You can see the Largest Ball of Twine from the road, so you never get to actually stretch your legs, which was the whole point, and your detour ends up being a waste of time that contributes nothing to the endeavor.

That seems familiar enough I feel like it might also be a great analogy for something, but now I'm sore, disappointed, and behind schedule, so I'm just going to drop it and bunker down to finish this as quickly as possible.