ride with dave & joe

A couple of the guys I ride with, Dave C & Joe M, live in the same neighborhood in Morrisville, PA, along with two or three other riders; Joe calls the group the "Boys from the 'Hood". Dave is off on Fridays, and, when he heard my every-other-week-day-off was switching from Wednesdays to Fridays, he invited me to ride with him and Joe on some of them. We've just not gotten it together to do so, until this week; I got emails from Dave inviting me, and then a flurry of texts last night (many of which came during my condominium board meeting, causing our property manager to raise an eyebrow). We agreed to a 10:00am start this morning, and Dave warned me not to be late. (HAH! I get up by 5:30 most days, and I'm almost always early; 10:00 to me is like midafternoon to most folks.)

I left extra time to get there, and was lucky I did; traffic on Route 1 south was heavy; it took over 45 minutes for what Mapquest promised would be a 27-minute trip. Still, I got to Dave's house about 9:30, and sent a text asking if he was awake yet. He was, and came out in what looked like his pajamas and a sweater to invite me in.

Dave's working on an experiment to see if the Stan's No-Tubes gunk will make a tube as flat-resistant as a tire; he showed me two tubes he'd used in an experiment. The first tube was slightly overinflated, and he showed me about half-a-dozen places where he'd punctured the tube, and the sealant had re-sealed the holes (it takes working the tube after the puncture to get the gunk to work). Then he showed me the remains of a tube he'd inflated without the sealant, and then punctured. The ragged edges of the blown-out section, about 4" long, showed where he'd inserted the pin. "Well, it's like a balloon, then, isn't it?", he said, or words to that effect.

We suited up and rode the short distance to Joe's house, and then did this route. Although it was cold and not sunny, it was a beautiful day and a pretty ride; that section of Bucks County is attractive (and just hilly enough! Why don't Freewheeler's do more rides there? It's certainly closer than many of the rides we do north and west). I didn't get pictures, because in this small group, I didn't want to be a drag, but with a larger group or with more stops, I would have done.

Along the way, Dave got a chance to try out his sealant; he picked up a heavy staple in his front tire. He pumped it up, and we went on. He had to pump it up again two more times (I think) over the course of the ride... but it was much easier to do that than to change the tube, and the size of the staple hole was much bigger than most of the tube punctures I've seen.

No break on this ride, so by the time I got home, I was ready to eat the hinges... but my weight's been creeping up, and I gotta be good. Oh, well. I just got an email that Bruce K is switching his ride to an hour later for tomorrow, and may not go at all if it's below 40°; let's see what tomorrow brings.

Here's Joe, below:

... and Dave, below. With that helmet cover, I think Dave looks like he's wearing a turban.