Euharlee 3 BBQ Populaire / ASPCA Virtual 5K

Yesterday's ride was a twofer: the Euharlee 3 BBQ Populaire and the ASPCA Virtual 5K.  A few months ago, I signed up for the ASPCA Virtual 5K.  Robert and I are longtime supporters of the ASPCA, and this looked like a fun way to give them a little extra support for the wonderful work they do to rescue and protect animals.  Participants can do their 5K via any activity; I chose cycling, of course.  (Besides, running is barbaric.)  The virtual 5K is supposed to be completed between August 9 - 23.  Because I'll be at PBP during most of that time, it seemed easiest to tack my virtual 5K onto the Euharlee 3 BBQ Populaire.

This is the second year of the Euharlee 3 BBQ Populaire.  Andy created this route on somewhat of a dare; could he come up with one that went to three BBQ restaurants?  He did, but two of the BBQ places have closed.  Therefore, Andy calls it the Ironic 3 BBQ Populaire.  It was also ironic, at least for pigs, to have BBQ on a ride to benefit the ASPCA.  I admit that if I had to butcher my own meat, I'd be a vegetarian.  Or perhaps a pescatarian because I don't mind cleaning fish.

Because populaires are shorter (100 km) they tend to be more social than brevets.  Yesterday's populaire was particularly social because there were just four of us: Andy, Frank (a new guy from Rome), Wayne, and me.  It turned out to be a bike walk for me, but I enjoyed the others' company very much.  Besides, it probably was good not to do too killer of a ride with PBP starting in only a few days...

As we rolled out of the park in Euharlee, Andy suggested visiting the nearby covered bridge.  I agreed enthusiastically because I hadn't done so last year, and I wondered if it had been constructed by Horace King.  I learned about Horace King when Robert and I saw a totally cool mural in Atlanta last year.  The mural, called Native Waters, depicts several of Georgia's major river basins.  It has a number of flora and fauna species and illustrates people using and enjoying the rivers.  The mural also has a picture of Horace King:

At the time I was not familiar with Horace King, and so I read more about him online.  He was born a slave, but his owner, John Godwin, saw his intelligence and taught him to read, write, and build even though it was illegal to educate slaves.  Horace King had immense talent for building bridges and constructed dozens in the southeast in the 1800s, including a number of covered bridges.  Some of his bridges still stand.  Is the Euharlee covered bridge one of Horace King's bridges?

The builder wasn't Horace King himself, but it was his son.  How interesting to find this connection!

About 29 miles in, we arrived at Lively's BBQ in Cedartown.  In addition to regular sandwiches, they had a great looking selection of other BBQ items.

I asked the cashier about the pork roll.  She said it's an egg roll filled with BBQ, baked beans, cream cheese, and cayenne pepper.  Sounded good to me!

I thought we were going to eat our goodies there, but Andy had an even better idea: carry our BBQ with us for a picnic a little later on.  Or should I say, pig-nic?  This was another reason the pork roll was a good choice; it fit just right in my jersey pocket.  (Glad I didn't pick the pork nachos.)  I now have a pretty good repertoire of food items I've carried in my jersey pocket: a Stromboli from Deano's in Dublin, GA; a sope from Tienda Tarimoro Mexican restaurant in Eatonton, GA; leftover olives in Majorca; and now a pork roll.

Note my pig tail, recycled from last year's Euharlee 3 BBQ Populaire, and my ASPCA Virtual 5K race number

We left Lively's and stopped for a quick water refill at the depot a few blocks away.  The depot lies on the Silver Comet Trail, which we rode at the Solstice 300K brevet in June.

The roads on the entire route were excellent, not too steep and with little traffic, but the next stretch was particularly good.  For about five miles we rode on a beautiful, winding country road through a valley.  It led us to our picnic spot, a small park next to Silver Creek United Methodist Church.  We sat on the rocks by the creek and enjoyed our BBQ.

Andy and Wayne

I had wrapped my pork roll well, and it traveled just fine - even the BBQ sauce!

I had to wait a few moments for a butterfly to fly away before I put my helmet back on.  Preventing cruelty to animals includes all living creatures, not just pets.

It was only a few miles to our other control, a convenience store in Rome.  Although I just got a Coke, these pork skins caught my eye.  Mutt and pork were doubly appropriate for this ride:

Andy said that the cashier told him that pork skins are their biggest seller.

While we stood outside having our refreshments, Wayne noticed this intriguing bug:

It's about an inch and a half long.  I've seen ones like this before, but I couldn't remember what type it is.  I took this picture and used the iNaturalist app on my phone to identify it.  It's a giant leaf-footed bug.  iNaturalist is the coolest app!  And another cool animal for my ASPCA Virtual 5K!

After about another hour of riding, we were back in Euharlee.  Virtual 5K - er, virtual 109K - complete!  Thank you everyone who contributed to my Paws to Consider campaign for the ASPCA.  If you'd still like to donate, the link is https://secure.aspca.org/team/paws-to-consider.

Figs

I love fresh figs.  Not only do they taste delicious, they also give me solace in the later days of summer, when my subconscious starts reminding me that this favorite season of mine won't last forever.

I used to gather fresh figs from a neighbor's house.  This house sat vacant for several years, and my father-in-law was keeping an eye on it.  He encouraged me to take what I wanted from the abundant yield from several fig trees behind the house.  Someone is now living in this house at least part-time.  I suppose I still could sneak back there for figs.  However, I was glad when a guilt-free alternative presented itself at last weekend's farmers market on the square.  I bought the last container of figs from one of the vendors.

All week I've been enjoying my figs.  They are one of my favorite things to add to my morning oatmeal.  I sprinkle my oatmeal with cinnamon, drizzle on some honey, slice fresh figs on top, and add a few chopped nuts.  Rocket fuel!

Earlier this week I tried a new recipe that I just knew was going to be a do-again: pizza with figs, prosciutto, and brie.

The roasted pepper salad on the side was excellent, too.

Yesterday I went old-school on some of my bike food. I had four fresh figs, but you can only see three of them here because one got squished in my jersey pocket before I could eat it. I hid that one in my hand for the photo because it didn't look too appetizing.

Ironically, this ties into a paragraph from "The Rider" by Tim Krabbe, an excellent stream-of-consciousness book about pro cycling:

"I cycle over to the car and put three figs in my back pocket. Or should I make it four? Or five? Ballast, I never eat more than two during a race, the others will just end up glistening with brown sweat.

Ballast? But if I think those few extra grams are going to get in my way, I can always eat them, can't I?"