Archive for February 15th, 2009

We all know that Indian summer is a name given to a period of sunny, warm weather in autumn, not long before winter, usually occurring after the first frost.  And we know that spring begins on the Vernal Equinox (March 20 in the Northern Hemisphere).  Spring is usually the season I start road bike riding again.  That’s not to say I have not logged miles, but I am tired of pent-up stationary bike miles the winter demands.  This past weekend’s weather made me think we need to come up with a phrase that accurately describes a premature summer.  The weather in Memphis was so good on Saturday that I cleaned and lubed my road bike and Sunday I went for the first ride since October.  What words can I use to describe the first ride of the season?  Maybe it’s like a human thermostat?  In a vehicle a thermostat stops the flow of coolant (antifreeze) until the temperature rises to a predetermined threshold.  Once the threshold is met coolant flows freely.  Mounting the bike for the first ride of the season gives you a sense of flowing freedom.  However, I think the word that most accurately describes it is “Ouch!”  I was sore Monday.  All of that pent-up riding was released on the road; the road lost Sunday because it was a great day for a great ride.  Then came Monday morning when you ask yourself, “What have I done?”  It hurt so good.  As the weather breaks and more weekend riders hit the road, let’s try to pace ourselves. We have all season to beat that road!  Hope to see you soon…on the road.

The Farmer’s Market Ride crew and I are always looking for excuses to make a ride in the off season. Even though we’re anchored by three pretty intelligent guys, we sometimes can’t come up with anything. This weekend was different.

I had long ago seen the Frank’s Deli tricycles cruising downtown delivering deli sandwiches or groceries. It wasn’t until this week that I made the suggestion to patronize the business. My co-anchors agreed.

Despite not knowing us, we were greeted outside the deli by the owner, Lance Lester, and his wife and daughter. They, like a lot of people in Memphis were intrigued by my bike train (see About page). Seeing we had children they also directed us toward the 1951 pickup they also use for deliveries in more inclimate weather. I got a few photos of the kids in the pickup.

On the surface, Frank’s is a convenience store with a deli. The footprint of the store is pretty small. However, after a conversation with Lance, I realized it’s much more. Lance and his crew smoke their own meat in the basement. This includes chicken, beef and pork, including bacon. The meats they smoke go into the gourmet deli sandwiches that they serve in the back. My crew, except for my children, mostly opted for vegetarian sandwiches. I had the portobello and goat cheese panini. It was well constructed. My crew liked their’s as well. Since, the kids are meat eaters and don’t typically finish all of their food, I also sampled the toasted club sandwich. Again, well constructed and definitely something special to the meat.

In keeping with the theme of this website, I asked Lance about why he chose to use tricycles to deliver food. He responded that it was good publicity for the deli and that Main Street, in the center of Memphis, is off-limit to cars. While I had hoped that Lance would go into a long rant about the evils of automobiles and how he was wanting to run a more eco-friendly business, I found a gentlemen just working hard to make a small, family-owned business work. Nonetheless, we will support the business because they do use human-powered vehicles.

Kudos to you, Lance. We’ll be back to Frank’s Main Street Deli.

PS: Almost everyone who came into the deli was known by the family. Those who were not known were greeted and made to feel welcome. What a refreshing change. See if you get that at your local 7 Eleven.