A little lost and a little late

I've been lost in the Durham forest before.  But that was when I went by myself and it was totally cool because I had no time limit other than darkness so I just kept riding around having fun until I found the parking lot and then out to the road which I used to find my car again.

Today I was with my Monday Biking Buddy (on a Friday! & our first ride together since the 'soup ride' in Dec last year!).  She totally knows her way around in there so we planned a nice 2 hr ride - not too long - since she has a new baby who needs her!

Yup my Monday Biking Buddy has a new baby!
And we were riding within her 'baby time' limit so really didn't have time to be lost.  And shouldn't be lost either since she knows the woods - races the Thursday night series there & lives nearby so this forest is her home trails.

So off we went, I recognize some trail names, Superfly, The Maze, and don't pay much attention just riding along talking about random stuff like usual.  Sometimes I'm in front, sometimes she is.  People have cleared the leaves off the singletrack.  So awesome. Thank you DMBA! 

Then we enter into Ogre something...hey cool this is new...and a bit slick too even though every other trail we had ridden was completely dry...and then we see arrows to go either way.  Choices.   For some reason we found it really funny. Maybe too much fresh air?   Or maybe just Mommy brain was kicking in because suddenly we noticed we were almost out of time so didn't really have time to mess around with choices.  Just pick a trail and get back.

Instead we ride around in circles for a bit.  On a cloudy day it all feels like circles.  Circling around up and down.  And everything starts to look the same.  Same leaves, same trees, same dirt, same stumps, same hills, I've done this before...
Until my smart Monday Biking Buddy digs into her under seat pack (which contains at least 50 essential biking items and tools all in tiny form) and whips out her phone to check the compass. 

Yeah smarty pants.

So we weren't really lost.  Not even barely a little bit.  More like slightly disoriented.  The 2 arrows on one tree really messed us up.  Can't do that to people who have raced more than a few times.  We ride around and go where the arrows point.  No questions just go.

But we definitely were a little late.  And as long as nobody tells the baby  - hopefully she won't notice.