So Much For Getting Home In The Daylight

Morning weigh-in: 172.5#, 11.5% BF

I was planning to ride with the South Mountain Cycles ride in Emmaus, but they leave at 5:30 and I couldn't be there until 6:30, I would have to ride in (somewhat unfamiliar area), use the cell to find them so I blew it off. Good thing too, I was pretty tired.

My alternate ride was to go down the towpath to Bethlehem, then ride the trails behind St. Luke's before returning. Given 45-60 minutes to get there, ditto for the return, and I would have daylight minus two hours for "the real ride" (sun would set at 8:30, figure 9:00 for full dark). Leaving at 5:15 or even 5:30 would give plenty of time, at least for an abbreviated Sals lap... except I didn't actually start until 6:20...

I had no strength to hammer, my average was probably 14-15 mph and I crossed the Hill-to-Hill Bridge at 7:10, then rode in behind St Luke's, only got partway up the Spanky before I realized my time was running out and bailed. I got further than last Sunday, but still spent a lot of my ride on the intermediate/ATV trails rather than the new singletrack. Oh well, maybe next time -- like Friday.

Cruising home, I decided to skip the Palmer bike path, since it's a little less direct and would put me in some high traffic areas just as the sun went down; instead I rode back along the ruins of the canal, retracing my steps to Riverside Park. This would have saved some time... except that as I got to the new boat launch, there were two teenage girls sitting there who asked to borrow my cell phone. Turns out they lived nearby, had gone swimming, weren't sure how to get back, and were out of non-emergency (ie non-911) minutes on their own cell. They called their moms, but got no answer; I offered to show them back to the trailhead but I guess they were leery of walking off into the woods with a stranger as the sun went down... I gave them directions and wished them luck, then rode off.

A few hundred yards later my phone rings. One of their mothers had called back, so I rode back to the girls, and just as they were calling home one girl's brother bicycled up with his sidekick: "You are sooo in trouble! Mom's going to kill you!!" All was well once again, and the boys knew how to get them all home... Dealing with that little crisis put me home just a little after dark.