For the past few weeks, I've been getting up at 5:15 on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a quick 20-mile ride with a group of local cyclists who call themselves the "rippers". Then I go home, change into fresh bike clothes, eat breakfast, and ride 10 miles to work in time for my 8:30 conference call with the team in India. Today's ripper ride ended with a beautiful sunrise and all was well with the world.
Then everything changed. Instead of breakfast at home, I stopped for coffee and a maple nut scone. When I left the coffee shop thirty minutes later fueled with caffeine and sugar, the sun was hidden behind the clouds and the sky had turned a drab gray. Rather than backtrack to my house and take my normal route to North Reading, I decided to take a shortcut, and that is when I entered the Twilight Zone...
Things started off well enough, I headed north and then took some back streets that led to Winn Street. I turned off Winn Street and rode until I ended up in a parking lot with no option other than back track to Winn Street. This time I took the correct turn onto Peach Blossom Rd, but when it ended at a T intersection, I turned right instead of left and after awhile was back at Winn Street. I rode to the T intersection again and this time took a left putting me on vaguely familiar roads. After awhile I entered Wilmington, so with a bit of luck I would get to work in time for the conference call. Up ahead I saw Hillside Road. I remembered riding on that road in the past, so I took the turn. Twenty minutes later I am back on Winn Street. What the...??? I retrace my route to work for the fourth time and this time, through trial and error, I finally get to the office. The short cut turned my 10-mile commute into a 20-mile misadventure. I got to work at 9 AM, just as the conference call was ending.
I wasn't the only one who took a detour through the Twilight Zone. A colleague wanted to get into work early today so he avoided the congestion on the highway by taking some back streets, turning his normal 1-hour commute turned into 2 hours of frustration.
...and now it's snowing.
Then everything changed. Instead of breakfast at home, I stopped for coffee and a maple nut scone. When I left the coffee shop thirty minutes later fueled with caffeine and sugar, the sun was hidden behind the clouds and the sky had turned a drab gray. Rather than backtrack to my house and take my normal route to North Reading, I decided to take a shortcut, and that is when I entered the Twilight Zone...
Things started off well enough, I headed north and then took some back streets that led to Winn Street. I turned off Winn Street and rode until I ended up in a parking lot with no option other than back track to Winn Street. This time I took the correct turn onto Peach Blossom Rd, but when it ended at a T intersection, I turned right instead of left and after awhile was back at Winn Street. I rode to the T intersection again and this time took a left putting me on vaguely familiar roads. After awhile I entered Wilmington, so with a bit of luck I would get to work in time for the conference call. Up ahead I saw Hillside Road. I remembered riding on that road in the past, so I took the turn. Twenty minutes later I am back on Winn Street. What the...??? I retrace my route to work for the fourth time and this time, through trial and error, I finally get to the office. The short cut turned my 10-mile commute into a 20-mile misadventure. I got to work at 9 AM, just as the conference call was ending.
I wasn't the only one who took a detour through the Twilight Zone. A colleague wanted to get into work early today so he avoided the congestion on the highway by taking some back streets, turning his normal 1-hour commute turned into 2 hours of frustration.
...and now it's snowing.
