Words of wisdom, from Matt "The Show" Snyder, "Put your hands on your bars not your brakes." What follows is a true story, one that many of you have probably experienced yourselves using guidebooks. All I have to say is, I should have known to leave myself extra time/food/clothing for an unknown ride and an unfamiliar guide book.
This season, I was riding in Buena Vista, CO. A loop ride and according to the guide book, it would take me about 2.5 hours. I was riding by myself, fast and light. The first 7 miles went smoothly, faster than expected, I was in good spirits. Starting the second part of the ride, I knew something was up when the first mileage mark was off by almost a half a mile. After some doubt, I found the trail/road. There were numerous branches off the main road, and with 30 mileage markers in the guidebook I had to stop often, making my progress much slower. Now it is getting dark, I have been riding for 3 hours, much longer than the 20 miles of dirt road should have taken me. The total ride mileage should have been 23 miles, and I am nowhere near the end.
About now, it is really dark, no moon, no lights, out of food, low on water. I have been downhilling towards what I think is the end for about 5 miles, when the road dead ends!
No choice but to use my Edge 305 to backtrack till I can figure out where I should have turned. I finally get to the correct turn, deciding to push onwards towards Buena Vista rather than riding back 20 miles. My Garmin has turned off because I killed the battery using the backlight A LOT. I am really cold, low on energy and extremely hungry. I am picking my way down the dirt road, totally dark now. Luckily for me a few miles down the road I ran across a really nice hunter (Steve), and he offered me a ride to Johnson Village about 3 miles from my car.
I don't know how long it would have taken me in the dark to find my way to Buena Vista, but Steve thought it was 2-3 hours more by bike. He had me back in 20 minutes, down some road I didn't even know was there!
Lessons -- bring gear, lights and clothing at least. Also have the route on your Garmin, downloaded from MountainBikeColorado.com, to ensure that you make the correct turns and stay on the trail!
Peace.
