Flat Tire Weather

Scattered Giro riders waiting on the first flat of the day.

It's around 10 pm on Saturday and outside it's raining - again. I've been pretty lucky this week, having somehow avoided being caught in any heavy rain, but it's been impossible to avoid riding on wet roads. Twice this week I did my morning rides on the Rain Bike, and one day I had to skip riding altogether. On Wednesday evening a few of the NOBC officers got together over at Lakeview Brew to go over some things for the upcoming 46th Annual Tour de Louisiane. Of course it was raining. I went there via Canal Blvd. which has an underpass at the train tracks just before the Cafe' that often floods. There was a rushing waterfall of water pouring in from the right as I drove through about six inches of water. Fifteen minutes later it was at least six feet deep and the police were out there to keep people from trying to drive through it. I had to take the long way back to get home. On Friday I went out to the levee in the morning. It had rained earlier but the streets were dry enough that I took the Bianchi. That was fine until I got to the place where there is a bypass around the big pipes that Jefferson Parish installed to pump rainwater to the river. The whole thing is an engineering disaster. They obviously failed to pack down the mud on which they put that section of asphalt, and for the past few weeks the asphalt has been cracking under the weight of, I guess, the police cars that patrol the bike path.  Well, yesterday morning there was a big slab of asphalt sticking up in the air and the rest of the path there was covered with mud that had washed down the levee. I was lucky I saw it in time to slow down and kind of tiptoe through the mess without sliding out or crashing into the broken asphalt. Of course the bike was covered with mud. I ran into Steve Johnson, and then as we were turning around at the Little Dip we saw Woody, so I rode with him most of the way back. This morning I went out to the Giro only after checking the radar and deciding there was a reasonable chance of staying dry even though the street was still pretty wet. We kind of lucked out and got the whole ride in without getting rained on, so that was good, but of course there were flat tires to deal with.

There's never been any doubt that riding on wet roads results in more flat tires. In fact, it's probably the main reason, right behind having to clean the bike afterward, that a lot of riders won't go out when the streets are wet. What nobody ever seems to agree on, however, is just why there are so many more flats when it's wet. The most common theories are that the rain washes a lot of stuff onto the road, that the water causes stuff to stick to the tires, and that the water lubricates the sharp things making it easier for them to penetrate the rubber. I suppose it's probably safe assume that all three things are in play. Invariably, the flats seem to be caused by tiny little shards of rock or glass or whatever that gets embedded in the tire. Such was the case today when we had a flat no more than two miles from the start of the Giro. I count myself lucky this week since I survived five days of rides without flatting. Well, that's if you don't count my commuter which somehow developed a flat tire despite the Mr. Tuffy's. Anyway, the forecast isn't looking too optimistic until Wednesday, so I guess the wet rides aren't over quite yet. At least the hourly forecast is looking pretty good for tomorrow morning's Giro Ride time, not that I am putting a lot of faith in the forecasts lately.