(re-post from Saturday, August 2, 2008)

Well the bike riding is getting better and better. Last night Billie and I had our first real ride together. We went up through a valley road that gave us the opportunity to lean together in the turns and get used to riding together on something other than a straightaway. She did great and I am doing better.

After we finished our ride she encouraged me to take off on my own for a while and I did. Only to go a few blocks and have the bike quit running. i quickly restarted and went a ways farther to have the same thing happen on the on ramp of the highway. now it would not restart.

I tried everything that I knew in my limited experience then I called Dan. Dan owned and rode this bike since 1997 and to say that he knew everything about the bike would be an understatement. Instead of Dan trying to “coach” me over the phone, he said, “I will be right there.” I could have told him to just try and tell me what to do. But I will be honest, I felt great to hear him say that he was on the way.

When Dan arrived it took him all of about 10 minutes to pull a spark plug and spray it with starter fluid and have me up and running. It was so simple. The bike had a “vapor lock” and just needed a boost to get past it. He said that it had happened to him twice in the last 10 years.

What did I learn. So many things and many relearned or reinforced.

It is great to have friends.

Too often I have been embarrassed or bull-headed to ask for help.

Friends want to help because they are friends.

It is not an age thing. Dan is much younger than I am and there are things I
have experience with that I hope I could help him with if needed. In this case
he knew exactly what to do.

After Dan got me back up and running he followed me for a while and then I took off for the ride I intended.

On the ride I began thinking of Harvey McKay’s book Dig Your Well Before You Are Thirsty. In his opening chapter he tells a great story of a man who called him in the wee hours asking for help. When Harvey asked him why he had called him since they had not spoken in years, the man said he did not have anyone else to call.

Dan and I became friends long before he sold me his bike. Actually I bought the bike in large part because we were friends. I did not just call Dan because he knew the bike…..I called him because he was first my friend and secondly because he knew the bike.

It is great to have friends to call when you need help and even better to actually call them when you need help because they are your friend.