The First Flat

 The morning after Day 4, I awoke to find my rear tire almost flat.  Spent a few minutes checking the tire for nicks, cuts or penetrations; found nothing.  As tire changing is a royal pain, particularly with the hardshell tires we use, I decided to inflate the tire to see if I could hear a leak; nothing.  I had Rich check; again, nothing.  We made the decision, ride on and see what happens.  While Day 5 was difficult, we had no tire problem.  We got to Amboy and the tire was fine.  We parked the bikes, grabbed some ice cream sandwiches and waited for Claudia.  When she arrived, the tire was flat. 

 The first thing this morning was to replace the tube; not an easy task with hardshell tires.  When I got the tube out and inspected the tire I found a small wire protruding though the tire; it had puncture the tube.  All I could figure that the longer I rode the more it drove the wire through the tire ultimately making it all the way through.  Glad we got off the road before we had to deal with the tire.  

It was good practice changing the tire; let's hope it it=s the last time this ride.