Back to Schoolin' Ride

This past Saturday's ride was primarily a celebration of International Pie Ride Day (IPRD) and a chance to go back to Tienda Tarimoro, the wonderful Mexican market in Eatonton.  However, when I took into account all the fun and interesting aspects of my ride, I had touched on most of the major subjects we get in school.  In the words of Led Zeppelin, "I'm gonna send ya back to schoolin'."  (Want a whole lotta love...rayhr...)

Math
Several years ago my friend Benny made me aware of IPRD.  It was once a tradition of the 50+ subforum of bikeforums.net.  According to the tradition, on the third Saturday of September, forum members would ride at least 15 miles to someplace they could get a piece of pie.  Fresh blueberry pie was the preference, but variations according to availability and personal preference were common.

I've celebrated IPRD the last few years.  As it approached this year, Robert suggested I ride pi miles to get my piece of pie.

(mic drop...)

Why hadn't I thought of this before?  I typically go to The Vanilla Bean on the Monticello square on IPRD.  The square is just under three miles from my house.  Therefore, I devised a slightly longer route on Google Earth to get pi miles, adding a detour along a couple of in-town streets.  Saturday morning I rode this route from my house and stopped my Garmin at 3.14 miles just as I approached The Vanilla Bean.

The Vanilla Bean always has a sumptuous selection of baked goods.  Saturday morning they had several cakes available but only one pie, key lime.  I wasn't disappointed.  I enjoyed my slice of pie with a cup of Earl Grey tea as I sat at an outside table, reveling in pi and pie on the late summer morning.

I rode pi miles to eat a piece of pie on IPRD.  My life is now complete.

Science
Two women sat at the other outside table at The Vanilla Bean.  I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I couldn't help but overhear part of their conversation.  One commented on the "weird" clouds.  I looked up and saw some cirrus clouds in a bright blue sky.  They were lovely but not what I would consider weird, just maybe atypical for summertime.  They probably were a result of the outermost edges of tropical storm Florence.

They definitely were talking about Florence, and the same woman said she had heard that one river was supposed to rise 40 ft!  Somebody better get Noah on speed dial.  40 ft didn't seem possible to me.  I did a little research later and read that tropical storm Alberto in 1994 caused the Ocmulgee River in Macon to rise by about 17 ft; no one knows the exact measurement because the stream gauge washed away.  That was about a 500-year storm.  Not to downplay Florence's impact, but I doubted it would cause a river to rise 40 ft.

Then I specifically researched flood elevations due to Florence.  I couldn't determine the datum used in the figures I found (base flood elevation, I assume), but I was more interested in the net increase.  The Cape Fear River in Fayetteville was expected to rise from 12 ft on Friday afternoon to more than 62 ft early the next week.  That's an increase of more than 50 ft!  The woman at The Vanilla Bean had been in the right ballpark after all.  Considering that the topography in North Carolina is much steeper than in Middle Georgia, it makes sense on further consideration that such sharp increases in river elevations certainly would be possible during a tropical storm.  I was reminded that I shouldn't jump to conclusions too quickly without having sufficient data.

After finishing my delicious pie and tea, I got on the road for the bulk of my ride.  Heading south on Highway 11, I switched from the physical sciences to biology.  A red fox ran slightly ahead of me for about 10 seconds and then crossed the road in front of me.  It was a true delight to get a good look at such a beautiful, elusive creature.

Foreign Language
I rode some of my favorite rural roads in Jasper and Putnam Counties to get to Tienda Tarimoro.

It's such a friendly place.  The owner recognized me and greeted me with a big smile.  I took a seat at one of the handful of tables, and he brought me some chips and salsa - the real deal.  They make their own chips from fresh corn tortillas.  Si!

I ordered some horchata, a traditional Mexican beverage that started in North Africa, spread to Spain, and made its way to the New World.  I learned about horchata several months ago from Papi's Tacos, a food truck that periodically visits the Monticello square.  Papi's horchata is made with coconut milk.  According to the Interwebs, Mexican horchata is often made from rice.  Cinnamon is usually added.  I'm not sure what the liquid base is in the horchata at Tienda Tarimoro, but it's delicious.  I'm glad I was served a big cup, which helped quench the fire from the salsa and the various hot sauces on the table.  (Of course I had to try all the hot sauces.)

I had already eaten most of my salsa by the time I took this picture - ha ha!

I had been jonesin' for the sopes, but when I saw they had not one, but two, types of tamales on the menu, I changed my mind.  Tamales are one of my favorite foods.  They have tamal de oja de platano (wrapped in a plantain leaf) and tamales Mexicanos (wrapped in corn husks).  I went with the tamal de oja de platano because I don't find tamales wrapped in plantain leaves very frequently.  I knew from experience that one would be plenty.  It was almost bigger than my head!  The description said it had seasoned meat.  The meat turned out to be chicken - including bones!  I suspect that's traditional.  It was delicious regardless.  It reminded me of the rib sandwich - complete with bones - at Fat Matt's Rib Shack in Atlanta.

While I ate, I watched Spanish language television.  Nosotros los Guapos was on.  It seems to be like a Spanish version of Dumb and Dumber.  Also, I found that St. Jude's Children's Hospital commercials are just as sad in Spanish as they are in English.

Art
After getting my Tienda Tarimoro fix, I pedaled a few blocks to the Eatonton square to see if my friend Kim was at her shop.  She recently opened The FolksArt, a wonderfully eclectic store with new, old, and just overall cool stuff.

Kim offers art classes, too.  In fact, not only was she there on Saturday, she also had a couple of art students making Christmas trees out of pieces of wainscoting.  It was fun checking out the store while they were finishing their art project.  I found a retro-looking Spiderman sweatshirt, a vintage Nancy Drew book, neat little Elvis and Marilyn Monroe notepads with magnetic fasteners, Jesus candles, and paintings by our mutual friend Linda Aldridge, to name just a few of the goodies.

Social Studies
One of the best items in the shop is also a good social studies lesson:

I posted this on the Facebook page "Look at My Bike Leaning Against Stuff in the South"

Kim has made a bench like this for each school in Putnam County to facilitate their anti-bullying efforts.  She wishes that benches like this weren't so expensive ($300 is about the cheapest she's found) because she'd love to be able to mass-produce them.

P.E.
The afternoon was slipping away; therefore, it was time to head back home.  I had about 24 more miles to ride.  Heh heh - by default, my day's adventure was like one long P.E. class.  Wouldn't it have been cool if we had had cycling in P.E. back in school?

English
So, here I am writing an English composition on my ride.  It's like the cycling blog version of "What I Did Over Summer Vacation."  Although I definitely learned some interesting things on Saturday's ride, it was more like I played hooky all day.