Frankenbike Goes to Atlanta

I have three homes, and I love all of them: Monticello (where I live), Macon (where I work and do a good bit of my cycling), and Atlanta (where I grew up).  This past Saturday I had the best time spending the whole day in the Atlanta area, and Frankenbike made a great companion.

The day started early.  I left my house in Monticello at 6:15 A.M. to go to Kennesaw for the Athletes Helping Athletes 5K, the biggest fundraiser held each year by Southeastern Greyhound Adoption (SEGA).  I have had greyhounds for the past 19 years, and I love volunteering with SEGA to help other greyhounds find permanent, loving homes.

Running is barbaric.  Just kidding!  (sort of)  Even though I prefer cycling to running, I’m glad to do a little cross training, especially to help greyhounds.  I’ve been running once a week for about the past six weeks to get ready for the SEGA 5K.  My aerobic base is great; the main thing I have had to do is wake up my running muscles.  Saturday I had a good run, placing first in my age group!  There were a couple of other women in my age group that were faster, but they received awards for being the 2^nd and 3^rd overall winners.

The best part of the SEGA 5K is getting to see all of the greyhounds cheering on the human runners.  Each runner is paired with a greyhound, kind of like how a young greyhound at the track is paired with a running mate, i.e., an older greyhound, to learn the ropes.  It’s fun to find your running mate in the crowd.  My running mate was Copper.  Isn’t he sweet and handsome?

I usually bring my greyhound Lily to be a running mate.  I have two other greyhounds, but one is too old (Cosmo), and the other is too freaky (Mr. Spock) for such events.  This is the first year I haven’t brought Lily.  She’s 12 and recently was diagnosed with cancer.  Although, thankfully, her energy level is still fine, she does have swollen lymph nodes in her neck.  I didn’t want to answer a thousand questions about that, but additionally, the logistics of taking care of her all day would have been difficult with all of the other things on my Atlanta agenda.

After the 5K I drove to Decatur.  Although my Decatur activities weren’t scheduled until later in the day, it made a good base camp.  Also, it gave me a great excuse to ride Frankenbike on some of the PATH trails in the metro area.  Frankenbike is my cyclocross bike, which I ride primarily on rural dirt roads near my house, but it is also very well suited to urban riding.  Besides, with a name like Frankenbike, how could I not bring it along on my adventure?

I rode the Stone Mountain trail toward downtown Atlanta and then picked up the Beltline trail heading north.  I’ve heard so much about the Beltline, but this was my first chance to experience it.  The brainchild of a Georgia Tech master’s student in urban planning, the Beltline builds community and promotes good health.  I saw people walking, running, skating, and riding bicycles ranging from road bikes to recumbents to hand cycles.  I had correctly presumed that this would be strictly a ride for transportation, not a real workout, but I had fun just being part of the city vibe.  The artwork along the Beltline trail really caught my eye, but I decided to wait until my return trip to check it out more thoroughly when I had more time.

 

Although the Beltline trail ends at Piedmont Park, it was easy to wend my way through a few side neighborhood streets to get to the Georgia Tech bookstore.  From there I went a few blocks down Spring Street to an Atlanta institution: The Varsity!  On the rare occasion that I do go to The Varsity, I usually go inside.  However, Frankenbike wanted to go to the drive-in, which is the world’s largest!  The carhops said that they would be glad to provide me with curbside service.  Really, I think they enjoyed seeing Frankenbike at the drive-in as much as I did.

  

I got the same thing I always get at The Varsity: a chili dog, onion rings, a Frosted Orange, and a peach pie.  Also, as you can see above, I requested a paper Varsity hat.

From there I headed over just a few blocks to my alma mater, Georgia Tech.  I had a special reason for going to Georgia Tech on Saturday.  Jasper County, where I live, has a mentor program for at-risk youth.  Jehan, a friend of mine who is the director of the mentor program, had planned a day in Atlanta filled with educational activities for about 50 young people (plus their chaperones).  One of those activities was a tour of the Tech campus.  Because it was a weekend, regular tours were not available.  Therefore, knowing that I’m a Georgia Tech alumna, Jehan asked me if I would lead a tour for the students.  Of course!  I boned up on my Tech facts and studied a campus map.  There’s a lot of new stuff since I finished 20 years ago!

 

I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner, but early last week it occurred to me that the tour would be even better if I could find a current student to help lead it.   To make a long story short, I discovered the Georgia Tech Ambassadors Program, which leads tours for alumni.  We wound up having not one, but two excellent student tour leaders, Connor and Joe.  They were so gracious and knowledgeable.  After seeing how adeptly they managed our tour, I laughed at the one I had planned.  Mine was a little overly ambitious, to say the least.  I forget that a large group moves pretty slowly.  Not to mention, keeping track of this high-energy group was like herding cats.  It didn’t faze Connor and Joe a bit, though.  Maybe we’ll never know what effect the campus tour had on the kids, but I’m sure that simply being exposed to a college campus was a good thing.

