Day 17 of 365

So I got lost today. And I ended up going just over 12 miles before I got home-- I don't know when my knees are going to forgive me...

And the reason I got lost? I'm lazy. Yes. Deep down inside (well, not all that deep down) I'm pretty much a slacker. I'm all over short cuts, easy-ways-out, wasting my days on the computer, laying around... you know what I mean.

Riding a bike around here means you have to constantly go up and down hills. You can't go half a mile without some kind of grade change. They're not necessarily big hills, but they can be long. And a long, gentle rise can sometimes be as tiring as a shorter, steeper one.

Last night I'd ridden 9 miles, and here it was about 12 hours later and I was out riding again. I just wanted to do a short little jaunt. I was taking a new route, but was pretty sure I knew where I was going.

Except every time I came to a crossroads and saw a hill in the direction I meant to travel, I turned a different way instead. Eventually I had no idea where I was... but I kept going to avoid those hills. I finally recognized this barn and was able to get my bearings and head home.

And in the end I made more work for myself because not only did I travel farther than I probably should have today, I STILL had to go uphill to get home and the hills were steeper than if I'd just stuck to my original plan! My lazy streak made my logic go awry-- generally if you go downhill when heading out you're going to have to go uphill to get back. I don't know why I thought I could get away with only going downhill. All I know is I kept thinking about how I just didn't feel like working that hard...

In honor of a morning ride, here's a Morning Glory that was wrapped around some corn today.

Also, you can see signs like the one above all over Lancaster County. This one happens to be at the Mennonite church (and where the road splits), but many times they're seen at private homes. I'm going to start photographing them and putting them here on the blog. Sometimes they can really be "fire and brimstone" and sometimes they're a little more gentle.

And I had to laugh at the irony of having taken a picture of that particular sign on this particular day.

Miles today: 12 Total miles: 105