Changing Someone's Riding Plan

My friend Mike is just getting started in homebrewing, and suggested to our riding club that we do a ride to the homebrewing store in San Diego.

Part of the lure for this ride is that the homebrewing store is connected to a brewery that offers tastings. Only a few of us could resist.

He had worked out a route that would take us there, and afterwards, lead us along some scenic canyon and mountain roads to a restaurant in Ramona that he had heard about on television. Then, some more twisty riding back home.

We got to the homebrewing store too early! They opened at 12:00pm, and we were there at 11:30am. My buddy Brian suggested we keep on riding, perhaps going out to the coast and seeing the ocean.

Since I did a lot of growing up in San Diego, I led everyone out to the national cemetery on Point Loma. There we could take in some fresh ocean air and gaze at the city skyline, and see the tombstones of soldiers who served in the Spanish American War. We probably wasted about an hour total.

So we finally got back to the homebrewing store around 12:30pm. Then we all got several rounds of beer samples, and talked to great lengths over the differences between centennial hops and columbia hops, how roasted malt gives a porter its burnt flavor, and how aerating your fermentation works better than just shaking it. Stuff I don't totally comprehend.

It was around 1:30pm by the time we got out of there.

And my friend Brian, who also happens to be a homebrewer, had been wanting to visit the Coronado Brewing Company, and I know they happen to serve up great food. And by this time we were all really hungry. The ride to Ramona for lunch was still another 90 minutes away. Just didn't want to wait that much longer for food.

So he and I convinced Mike to change his plans by having lunch at Coronado Brewing Company. He agreed. So off we went, up and over the Coronado Bay Bridge, where we got stellar views of the San Diego Bay, and then over to the Coronado Brewing Company where we drank more craft brews, and stuffed our bellies rotten.

By the time we got out of there, it was WAY too late for us to do the route back home that Mike had originally planned.

I remember a few years ago when we did something like this before, where one guy worked out what he thought was a great route through some great roads, only to have the rest of us decide to change his plans, just because it sounded good. And that got that guy pissed off. Just pissed him off that we would suggest doing something different from what he had planned.

So today, I chose to compliment Mike for suggesting that we visit the homebrewing store, because if it weren't for that we would not have visited a national cemetery, enjoyed the great views of the city skyline, breathed in some ocean air, rode over the Coronado Bay Bridge, and then finish it off with some great food and beer at the Coronado Brewing Company. And then I apologized for trashing his original ride plan.

Mike seemed to take it really well.

Not that Mike's original plan wasn't good. It sounds really good actually. It's just that sometimes things work out much differently in reality than when you plan it out in your mind.