mrtl

Biker MRTL

I had big dreams of becoming a bicyclist. Went so far as to get a shiny new bike this summer, along with a spiffy trailer / jogging stroller so there would be no excuse for getting out. We even got Bug her own pink marvel with bell, streamers and training wheels. Moving to warmer climes, biking would be a great way to get in shape, right?

Hmph.

We've been out a couple times with the girls. Main reason for not doing it more: too f'ing hot.

I even signed up with the local bike-riding group, but my off-road bike couldn't keep up with the group that rode when I was free to get out with them. I was fine for endurance, shockingly enough, but couldn't keep up the speed. While I appreciated their "no biker left behind" mentality, it made me feel horrible when the whole lot of them stopped -- twice -- for me to catch up.

There still may be hope for me, though. A dangled carrot of sorts, only much more tantalizing for me. When I finally got around to reading this article (copied below) in the current South Carolina Living magazine, which I thought was just about pie, I felt quite the giddy feeling... The combination of pie and bicycling is GENIUS I tell you.

The thought of training for such an event is exciting. Map out the town for the treats to be gotten... Genius, I tell you.

~*~*~*~*~

New twist to apple pie
October 2008

By Carrie B. Hirsch

I recently participated in a 20,000-strong cycling event where the availability of pie was the driving force. Each day involved a mission: to seek out particular types of pies and to avoid a flat tire — in that order.

The pie cycle
How can such a little dessert hold such power over me and practically everybody else, too? Knowing pie hawkers awaited us in each small town where the route would take us each day, over the course of seven days, was what gave us all momentum on the challenging hills because on the other side of the hills were the pies — apple crumb pie, caramel apple, cherry, rhubarb, blueberry, raspberry, mixed berry, lemon cream, chocolate cream, and peach to name only a few.

Mostly volunteers from civic and charitable groups baked the pies, and proceeds benefited those organizations. Yes, I would average at least three slices of pie per day, often enjoying them in the morning, early afternoon and always before dinner. It would have been impossible to wait, as pies cannot sit out all day! Fellow cyclists who were just as serious about pie knew that the early bird catches the worm.

As long as I started out at sunrise and did not dally too much, there would be ample pies to be found in firehouses, churches, vendor tents and next to the deep-fried hot dogs before the later waves of cyclists arrived. It would be misleading to suggest that pie sustained me the entire week — I supplemented the pies with rib-eye sandwiches, pork chops, pulled pork, and “green food” made an appearance a few times (salad, green beans, and a granny smith apple). My pie cycle came to abrupt halt when the ride ended, but my collection of photos of slices of pie (works of art, really) will carry me until next year’s ride!

Carrie B. Hirsch of Hilton Head has broad experience in the culinary arts.

The Fundamentals of Religion

Things the daughter of two heathens non-church-goers learns when going to a Christian school:

1. "Mommy? Do you know what some of the kids at my school believe? They believe there's someone up in the sky MAKING IT RAIN! Isn't that SILLY? I was on the monkey bars and it started to rain, and someone said that someone was up there MAKING IT RAIN!" (She assured me that she didn't say anything to make anyone feel badly about believing such silliness, and that she liked the thought and might believe it, too.)
2. A "blessy" is said before eating.
3. The blessy is ended with a sung, "Come in." (I very much had to hold in my laughter on this. It was too close to, "Get in mah belly!")

I'm glad that I have a working knowledge of these churchy things, so that I can clarify it all to her. Of course, she will believe what she wants to believe, and if she wants to say, "blessy," then that's what she will do. She told me as much.

A not-so-churchy things that she has learned covers treatment of others. Each person has a bucket, you see, and others fill the bucket when they show love and kindness to them. There are "bucket dippers," though, who will be mean and dip into someone's bucket. She told me about her bucket on the ride between her school and picking up Jem, she proffered me an imaginary bucket and told me she was filling it with hugs from her. After Jem was in the van, Bug offered her one as well. Jem, mistaking the imaginary item placed in her hand as a cracker, immediately put her hand to her mouth.