Wow, what a weird bit of scheduling twists and turns...

Cycling friend and fellow computer geek Jason Eisenmenger, whom I met on this ride last year, had plans to visit me from Okinawa (southern Japan), to do some cycling together here in Kyoto. Then a week before he's to arrive, he asks whether it's okay to bring a friend, who had a sudden week off to visit him from The States. It was fine with me, except I had to tell him that I had my own sudden change of plans and wouldn't be here: Google had invited me to a conference in Jakarta whose schedule matched exactly with his trip here. Doh!

So, I thought that at best we'd pass each other in the airport, and maybe I could offer them some ideas for good areas to ride in.

But, plans changed again as I came down with a cold right before I was supposed to leave, so I had to cancel on Google. (Sorry Google, I still feel bad to cancel on you like that!)

I didn't get to ride at all, but I was very happy to visit with Jason, and to meet his super-nice friend Joey Bloodworth, who flies jumbo jets.

Yesterday I felt enough energy to venture out a bit to watch some cyclocross racing (like this, which I'll write about soon), and on the way out took a few quick photos of the pair before they rode off.

Joey always has a smile, but Jason can do the “I'm cool just by existing” cyclist lean perfectly.