Trail Ramblings: When Good Routes Go Bad

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bad road surface
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Have you ever planned a route somewhere and discovered that when riding it, it turns out different than you had expected? Maybe there’s a detour, but it could be that there’s more traffic, no shoulder, the road surface is not in good condition, new rock has been spread, or you get funneled somewhere you don’t want to be. Chances are good that some of these have happened to many of you, so you have to re-think that route for next time. I do look at a map when I’m going somewhere unfamiliar or am not sure if the road is through, but often I am a spontaneous rider and just go exploring. Around Lincoln, I’ve never gotten lost. All this happened to me on one ride recently. I wish I would have looked a little more closely at the map beforehand, or stuck to my original plan rather than decide to take a different route back. The route I took emptied out into Air Park, sort of a bike no-go zone unless you of know a good route, which I went back and did the next day, as there was no way I was letting that happen again. The evening before however, this was not the case and I ended up riding where I didn’t want to be. It had been a fine ride, up until that point, but dusk combined with no shoulder, poor road conditions, and too much traffic made for a rather harrowing segment. All this only to find that there was a very nice alternative route just a couple of blocks away!
Next time I’ll pay more attention to the map.