic lunch for all of us riders.  He and his wife Chris prepared much of the food, including chili, vegetable soup, delectable homemade pimento cheese with horseradish, and hearty muffins that were kind of like morning glory muffins.  Additionally, Wayne made some flapjacks, a bar-like-cookie creation with a unique ingredient: golden syrup.  They make excellent bike food.  Josh - and possibly others - provided chips and other sides to complete the picnic:

Iron Chef Ian

I asked Ian, "Don't cows have four stomachs?"  He replied, "They have at least three, but I'm not sure if they have four."  I said, "Well, they have more than one anyway.  I wish I were a cow so that I had enough room to sample everything."  FYI, this morning I saw my friend Phil, who is a cattle farmer.  He confirmed that cows have four stomach.  Udderly fascinating!

There were several beverages available at the picnic.  This one must have been referring to me because it certainly wasn't Ian, Chris, or Wayne:

Pine Mountain is one of my favorite areas of Georgia.  I don't think I had ever visited in the fall before.  The view from atop Pine Mountain is beautiful in any season:

Julie and I headed out from lunch and rode the rest of the way together.  I had been so excited to see her name on the list of registered riders because I hadn't had the chance to ride with her in a while.  Yesterday was actually her first brevet since she was seriously ill back in the spring.  I knew that she had been ill back then, but I had no idea it was a life-and-death situation.  It is truly a miracle that she has recovered so well and could ride 133 miles with me yesterday.  That was after she rode 90+ miles the day before that for her birthday!  I'm sure that the fact that she takes such good care of herself is the reason she is still with us today.  Getting to ride with Julie yesterday was the highlight of the day.  She and I will both do some extra celebrating this Thanksgiving!