Blame it on ChipSeal

I don't feel like a teenager as often as I used to. My wife has made the case, not totally without basis, that I'm frozen at six years of age. She still gives me trouble over an incident when, many years ago, my Jaguar E-type died due to a wet distributor after I'd made repeated runs through mud puddles to see how big a splash I could make.
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While at Starbucks this morning, I replied to an email from ChipSeal that Frankenbike had been having fun with the puddles. That got me thinking back on growing up in Seattle. Kids used to make wooden hydroplanes and tow them behind their bikes. Not having wood and string at hand, I figured I could make REAL roostertails on the way home. After all, why have fenders if you don't get your money's worth? I also figured I could test out Big Oak's theory that rain riding washes all the dirt away (if that were true, everyone would have clean cars after it rains). I think it was compounded by a little nostalgia promped by the Durango Texas blog, here. I also contemplated trying a video - hydroplane roostertails are hard to catch in still photos, but the brief camera exposure to the weather quickly convinced me that I'd leave the wet weather videos to Rantwick; an expert on such things.
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Anyway, it was great fun, though I suggest avoiding the really DEEP puddles unless you want to get your feet sopping wet. As the signs on roads that cross creeks around here say, "Turn around, don't drown."
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This is a post that could have had a lot of alternate titles. A few include:

• "A Whole 'Nother Perspective on Gutter Riding"
• "Fenders, We Don't Need No Steekin' Fenders"
• "Gratuitous Arrows in These Pictures"
• " Must Scotchguard That Cycling Jacket"
• "Fenders are No Substitute for a Hull and Running Lights"
• "Tell Me Why I Took That Shower at the Gym Again?"
• "Love it When There's No Lightning!"
• "We're Professionals, Don't Try This at Home"
• "Bike Culture?"
• "There are No Distributors on Bikes"