jppe

I mean head spinning lost.......totally disoriented......when South seems North.........and you make a turn thinking it will take you in the opposite direction from where you came from and you wind up going on a loop and back on the road you just came on??? And you wind up back at the same intersection. And you're sitting out in the middle of the land of chickens and tractors and there is not even anyone to ask to get you headed in a direction you recognize.

And to make it worse the road you now have gone on twice has a long climb with 3 hungry dogs that love to see if they can make you supper.

I'm usually really, really good with directions but I think I've found a small area about 40 miles from my house that must be the inland version of the Bermuda Triangle. After 15-20 mins I kept listening for Rod Serling's voice to see if I was really in the Twilight Zone. And I look up at the road sign and it says Hazard Rd.........how fitting!!!

I have yet to figure out how it happened, but one of my key landmarks was a 4 lane road out in the middle of nowhere. You would think it would be hard to miss??? Apparently I went across that 4 lane road (I had to stop at the road-look for oncoming traffic and cross it versus riding over it on an overpass) and I didn't remember crossing it-even just a few minutes later. I have not figured that one out.....so I wound up thinking I was on the other side of that major road so I kept going the opposite direction I needed to.

To make it worse, I lost about 30 minutes trying to sort through it all. I did not bring a map as I was following marks on a road from a past ride and apparently I either missed a mark for a turn or it was paved over. I didn't think I needed a map as I've done the route a couple times plus I was on my first trip using a brand new Garmin 705 with the mapping screen. I had gotten really late start on the ride due to weather and knew I didn't have any margin for error for getting back to do a Valentine celebration with my wife.

I really like the larger numbers on the 705 versus the 305 but I guess I need to learn how to read the map???

When I finally got back on the route I didn't know any shortcuts to help get me back home before dark. So I had to follow the route the long way. At least my wife is a very, very understanding cyclist's spouse.

And to think I always wanted to do a cross country solo ride........

Digital Gee

And does this happen when you're golfing too?

pipes

No thats why well one reason I wear a Casio Pathfinder

MNBikeguy

Welcome to my world.
Garmin Oregon 400t - Never leave home without it.
The home driveway is a frighteningly small piece of real estate to find on my own.

maddmaxx 

I've messed up just one turn on rides on Cape Cod, and 2 miles later you run out of road stairing across the water without a bridge at the road you would have been on if you'd only waited 1 more intersection. Oh well, the ride just got 4 miles longer......

tntyz

Sure, a couple of times. Never with darkness closing in, though. Sometimes I'm happy just to know which direction I'm headed. It's a little unsettling when 30 miles out.

I've never gotten lost permanently, though, so I guess I'll keep riding.

stapfam

Done it offroad on that 100 mile ride I used to do. Only two of us and instead of doing it West to East- We started at the wrong end and reversed the ride. Now me and my riding partner know this route like the back of our hands- But not in reverse. Missed a left turn and it took 5 miles before we realised that we did not recognise the trail. We did not know where we were at all- except we were going downhill along an overgrown track that should not be there. Realised that we had missed a left so looked for the next one. It didn't come for another 5 miles and that was a Road. So left on the road and that Downhill we had just gone down- Turned into a 17% 1 mile road hill and it was not nice with fatigued legs-knobbly tyres and cars all round us. Then towards the end of the ride- My mate decided to cut a corner off the route as we were running late. That cut off corner was 6 miles longer than the route we should have taken and eventually after another 12% road hill- I called the sag wagon and abandoned the 100 miler as we were now riding in the dark without lights. We had only done 80 miles of the route- but the Computer said 116.

After that- I did not let my mate lead any ride or suggest a shortcut.

BlazingPedals

...and to think, the ancient Polynesians could home in on a lone island across a thousand-mile empty expanse of ocean.

Retro Grouch 

Gee. I was thinking some of the best rides were the ones where I explore and maybe get a little confused.

I've never been lost because "lost" means that you can't find your way home. I'm typing this from home so I've obviously always found a way to get back.

doctor j

Fortunately, I have never gotten totally lost, but there have been a couple of times that I was doubting of my remembrance of the route. Both of these occurred in the middle of nowhere, where light must be piped in, in separate areas in the Boston Mountains. It's not like one can just press the accelerator to hasten an exit.

Doohickie

I'm not "lost"; I'm "exploring".

alicestrong

I'm not "lost", either; I'm just "temporarily disoriented"...

Allegheny Jet

I've been lost riding a couple times. Is that a problem?, should I be concerned? No one at home seemed to miss me.

