Rinse Cycle

Every picture and video I
took yesterday was
too soon or too late.
Need to do better

The forecast said stop but the email chatter said go. So five of us met in Delaware and rolled out under partly cloudy skies in defiance of all meteorological prognostications. We treated ourselves to almost two hours of singletrack bliss before mother nature put her foot down. In that time we did most of the northern half of the park in spite of:

• A mechanical less than one minute into the ride (Cinco's streak of SS breakdowns continues)
• A spill off a six foot high platform in the skills park (we checked with KT and yes it hurts now)
• A Tumble in the Chunnel (CR got pretty wet but it wouldn't matter in about 10 minutes anyway)
• Getting lost, off the trail, in the best marked trail system north of the Vernadsky Research Base in Antarctica (CD "never been down that one before, let's try it")

About 2 hours into the ride the heavens opened up with a deluge of of biblical proportions. The rainwater was refreshing but quickly turned the trails into a slurry of mud. Within a few seconds we were beyond caring about being wet and the mud was kind of fun, so we debated taking run at the Corkscrew and the Goat Trail. A well timed crack of thunder shut that idea down and we sprinted for the safety of the cars, and McGlynn's pub.

Grab the women and children,
there is some scary s$*t going
down in the DD parking lot.

Back at the parking lot the rain was coming down so hard we didn't dare open the car doors. So we did the only thing that was left to do. We stood there laughing, letting the cool rain cleanse us, watching  muddy rivulets run down our legs. By now 2 inches of it was running across the parking lot so I took off my shoes and rinsed my socks in the runoff. You know it's bad when your socks make the parking lot runoff dirtier than when it started.

Then rain finally stopped as quickly as it had started, but no the show wasn't over. Not yet. The next act was the Dunkin' Donuts parking lot wardrobe change. The full boat, including underwear. It wasn't in the cars because we were too wet. It was done standing in the parking lot and we have information that it raised a few eyebrows in the yoga class that rents the space above DD.

We wrapped up at McGlynn's with a lot of laughing and beers, a trip to the smoked sausage bar, and a very tolerant waitress.

I got home just after dark and promptly drove into the garage with the bike still on top - both bike and house are showing a little (cosmetic) wear as a result. Then whatever modicum of self assurance I had left was dashed when my daughter gave me a hug and then told me "you smell." So I took my third shower of the day.

As expected it was a great day...but ironically what made it memorable was the un-expected.

Chris

"It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." 
     -- Dr. Seuss