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September 05, 2007

Friends, northerners, countrymen, lend me your ears...

I had a meeting downtown this afternoon. Since we're a one car family and Fawn had the car, I biked - like I have for most of the summer.

I set out in the drizzling rain, decked in my poncho. The upside to riding with the poncho is that it covers my backpack and keeps my laptop dry. Plus, I can go faster when then wind is at my back. The downside to riding with the poncho is that the going is much slower when I have to ride into the wind. Fortunately, the wind was at my back on the way downtown.

After my meeting, I ran a couple of errands and started biking home, taking the stairs at the end of Black Street. When I got to the top and hopped onto my bike, I heard a hissing sound. I thought that, maybe, my poncho had somehow been pulled into the tire and was rubbing against it. After a quick check, I could see that this was not the case, but the hissing remained. And then my tire went flat.

I started walking home in the rain, pushing my bike on the trail around the airport runway. Fighter jets were taking off and landing and, although speed is one of their virtues, quietness is not. My ear drums were getting blown out by the noise.

Now I know why these jets are so effective in combat - they disable their opponent's ability to hear.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL...I saw them showboating today. They've done that a few times lately. Sorry to hear you were right underneath them. No pun intended...

Anonymous said...

Why don't you carry a spare tube, mini-pump and tire levers in your backpack? It would take five minutes to change the flat. Walking sucks :)

Meandering Michael said...

Geof, normally I do. It's always that one time...