Drat: A Flat

Today's Tire Test Route

We've had cold, wet, sloppy rainy weather recently, and we're tired of it, as if we have any control over such things.
Imagine our surprise today:  I had to walk the dogs in drizzle and dark cold this morning.  As is too close to normal nowadays.
About another hour later the sky started to clear and the SUN actually came out, and the temperature warmed from the 40's  up into the 70's.
WOW.  Too good to miss out on:  A great riding day.
Howsomever, when I rolled the trike out of the garage I noticed a bit of sag as it rolled.  I was shocked, SHOCKED when I poked around and found a tire totally flat.... And of course it was the REAR wheel, with its surrounding brackets and derailleurs.... requiring a total removal of the wheel to get to the tire and tube. 
It turns out I haven't had a flat in SEVERAL months..... Long enough I struggled to remember even how to DO all this, which I've of course done many times.  But not recently.  I finally relocated my tire tools, slowly got the wheel out of the chain and brackets, and pried the tire off the rim and got the tube out.  Of course by now I could not see any trace of a puncture, and it took a bit of close examining several tries before I found the leaking pin-hole.
Feeling around inside the tire itself to find the possible culprit that spiked my tube, again it took several tries to find a tiny spike I could hardly see...... One of the dreaded  tiny radial tire-wires that usually remain unseen until they finally open the tiny pin hole that lets the air out all too fast.
After several tries with the needle nose pliers, I finally got it out..... a tiny speck of wire not quite 1/4" long wire, barely visible even when held up to the light.
I started to patch the tube, but remembered I have started just installing new tubes instead of worrying about how well I patched the old one.  I actually carry TWO new spares with me in the saddlebag on all rides, so I pulled a new one out to install.  As I examined the tire carcass itself, I realized it was showing signs of wear - not quite bald but getting close.  Since I also had a brand new Marathon "Puncture Proof" tire - still in the package I bought a year or so ago, I dragged it out of its hidey hole in the RV and used it.  Brand new and stiff and tight, it took some "Rassling" to get it to go on the rim properly.
Finally done, 60 PSI installed, and mounted back on the trike, of course it needed a test ride to see if the new tire was going to work OK.
Rode a partially new route first to the venerable hardware store and then around town, it appears the new tire is doing OK.
Hopefully it will still have air in it tomorrow.

Ride Started:   4:02 PM      Ride Ended:  5:34 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.4  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:   86     Ending BG: 78

Lowest Temp:  67 F    Highest Temp:    75 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   9.26

Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  6.5 MPH                             8.1 MPH               20.6 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 30 mins                   1 hour 12 mins      18 minutes