Meat and Three

Here in the South, a common type of restaurant is a meat and three.  You pick one meat from several selections (fried chicken, ham, country fried steak, etc.) and three side dishes, which typically include various vegetables (sweet potato souffle, cabbage, black-eyed peas, etc.) and starches (potatoes, corn, lima beans, etc.).  This catch-up post for several fun rides in the past few weeks is also a meat and three: chicken, pumpkins, fried green tomatoes, and peaches.

Wild Chicken 100

The Wild Chicken 100 was supposed to be in April but was postponed due to COVID-19.  It was rescheduled for October 10th but then was postponed again due to weather.  The third time, October 24th, was the charm.

I left home early for the 9:00 AM start in Fitzgerald, GA, a little more than a two-hour drive.  Fitzgerald is known for the wild chickens that run around town - hence, the ride name.  The ride staging area was The Depot, and so we had some trains, too.

Chickens and bicycles - what's not to love?

Inside The Depot

As I waited for the ride to start, I rode across the street to check this out:

I joked that someone is going to be giving the Big Chicken in Marietta a run for its money.  Later, I found out that it is, in fact, going to be taller than the Big Chicken in Marietta.  Also, it will be the world's largest chicken topiary (not sure how many chicken topiaries there are).  And...it's going to be an Airbnb!  I have a new life goal (to stay in the giant chicken topiary Airbnb).

About 40 of us rolled out.  The first few miles were a neutral start around downtown.  It was a nice way to see the lovely streets and homes and - bonus! - some wild chickens.  A few miles outside of town, I turned off on the 100-mile option.  I rode solo the rest of the day as most people did the 30- or 62-mile option.

I enjoyed riding through the South Georgia farmland.  Lots of cotton is grown near Fitzgerald, and it's harvest time.

Hay bale chicken

Woo hoo!

I love pecan orchards.

Cotton and bloom

The irrigators in South Georgia always fascinate me.

The 100-mile route went through some particularly pretty areas.  I came to a dirt road with a gate across it, but we had been given instructions that we had permission to ride on this road and to just climb over the gate.  This road went through some beautiful, large tracts of farmland.

Cotton on the ground and cotton in the sky

Next came the Alapaha Wildlife Management Area.  It was good for the soul.

Longleaf pines

Palmetto

I was so grateful for this SAG stop in Ocilla!  I missed the first one and had run out of water by the time I got to this one.

Toward the end of the ride, I also stopped at the third and final rest stop at Union Church.

As you can see, there's no real parking lot, which gave me a chuckle about this sign:

I made it back to Fitzgerald!  It had been a fun day of riding on just about every kind of surface: pavement; gravel; hard-packed dirt; and loose, sandy soil (good for working on my technical skills!).  A train passed The Depot right as I got back.

I went inside The Depot to change clothes and have some refreshments.  As I browsed around the building, I was happy to see this poster.  My father worked for Southern Railway, which became Norfolk-Southern.  When I was little, we rode the Crescent from Atlanta to Washington, D.C. several times.

Ride organizer David Dark told me that I was the first 100-mile finisher!  I hadn't seen anyone else on the route the entire day and assumed I was the only one doing that option.  It turns out that five or six others did it, too, but were behind me.  I got some great swag!

This is probably the coolest coffee mug I've ever seen.  These are portions of the architectural blueprints of the topiary chicken being built across the road from The Depot.

I really enjoyed the day.  Thank you, David, for all your hard work to put on the Wild Chicken 100!

Pumpkin Peloton

Robert organized Pumpkin Peloton rides for Saturdays in October.  Pumpkin Peloton is a relatively mellow, steady group ride just for base mileage.  The hard stuff, i.e., Peach Peloton, starts in November (see below).  I went to as many Pumpkin Pelotons as I could this year, on the Saturdays when I didn't have other rides scheduled.  The final Pumpkin Peloton, appropriately, was on Halloween.

We started in downtown Macon.  There were a few tricks going through a park, e.g., carrying our bikes over a chain gate.  Later in the ride, we got treats at Jake's house: OCPs (oatmeal creme pies) and Coca-Colas.

Jake hosted us in this really nice barn/outbuilding at his house.  I got a kick out of his lineup of fishing poles, which is kind of like Robert's and my bicycles hanging on our garage wall.

I really enjoyed riding with my Macon cyclopeeps and am glad that I'll still see many of them at Peach Peloton.

Fried Green 50

The Fried Green 50 (named for the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, which was filmed in nearby Juliette) is the first Sunday in November.  It's one of my favorite rides of the year, going through the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge (PWR).

Longtime organizer Monte made it a little more casual this year - no podiums.  I wasn't sad because the pressure to race was off.  Also, everyone got a participation trophy, the annual Styrofoam cup.  This year, it was the COVID edition.

Before the ride started, I got a picture with Matilda the witch, who always greets us in the staging area.

It was fun to ride with Bill Mondock and local legend Dale Vaughn.  Dale is one of my cycling heroes.  He's almost 76 and still hangs in strong.  Also, he's the world champion in XTERRA in his age group!

There was one rest stop halfway at the Georgia Forestry Commission fire tower - a great opportunity for another photo op with Smokey Bear.  This may be my first photo with him while I'm on my cyclocross bike instead of my road bike.

We had six creek crossings.  I did OK riding through the first two.  The third one looked too daunting, and so I walked across that one.  The fourth creek crossing was the same one where I fell a few weeks ago when Robert and I were riding in the PWR.  I was ready to tackle it this time.  I let Bill and Dale go first.  They rode across successfully.  I followed their same line and got up some momentum as I approached the creek.  (Last time I wasn't going fast enough.)  Then - wham!  I hit a large rock and fell over, getting a bruised hip and swollen knee.  OK, I've learned my lesson!  From now on I'll walk through this crossing.  Fortunately, I was able to keep riding.  The last two creek crossings didn't look bad, but I wasn't taking any chances.  I walked them.

Even with this little mishap, it was a great day.  Bill took this last picture of me.  The advice I've heard is to do more of what you love.  I ride a lot and am grateful to be able to.

Peach Peloton

Yesterday was the first Peach Peloton of the season.  Although I didn't take any pictures, it was a very enjoyable ride.  Most of the usual suspects showed up, and it was great to see teammates Tina and Tony from Warner Robins.

We were surprised by some rain at the start, but it moved through quickly.  That caused some road spray, but it wasn't too bad.  I was mainly glad that it was as warm as it was for November.

The route did a loop to Knoxville, Roberta, Musella, and Culloden.  We did an easy rotation, working on technique more than speed.  After a week of dirt road riding, it was really nice to do some road riding.  I love both types, though, and I'm glad I get to do both.