Chapter Twenty-Two
More Flats
May 11, 2009—Bonny Lake to Kanopolis: This day started with a walk to the edge of Bonny Lake. Whoops, who moved the lake? Instead there’s a boat ramp to nowhere—about a half mile from the current edge of the water.
The trim over the car’s wheel well had come loose a few years ago, and I had glued it back on with a hot-glue gun. This worked fine in our cool coastal climate, but it was no match for the desert. So the tip came loose, and made more noise than a Kardashian getting her back-hair waxed. This required some temporary surgery using the duct tape/WD-40 principle (if it moves and it shouldn't, fix it with duct tape. If it should move and doesn't, fix it with WD-40).
Speaking of road noise, some of the pavement in Colorado and Kansas causes an extremely annoying whine or whistling sound when you drive on it. It's like a single note on a flute played continuously. This road noise drives me up the wall, and increases my driving fatigue. I've never experienced this before, and a little research shows that the road engineers are aware of how annoying it is.
Texturing of roadway pavement surfaces is necessary to provide adequate resistance to skidding, and to allow water to escape from under tires to minimize hydroplaning. This texturing, however, has been shown to contribute to tire noise on rigid pavements. Large aggregate mixes have also been shown to increase tire noise. Studies have been conducted by other agencies to evaluate which textures provide the needed safety attributes, while reducing the noise levels or the pure tone frequencies or “whine” that are annoying to the public.
While doing the research for this book, I’ve come to realize that I probably suffer from this thing called “hyperacusis.” According to Wikipedia, the symptoms include: “… annoyance, and general intolerance to any sounds that most people don't notice or consider unpleasant. As many as 86% of hyperacusis sufferers also have tinnitus [ringing in the ears—true for me].” The most common cause is exposure to loud sounds—think my rock band in the 60s might be relevant here?
In any case, I'm surprised that even normal people can accept this highway whine. The only advantage of this noise is that it feels so good when you finally get to a non-noisy part of the highway.
After dinner I had a bicycle flat-tire clinic, patching the two spares and the two new "garage" flats (flats that don't happen until after the ride). Several beers were required. I’ve debated whether listening for leaks with my ears is better than feeling for the escaping air with my lips. Listening seems to win out, since I can also feel the wind on my ears.
The tires weren't the only thing getting flats. When we went to bed it seemed that the airbed was a little softer than usual, and sure enough, at midnight we were hitting bottom. We reinflated it, and were comfortable enough until morning.