Wet 'N' Wild @ Gangsa Track

When there's a rainstorm and the mountain biking bug bites, one place to head to is Gangsa.


The trail becomes a veritable stream.




Climbing up this trail stream is fun! (If you think trying to find traction climbing up sends your heart rate skyrocketing, wait till you find yourself praying for it while flying down :-P )




Another fun part is trying to remember where the holes, rocks, and roots are under all that water :-D




Mud? What mud? The water washes it all off!




Ran into 2 other bikers out here. One of them rode a gorgeous indigo Ellsworth (Hello, Franco!). The other described the experience of riding solo in a rainstorm as "Zen-like." I found myself thinking of the Jesuit priest-poet, Father Gerard Manley Hopkin's response to nature:

[F]or a certain time I am astonished at the beauty of a tree, shape, effect etc., then when the passion[. . .] has subsided, it is consigned to my treasury of explored beauty, and acknowledged with admiration and interest ever after, while something new takes its place in my enthusiasm.

Am I on a jet ski or a mountain bike?

Answer: Does it matter? Pedal harder! :-D




Lesson 1: not all puddles are created equal.




Lesson 2: mountain bikes don't float.




Ride around deep puddles, not through them, especially hub and bottom bracket deep puddles. These parts dislike swimming. (Lynda Wallenfels, USA Cycling Elite coach and pro endurance racer).

Really? You don't say?




Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight? swam in a mud puddle like a pig?

Oink!




I suppose it could have been worse. I could have ended up looking like this guy from the 2006 Sea Otter Classic XC Race in Monterey, California. (Photo credit: jorgemonkey)


(Yes, yes, I would do it all over again. See you at Gangsa Track at the next heavy downpour :-P )