Last night I got lost in the dark, in a rural area, at the end of a ride, when I was tired, in the cold. When I came out to a main road I was at least 10 miles from where I should have been. Since I had already been 60 miles I had to ride slowly to conserve energy. That makes it take even longer. I missed dinner with my friends completely. No, I did not stop and look at the map, yes I am a guy.

Last year I discovered that if you print up pages from an on line mapping service for a long ride in the dark, you can ride off the page into the twilight zone. You need a good regular map too.

Ever been really lost on a long ride?

In the dark ?

that sucks. especially when you're worn out already.

one time i was on a group ride in an area i didn't know. i wasn't in good enough shape and was in danger of being dropped. i saw riders way off in the distance and i had to struggle to keep them in view. all i wanted to do was stop and lay in the grass, but i knew if i lost them, then i'd be screwed as i had no idea how to get back myself. so, i was worn out, cramping up, pissed that they dropped me, and worried that i'd be stuck out there. pretty ****ty ride actually.

yup once I was off by 25 miles but I had already
bonked. so i suffered. hard. shivering at 75 degrees.
on paper 1 hour to get home... took 2.5 real hours

who doesn't ?

took a 3 hour shower after and ate a barrel of ice cream to refuel

When I first started my commute I was lost the first morning for about 10 minutes. This was despite having ridden the route the day before. My problem was mainly due to riding through a part of Denver I had never been in.
The saving grace was my DBTC map and the fact that I know the names of major directional streets.

Many moons ago I did an offroad ride that should have been 80 miles and taken 10 hours. Then it rained and a strong headwind came up so we revised the time to take an extra hour- Then my co-rider- that knew the route inside out admitted that he did not know where we were- out came the maps and without a street sign or village name (Not many of those in the middle of nowhere up on the hills) to get our bearings---we were lost. That 80 mile ride finished up being 115 miles took 15 hours and the last half hour were very difficult in the ever decreasing light- Got to the finish- just as we decided that it would be safer to walk than ride. By the way- it is worse when you are soaking wet, and due to slowing down in the bad light, you are shivering and just on the point of hypothermia.

haha. yeah, everything is worse when you're drenched with cold rain. and if you're in a place with winding roads and no real landmarks, getting lost isn't too difficult.

Ah, the importance of preparing for a ride...

This is why for now I'm content to do my measely 1.2 miles in the comfort of my own neighborhood, lol. I do look forward to longer rides - but now that I actually OWN a bike, I realize I was a touch optimistic when I was mapping out the glorious 6-8 mile rides I'd take once I was a bike owner.

I can easily see myself in this situation, though - as a car driver, I stuck to the roads I NEEDED to use to get from point A to point B - very rarely deviating. I think that's one way I'm different now than i was when I was a kid - when I was young, I'd drive just to drive.

That feeling is slowly re-awakening with me, though, as I ride my bike. I find myself paying attention not only to what lies immediately in front of me, but also what's on the sides. The houses, the driveways, etc.

But I know (almost for certain) that if I were to go on the local bike club's beginner ride, I'd be dropped. I just don't have the stamina for the uphills yet, and once I was dropped I'd be lost, lol.

It's miserable to be cold, wet, tired and lost. Some day, you'll be sitting at a desk, staring at a computer, and desperately wishing you were back there.

I'm there already

True. Getting lost in the cold and rain can be miserable. But getting lost on a beautiful, sunny day is fun.

I remember back when I lived in rural Wisconsin, getting lost not only in the dark but in dense fog. With the high deer numbers up there it wasnt a fun situation, especially when a herd of deer crossed the narrow road I was on. I could barely makeout their shapes,and i could hear their hooves on the pavement. Dark is one thing, but I find fog to be the most confusing element to have to deal with.

I have taken a wrong turn on at least a couple of occasions. These are two of the most memorable--and butt-killing--of them:

Once, I was trying to get to a PetCo, and zigged when I should have zagged. Then, after doing the "Cook's Tour" of a lot of residential neighborhoods in the Newington, CT, area, I found my way back to a main road, and followed it back to another PetCo in West Hartford--this one is on a major artery, one I am more familiar with--and finally got home once I got the cat stuff.

About 34 miles later. Should have been less than half that.

Then, last fall, on the way to a staff retreat for my employer in Wethersfield, took another wrong turn. This was after following on-line directions to the Silas Deane Highway, rather than where I wanted to go. The map, of course, did not show that I could have gone north from where I was and gotten to the intended artery, so I backtracked. All the way through the South Meadows (an industrial/commercial road in Hartford ) and back again down Wethersfield Avenue. This time, I took a different fork in the road near a railroad track...and got on the right course that way. And almost lost it again when I took another wrong fork in a complex intersection near Motor Vehicles! Found my way back faster this time--another "Cook's Tour"--took the proper road, and finally got where I wanted to be.

Started out at about 7:10 a.m....and got to the meeting place at about 9 a.m., which was the official start time for the event. I ended up doing around 14 miles one-way.

For what should have been around a six or six-and-a-half mile trip.

Wow. Ouch.

That reminds me off when I took a wrong turn on an off road trail and could not figure out what happened. My friend looked at the map and could see some small details I could not see. Then I realized I have to have my glasses on to see things like a stream or a bridge, and other small things on the map.
Now my most imoprtant tool is my glasses.

And the time we split up to look for landmarks with aproaching darkness and he did not come back and we lost cell service. He started talking to someone.

I don't remember getting lost too often. These old legs can barely make it when I know where I'm going!

gps works well for that, take your map and go

gps works well for that, take your map and go

I was working on my first century in a long while just sightseeing out of Tomball, TX headed east for Cleveland. All the locals told me I just had to go see the town of Cut'n'Shoot. I like riding alone and have no problem setting out on a century or double all by myself. This one got to be a long one though. I had a decent map and chose a road that cut through to take me home. I was ready to be home even though I wouldn't reach 100 miles. Ten miles along this road it came to an end. Sure enough, scrutinizing the map, I found it didn't actually go through. Sooo... bacl the way I came in and looked for another roundabout road. I made it home jut before dark with 104 miles under my belt.

I once took off for a ride late in the afternoon on a 38 mile R/T rural route that I knew about but hadn't ridden yet. So I knew I wasn't going to get lost but when I was coming back, wasn't sure if I was going to make it home before it got too dark. Well, several miles to go before home, it got too dark - didn't have headlight/blinkie, couldn't see the painted white road "shoulder" (no shoulder though, pavement ended on outside right edge of painted line) strip very well anymore, the occasional car with headlights on seeming to pass way way too close & was sure wearing a yellow vest at night was a moot point. Anyway, ended up stopping (at mile 30) at a tiny regional park & called a cab for the rest of the ride home back into town - just was too dangerous to be riding a bicycle on a rural/deserted road in the dark...