Me and the Mayor Deborah Cochran have been friends now for 10 years and I have to say that I have probably never enjoyed her company more than I did Wednesday evening.

Your honor and I went biking down on the Emily B. Taylor Greenway, which is kind of a thrill in itself to think that I was riding on the trail with our second-ever female mayor. Mrs. Taylor, the first mayor, would be proud!

Debbie, as I like to call her, is a lot of fun and is probably the last honest politician. She is for sure the hardest working person I know and has a pure heart of gold. We are blessed to have her working for us.

Before Debbie became the mayor of our fair city, fitness was high on her priority list. Now, it’s a bit further down the list, but still very important. I know this because she takes time out to go walking on her lunch break and finds time for fitness whenever possible, like last night, for example.

I'm so glad she found time to not only get time in for a workout but spend time with an old friend, (that would be me) last night.

I bought a shiny new Schwinn bicycle a couple of Christmases ago and sadly, only rode it once. It has been taking up room in my storage building ever since. Another good friend of mine, Jeff, bought a bike this past weekend in an effort to get in shape, so the three of us decided to go for a ride on the greenway. Let me tell you, it was an adventure.

I live on a pretty steep hill here in town, so right off the get-go, I felt shaky jumping on and going for it. I spent last summer in the hospital with a sick colon, so I don’t need to go back this summer with broken bones and such. I guess it was the grown-up in me screaming, “Don’t do it,” as my bike raced down the hill.

Once we got started though, I found myself feeling like a kid. There’s nothing like the wind in your hair and the bugs in your teeth to make you feel like a biker. Okay, not that type of biker, but it was a lot of fun, well, until the mayor left me sitting still. Did I mention she is a couple of years older than me? Okay, only a couple of years, really.

So after riding the 2-3/8 mile trail to each end and back, she wanted to ride up Pine Street to the Neighbors store were our friend’s chain broke on his brand new bike. Luckily, we found a really nice man with a pick-up who was kind enough to give our friend a ride. It’s hard to go anywhere with the mayor that she doesn’t get stopped by somebody who has known her forever.

The long and short of it is, while my legs are wobbly, I had a good time. I got to spent time with an old friend and I got in a pretty good workout. It was pretty cool feeling like a kid again. Seems like a win-win situation to me.

So if you see a good-looking redhead with me trailing behind huffing and puffing, give a shout and a wave and know that good times are being had by all.

Mondee Tilley is a staff reporter for The Mount Airy News. She can be reached at mtilley@mtairynews.com or at 719-1930.