Connor talking with half of the group

Campanile and fountain constructed for the 1996 Olympics, a couple of years after I finished at Tech

I particularly enjoyed getting to see the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, a new building since my time at Tech.  It adjoins the library and has LEED platinum certification, the highest level possible.  Some of its features include a very open floor plan that maximizes sunlight for lighting and a cistern that collects rainwater used in toilets throughout the building and in the rooftop garden.  The rooftop garden provides cooling for the building and a lovely oasis for study breaks.  Not only that, the views from there are spectacular:

 

View toward the Student Center and campanile.  Note the festive tent set up for tailgating before Saturday evening's football game.

View of the Atlanta skyline

We headed back to the Tech Tower, the beginning and ending point of our tour.  By the way, I parked Frankenbike next to Buzz Bike while I was on campus:

What a beautiful day on the Tech campus!

On my way back to Decatur on Frankenbike, I took a little more time to see the art along the Beltline trail:

I was particularly drawn to the one below because I’ve always had a fascination with tornadoes, and this piece draws attention to the plight of unwanted animals.  By the way, Saturday (October 4^th) was St. Francis Day, commemorating the patron saint of animals and the environment.

When I got back to Decatur, my husband Robert joined me for the remainder of the day’s festivities.  First, we went to Maker Faire, which I learned of thanks to Jehan.  In fact, the mentor group had gone there earlier in the day before our Georgia Tech tour.  Robert and I enjoyed the eclectic mix of creativity at Maker Faire: robots and other technological devices, crafts, and various other tinkerings.  Here’s one example from a man who creates art from miscellaneous metal parts.  (This piece moves!):

  

His titles and descriptions were as entertaining as the art itself.

After Maker Faire, Robert and I went to one of our favorite places in Decatur, the Brick Store Pub.  We make at least a couple of pilgrimages there every year.  The Brick Store has one of the best beer selections in the country (no exaggeration), with a dozen beers on tap and dozens – maybe hundreds – more in bottles.  No Bud Lite here.  Just good stuff.  Not only that, each beer is served in a special glass to bring out its particularly qualities.  Although this might sound beer snobbish, it’s not by any means.  Every single server is down-to-earth and a wealth of information.  They are more than happy to make suggestions, even if you have no idea what you’re doing.  All of this takes place within a cozy, European feeling space with nary a neon light or TV.  But wait, there’s more!  The food is worth the trip, too.  It’s bar food but really, really good bar food.  They serve everything from salads made with locally sourced greens to shepherd’s pie to killer fish & chips.  Saturday, however, we really lucked out.  It happened to be the Brick Store’s annual Oktoberfest!  We’ve been to their Oktoberfest before, and I was so excited to find out it would coincide with our trip Saturday.  Robert and I both ordered from their special Oktoberfest menu: a tender, savory German pot roast for Robert and the Bavarian plate (sausages, cabbage, and cheese) for me.  Wunderbar!  Our beers were fantastic, too.  We each ordered different lambics.  Mine was the Pumpkin Lambicus:

Note that because I’m wearing my pointy ears, I was really celebrating Spocktoberfest.  Live long and prosper, indeed.

 

Next, we walked around the corner to Java Monkey, a terrific coffee shop.  I don’t like coffee, but I love tea.  Java Monkey has especially good chai tea.  It’s more peppery than most, making it quite flavorful.

Then it was time for our last event.  We went to the Carter Center for a celebration of Heifer International’s 70^th anniversary.  I’m a longtime supporter of Heifer International, which works with communities around the world to end hunger and poverty and to care for the Earth. Its approach is more than a handout. Heifer provides animals (e.g., heifers, goats, water buffalos, chickens, rabbits, fish, and bees) and training to impoverished people in over 30 countries. The animals can give milk, meat, or eggs; provide draft power; or form the basis of a small business. Communities make their own decisions about what crops, animals, and market strategies make sense for their everyday conditions and experiences.
 

Heifer International is based on 12 Cornerstones, such as Sustainability; Genuine Need and Justice; and Gender and Family Focus. Perhaps the best known Cornerstone is Passing on the Gift, in which Heifer recipient families pass on the offspring of their animals to others in need. In this way, whole communities can raise their standard of living.

Although I’ve been to the Carter Library before, this was my first time at the Carter Center, which is where President and Mrs. Carter do much of their peacemaking work for the world.  Just three days earlier, President Carter celebrated his 90^th birthday right in this location.  I admire him greatly and am proud that we share a birthday!