NOT WHAT I PLANNED

 After racing at Nationals it was clear I needed another two mph in my time trial.  I took a few days off then eased back into riding.  The day designated to find what gear and rpm ratio would give me 24mph turned out to be a no-energy day that turned into a simple recovery ride.  This past weekend I planned to do a 26 miler with the Trek Parmer folks on Saturday and a longer ride with Trek Lamar on Sunday.  Saturday morning spawned a two hour thunderstorm and the ride was canceled.  The Sunday morning ride turned into more of a social which included stopping for breakfast tacos.  Not what I needed.

But all wasn't lost.  The Saturday ride was announced for Sunday.  I was good for that.  Seven of us showed up and all were experienced riders, so it would be a good workout.  We were clicking right along, not having to regroup.  Training Peaks gave me four PR's for the first part of the ride.  Then, as we toodled along, we approached a lady walking her dog.  I recognized her as a former co-worker who I hadn't seen since her retirement.  I called out and circled back to say hello.  I intended to do a quick thirty-second stop and return quickly to the group.  It was more like two minutes.  But the guys didn't stop.  

I've done this ride three or four times but with the various twists and turns, really had no idea of the route.  I mis-remembered a turn and missed the actual turn.  After a few minutes I came to an intersection that looked familiar.  I took a right turn and verified I was back on course.  But was I ahead of the group or had they already passed?  I went back about a quarter mile but became unsure of the turns so gave up and headed for home (Trek Store).  But that's not the end of the story, because I still didn't know the way.  As it turned out, I knew enough of the route plus general direction.  I took a few wrong turns but since I knew what direction, it was only a few blocks out of the way.  Several times this happened.  Finally, I found Great Oaks Drive and was able to retrace my steps back to Trek.

I was about ten minutes ahead of the group who had stopped and waited for me and looked for me for about fifteen minutes before giving up.  I apologized profusely for getting lost and not hooking back up.  I guess I need to learn how to download the route to my Garmin and learn how to follow it.  Plus, I will now carry my phone with me.  Chris called looking for me, but the phone was safely in the car.  I blame this all on Covid and getting out of the habit of group riding.