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.