Ft. Pierce Trail and Grilled Pizza - Perfection and Perfection-in-Progress.

It was the perfect storm.  (Especially since the actual storm was back in Melbourne, and we weren't.) 

The perfect storm, the perfect trail, and back on the perfect bike.

(Perfection does not rear its lovely head too often in my world, so forgive me if I gush.  Much as I appreciated having a decent back-up bike these last few weeks, having the Superfly back was awesome.)

Oops, back to topic - gushing about the trail. 

The perfect trail!

Sorry, SWAMP and Santos. 

Sorry, Mudcutters and Malabar.   

Ft Pierce is like, WOW.

And yesterday, bright and clear and dry, was the perfect day to be there.

There is not one single inch of boredom on this trail.  It's a fast and flowing roller coaster start to finish, and it's a blast.  It will work you, but you won't even notice.  You'll be having too much fun.

My apologies.  The place makes you feel like a kid.  I just did not want to stop.  Not for rest, not for refills, and not to take pictures.  So there are only a couple photos.  You'll just have to (darn it all) go see the place for yourself, right?

This is the cleanest you will ever see a bike of mine.

Thanks, Jason.

Good work - and great cleaning! 

 

Through the gate, and down to the trailhead.

Sunny and dry, perfect conditions.

 

 

Smooooth...

This just may be the only kinda-straight spot.

 

 

Swoopy, smooth AND well decorated.

Dead Wal Mart Bike #2 in tree.

(DWMB #1 was in a bush.)

 

 

 

What's this?  Stopping between laps?

C'mon guys.  Let's go, let's go, already!

 

 

 

Popeye's sock line.

Note - dirt, not sand.

Yet another sign of an excellent trail.

 

 

 

Yes, the trail is finally legal and there's a waiver to sign.   Take the extra minute.  Join the club.  And if you're the type who loves to build, check out the trail work days.  Seems like these guys really have fun with it.  

Ft Pierce Trail
Airborne Mountain Bike Club
http://www.airbornemtb.org/ftp.html


OK, OK.  So much for the perfection part of the day. 

On home for our first attempt at grilling pizza.  (Both Alan and Gene declined invitations to join our experimental pizza party.  I know.  Hard to believe, isn't it?)

Our first grilled pizza ever.  Not so perfect.  But we anticipated that.  And bought extra dough in case of initial failure.  

Actually, it all turned out to much less tricky than we expected.  More messy.  But less tricky.

By pizza # 4, we felt we had it pretty much figured out. 

Prep everything first.

Everything.

Even if it means dirtying every pan, cookie sheet, spatula, knife, and cutting board you own.

Is it not way cool to be married to someone

who worked in a pizza shop in college?

Start with a hot grill.

Spread the dough with olive oil and lay it on. 

Trust.

It starts to puff up immediately, and it doesn't stick at all.

Close the lid on it a couple minutes.

Two spatulas for turnover.

 

 

This was crust #1.

We got braver, and made #'s 2, 3, and 4 successively thinner.

Which turned out crispier.

Which we like better.

 

 

 

I know - sauce from a jar.

And dough from Publix, too.

What can I say?  We were at the trail all afternoon.

 

 

 

Not too bad for attempt #1!

 

From this point, we scooped each pizza onto a cookie sheet and schlepped it inside to the oven to keep warm while we went on to the next one.

 

I think the biggest problem was that the only grill we have is a Coleman camping grill.  It's pretty small, and non-adjustable.  There was some charring in spots on the bottoms.  (Mostly because we wanted to delay taking it off until the cheese was brown and bubbling too, which didn't really happen.) 

But oh, that crispy crust finish! 

Next time, we agreed we'll just save ourselves the time and mess of dragging sauce and toppings and cheese, et. al., out onto the deck (in the wind and rain). 

The new plan is to simply grill the dough first.  Then we'll bring it in, top it, and finish it off in the oven. 

That might just be perfection enough.