lunch ride...

a couple weeks ago my neighbor, george, helped trim our hedges. guess i'm out riding too much or just too lazy. anyway, my wife talked him into trimming and shaping a couple of the hedges in front of our house. i don't know how it came up, but he said in return for trimming the hedges he wanted a ride on my bike. no problem with me, just another reason to ride - like i need one.

george said all he wanted was a ride around the neighborhood. problem is our neighborhood consists of all of two roads and one way in/out. i figured instead of riding from the end of one street to the other, turning around and repeating, we'd get out a little. i also knew george wouldn't want to go too far... george had a bike years ago and really enjoyed riding. he hasn't had a bike for a long time and he just wanted to get that feeling again... he wasn't looking for a day out or a longer ride - something short, to feel the wind again. so i decided to pick a place for lunch and ride there. i heard george wanted to try holden's barbeque, so holden's it was - and today was the day... holden's is close enough that it wasn't too long of a ride for george and long enough to at least get out there and feel the wind.

at 11:30 i rode up to george's house to pick him up. he comes around the corner with a big grin on his face. of course he goes through the normal, "we don't have to do this" banter. what george doesn't understand is i'm doing this for me as much as i'm doing it for him!!! we stand around the bike and george's wife takes a couple pictures of us. george was a little shocked and disappointed to learn north carolina has a helmet law. he was looking forward to riding lidless. in light of that, he chose the half helmet. we jump on the bike as his wife takes more pictures as we take off.

as we ride to holden's, george marvels in the beautiful day we have for riding and starts recalling the memories of his riding days. it's fun to listen to george. i smile as i realize the instant, unspoken bond between riders.

we pull up to holden's, george takes a look at the building and asks (again) about their barbeque. of course this place has good barbeque. look at the building, how would a place like this stay in business it if wasn't good. another sign is the parking lot is always full. i won't bore you with the details of our meal - suffice it to say the barbeque was excellent and we even decided to try the desert, a delicious coconut pineapple pie.

after eating, it was time to head back. of course i didn't take the most direct route home - i think george appreciated that. i know i could have ridden all day - if it wasn't for this pesky thing called work!!! anyway, i dropped george back off at his place. i think he enjoyed the ride. i got home, got off the bike and started thinking about my next ride - whenever that may be...