Well, the weekend began auspiciously enough, with a nice casual ride in the Pisgah National Forest Saturday afternoon, in preparation for a group ride in Dupont the following day. Instead of climbing the usual 45 degree angled service roads, we opted for the more pleasant 60 degree angled root gullies.
The serenity of the mountains made it easy to contemplate important issues, like, what will the ride tomorrow be like? Will it be as easy as today? Will it be as beautiful? Who will bring the beer?
The mountains said nothing.
"Hey Jerm, exactly who is coming, anyway?"
Jerm was extremely busy holding the roof up on a cave so I could get through without getting squashed. But in between breaths, he managed to relay that of course Cane Creek Eric and KB were coming, and as a special treat, so were El Ciclo Mundo and Kenny! 
Sunday came, and with it another swell tour of Dupont State Forest. El CM came, as did everyone else on the list. But after hours of waiting, it became clear that something was amiss...where was Kenny?
CC Eric: "I just checked the woods, and Kenny wasn't there."
Edge: "Yeah, and I just checked Big Rock, but all I saw was a drunk guy going like this---I looked, but it wasn't Kenny. "
CC Eric: Hey, do you think we should leave your bike up here so Kenny can find us?" 
Edge: "Naw, let's leave a blood trail instead, that way I can still ride my bike down the mountain."
El CM: "I'm getting hungry. Let's head back and go get lunch - maybe Kenny is waiting for us in town somewhere waiting to eat."
We tried, but after three hours of wondering, the group conceded the fact Kenny just wasn't going to make the ride that day, and we were all really bummed about it.
Then something very strange happened!! After I got home and enlarged our group fun photo by 5000x, I saw the very fellow who had been missing from our company all day long...Kenny! Had he been there the entire time?? Does it look like he's trying to say something to us?! Ooo that's creepy...The Ghost of J.R., indeed...
Bah! Excellent post. It WAS my birthday so at least you guys didn't wait to ditch me on a meaningless day.
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