Sunday, May 3, 2009

Cold Wet Fun

It was fun, I think, or my brain is still suffering from hypothermia and thus impaired. I went on the 5 boroughs bike tour through NYC this weekend with my mother and brother and thousands of other fools. They had a tandem recumbent Bike E, I had a single recumbent Bike E. This is important. As, with the first pit stop (one of many. I think my brother was a covert evaluator of porta potties. Dunno. He never admitted to such a mission. I am merely conjecturing on evidence. We stopped everywhere.) Anyway, after the first pit stop, we noticed a break in the wheel well of the rear tire of their tandem bike. They checked it out because a clicking noise was heard while riding. The noise was was a strip of aluminum peeling up and hitting the brake.

Half way through the ride, a noticable bulge had appeared in the side of the tire, and the crack had widened significantly.

This is a *Yikes* moment. Last summer my rear wheel blew out, probably from such a cause. And, what happens is the rear tire freezes. I left skid marks when mine blew. But with a tandem, in heavy bike traffic, with my mother admiring the scenery while commenting on societal shortcomings ... yikes. We were half way through a 42 mile ride and taking public transit with a couple of recumbents would be a mess.... and, well, I do not think I am of the first generation of finger crossers. With 2 generations of the same family represented, I'd say maybe enough fingers were crossed. We kept riding and the tire survived....

I almost didn't. I don't know exactly when complete cold wetness was achieved with the one small island of almost dry on the top of my head... I think about the same time as the tandem tire became a combo physics and astrological experiment. I just know that by the end of the ride, though we did take a shortcut (due, *ahem,* to the tire concerns) I could have wrung out my clothes had my fingers been functioning properly.

Here's 2 pics, one of my mother and brother, before the start, still dry and enjoying breakfast. The last pic is of yours truely, truely all wet.


7 comments:

kate/ girlsavage said...

Wow, it sounds like you had a great time...even though you were wet and cold. :)

Unknown said...

42 miles? Holy crap, good for all of you! Even in sunny & warm weather I would have keeled over after about 4 miles on a bike lol.

GalleryJuana said...

Hi! Love putting a face to your blog:) Wow, that was some bike ride! Kudos to you for completing it despite bad weather and a bulbous tire.

Chris Stone said...

it was so cold and wet.... though if the sun had been shining it would have been great! its fun to bike through NYC!

Chris said...

Sounds kinda scary, though the idea of biking through the five boroughs sounds fun...gotta pedal quickly through the Bronx, I'd imagine.

Suldog said...

Does sound like a lot of fun, actually, aside from flat tires and such. In my current state of physical fitness, I don't know if I could make it through more than one borough.

Chris Stone said...

You could Suldog. I was worried about being in pathetic shape.... and really that isn't a problem. what you need it a recumbant tandem like my brother has. Its fun.