Louis

Did they change the locks while you were gone?

tsl

I've had an enjoyable time when I've gone off on what I call my "vague notion" rides. It seems to work best when I'm traveling.

I'll set out with a vague notion of direction, time and distance and stop and ask people along the way where I am, what they think I should see, and how to get there. Folks sitting on porches turn out to be the best guides (and conversations), closely followed by folks out gardening. Although one time, out on a dirt road in Ontario (that's Canada, eh?), I flagged down a couple of women in a car. That one wouldn't work at all here in Upstate, NY.

roadfix

Being a guy, I've never admitted to being lost.

Jim from Boston

I grew up in Detroit, MI where the the streets are in a grid pattern, extend for long distances and are well-marked. Boston is entirely different. Besides a crazy pattern of roads originating as cowpaths, roads changing names at seeming random points, and not marked anyways, there are also rotaries which mix up your sense of direction. So really one has to become visually acquainted with routes to follow them.

Every time I try to find a new route, I inevitably get lost. Nonetheless, I really enjoy cycling in Boston and environs because it is such an interesting city. After many years here I have rambled and learned most of the region, but it's still interesting to get lost, discover some new road, and add that to my mental map.

Once a year I ride in an organized century and for the first few years I had no idea where I was or what time of day it was, and I just pleasantly went with the flow of the ride markers.

Pat

I can always find my way back. So no, I have never been lost. I have ridden in areas where I did not really know where I was. But I a good idea of how many miles and what direction I was from my start and in which direction the nearest town was.

Robert Foster

There are times it takes me longer to get where I want to go than it should but I don't tend to get lost. I credit this to learning to navigate a sail boat and the hobby of Astronomy. I am pretty good with directions so while I might not know where the street I am on goes I know what direction I need to be going.

waldowales

If you don't ask for directions, you're not lost!

BikeArkansas

Some 25 years ago I tried riding a bike for a few months. It was a mountain bike, so I went exploring in some hills. I thought I could find a short cut across a field to a road I just knew was there. This went on and on until I did find a dirt road with no markings. I rode a few miles until I met a pick-up truck. The driver stopped to ASK directions from me. He was lost.

We both laughed. He looked forward and back at the hills and then asked if I had actually ridden up that hill. I said yes. He then asked if I would like a beer and a ride. Being a very hot day and nearly dark, I answered to the affirmative.

I climbed into the back of the pick-up truck with my bike and a cooler full of beer. I had few cold ones before he found his way to a marked paved road we both knew. A great way to be rescued.

oldbobcat

We used to deliberately get lost, to alleviate boredom, extend ride distance, slow ourselves down, and learn more about the local geography.

Well not really lost, but damned seriously confused. We generally knew the direction we were headed in, what we'd do if we hit a dead end--turn around, and what we'd do if we'd eventually hit a state highway--follow it home.

If somebody didn't catch hell from a wife or girlfriend then the ride was not a total success.

Mojo Slim

You kidding? I got lost on my trainer!

nkfrench 

Yeah, I got lost. Not just lost, f-ing lost. I must have some kind of navigational impairment. I was riding a route I had done on a group ride twice before. But the other times before, I was struggling to hang with faster riders so most of what I remember was seeing the pavement a foot in front of my bike wondering if somebody had an AED / knew CPR.

I had a map. It was out in the country and a street sign for a crucial turn was missing. I didn't have mileage marked to know when I had gone too far until the road deadended. The map didn't have intermediate roads labeled and by then I was off the edges of the map.

I decided to wing it; bad decision. I was trying to get on a freeway service road and found signs to the interstate, but the service road was one-way (no outlet) and was not continuous all the way to where I was supposed to be. Backtracking wasn't a good option due to the one-way. Also - I was getting pretty fatigued and I was supposed to be at work. The first few miles on my loop route had some hills that I didn't think I could do a second time (the last part of the loop was a gentler course). So I really wanted to return around the loop, not redoing the first part.

I ended up in a residential neighborhood and asked a lady working her yard for directions. She called her husband out and they ended up putting me and my bike into their SUV and giving me a lift back to where I knew where I was (pointing out where the crucial turn was). There was another street sign missing, and they got me past that point also and dropped me off in familiar territory so I could finish the ride.

A few days later, I had flowers delivered to them with a thank-you note. I am grateful to those strangers for being so kind to a tired and lost cyclist.

rck

Geez Mojo I was going to add a smart a_s comment but I like yours better. I can't even +1 it as I don't use a trainer.