I’d like to know why we can’t make a puncture proof tyre. The roads around the Spicer residence are afflicted with small, sharp flints, which I am beginning to realise are the mortal enemy of cyclists. I for one am growing a little tired of puncture repair (though my technique has improved vastly with practice) and Catering is similarly a bit sick of donning his International Rescue hat and retrieving his cross-patch wife and her flat-tyred bike from the arse-end of the Hambleden Valley.
They seem to travel in pairs too – so no puncture for several weeks and then two in a row! Very annoying. There is the added bonus that the mobile signal in the farther flung parts of the Hambleden Valley can only be described as patchy. To add insult to injury, not only do I have a puncture, I have to push my now useless bike to a place where I can get some form of mobile reception (standing on a stile at the top of the hill with my arm in the air) in order to call International Rescue (my own version of AA National Recovery). I am hoping it was said in jest, however on the occasion of my 2nd puncture, Catering ventured to point out that punctures can be mended at the roadside. In what might have been a slightly frosty tone, I replied I knew that, however why do something at the roadside you could do equally well in the comfort of your kitchen and with a cup of tea – it hasn’t been discussed since.
I have consulted a friend and apparently the way forward is a Slime Smart Tube which protects against flat tyres, so one has been ordered and is currently winging its way to my door – let’s hope punctures are a thing of the past. Punctures aside the cycling in coming along (in a slightly middle-aged way) and I managed my circular valley route last week in under an hour for the first time.
Definite progress and in a startling turn of events I overtook someone. This have never happened before. I am always the one passed at speed by every other cyclist on the road. I arrived home quite giddy with excitement, then had to admit it was whilst heading downhill and it was a couple who had slowed down to talk to one another, but still…
