Note to self, avoid lanes where they've just cut the hedges

[Auntie Helen]

Husband and I just went for a blast around the country lanes for an hour - partly to calibrate our trip computers. At the end of the trip the Garmin SatNav from the car thought we'd done 12.1 miles with an average speed of 14mph; my bike's trip computer thought we'd done 12.66 miles with an average speed of 14.2mph and husband's bike computer decided we'd done 12.4 miles with an average speed of 14.6! We made sure that we kept together pretty much the whole time so the discrepancy between the two bike ones is a bit odd. I assume the SatNav is most likely to be correct.

The last 100 metres is down a lane beside the field beside our house. I forgot that the farmer had trimmed the hedges. Anyway husband is now outside mending two punctures each on both bikes. 4 punctures! Argh. And almost certainly just from the last 100 metres.

One of the punctures is, of course, in my brand new Big Apple rear tyre with kevlar puncture guard. Mind you, we pulled the biggest ever piece of thorn-bearing stick out of it.

 

[numbnuts]

yes it's that time of the year again, I only wish they would clean up after they had finished, only had one so far

 

[piedwagtail91]

the farmer should clear the road , he could be fined up to £1000 for leaving clippings on the road. a call to the council should get it cleared and they may also warn him to clear up in future.

 

[Auntie Helen]

Ah, but he's my next door neighbour and trims our hedges for us free of charge so I don't want to annoy him ;-)

Turns out it was only one puncture apiece, the other two tyres were OK once the thorns had been pulled out, surprisingly.

We'll see if we have any slow punctures in the morning!

 

[squeaker]

Recently posted here:

CTC's legal team recently closed a case for a member who was injured after puncturing on hedge clippings. The member was awarded £3,000 from NFU Insurance.
We will be seeking to publicise this case especially within the farming media.


Chris Peck
Policy Co-ordinator
CTC, the national cyclists' organisation

Tel: 01483 238322
Mob: 07951 213 554
Switchboard: 0844 736 8450 (please note new number!)
Fax: 0844 736 8454 (please note new number!)

CTC - the UK's national cyclists' organisation provides a comprehensive range of services, advice, events, and protection for its members.

Needless to say I am a member of CTC - but it still doesn't stop thorns :~

 

[Willow]

They were hedge trimming on my home from work on Monday. Fortunately I finish at 3pm so roads were relatively quiet and I was able to cycle in the middle of the road to avoid.

 

[porteous]

Took the new (old) bike out last week for the second time and got my first puncture. A blackthorn that went right through outer and inner wall of the inner tube. All fine until I tried the new fangled self adhesive patches (Which only half worked!!) so ended up walking the last mile home. I now have proper glue patches (Why do they only give you 6 and what happened to the french chalk??). So, I found out that since I last biked seriously (1962):

Farmers do hedges differently now.
Farmers still don't clean up much.
18 year old tubes get punctires easily.
Old fashioned repairs work best.
Always carry a spare tube.

Ho Hum

 

[BentMikey]

Self-adhesive patches? I tried them and threw them away. Horrible. I much prefer old school patches, and pride myself on doing them well.

 

[Riding in Circles]

The Halfrauds kit I have, (rather old but still ok), has french chalk.