Feeling deflated

Puncture time!
Yep, I had one on my ride this morning.

All things for the best, as my wife might say, because the push home put me a bit nearer my training target for walking/running for the month.

Breakfast now, then out to have a look.

But, I hear you cry, don't I have Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres?
The ones that are hard (but not impossible) to puncture?

Yes, I do.
But they are not on the bike.
I have snow tyres on at the moment - not that the snow actually happened ...
Schwalbe Marathon Winter, not Plus.

The "Plus" tyres have what Schwalbe calls "Smart Guard" - Schwalbe "Level 6" protection, with a 5mm thick (in the middle) rubber belt in the tyre,
The "Winter" tyres have only "Race Guard" - Schwalbe "Level 4" protection, with justtwo layers of nylon (no Kevlar in there!).
No doubt the lower puncture protection is an attempt to save weight - the Winter (in a 622-35C size) weighs in at 920g PER TYRE, while the Plus weigh in at 900g per tyre (remember the Winter has all those studs and stiffened sidewalls so it can run at just 2.5 bar vs the 4 bar minimum of the equivalent Plus tyre)

update will be after I had a look

And I had a look.
Hmm.
I'm suspecting stud damage to the tube, as some of the studs seem to be trying to escape into the tyre.
I though it looked a bit worn when I fitted it, so I lobbed a couple of patches on, to be on the safe side.
You look at the pics, and see what you think ...

Damage to the inde of the tyre at the end of Spring

Looks like some of the studs are
breaking through

So I lobbed some patches on to put a bit more rbber between
the tyre and the tube

A tyres stud - flat end faces inwards!

I reckon that's the cut that caused the puncture

One stud mark on the inside of the tyre seems to be just outside the patched area.
The other one seems to have chewed its way through the patch in about three weeks!

So I put a new tube in, and put my "Summer" tyre on instead - a Schwalbe Marathon Plus.

How to become a Strava KOM

Way Back When

So, going though some files, I found this:

My great uncle, back when he was 10 or 11.

Just look at that bike.
A "proper"bike, with rod brakes, mudguards (fenders) and a luggage rack.
The rider, whom I guessing, by the collection of photos that this was with, is my great-uncle.
He died a few years back, aged 90-odd (see, cycling does make you live longer!)
Wonder what happened to the bike?

The Right Side of the Tracks

More bike parking at the station - a good sign!

I don't usually go to the local railway station.
Today was a "rotational rest day" at work (that means I work five days from a six day pattern, with different mid-week days off on different weeks).
So I went for a quick lap round town, and I popped into the station, for a look around.

As you can see by the pic at the top of the post, there is now FOUR different types of parking!

There are:

And this is supposed to be cycling?

I don't own an indoor trainer, and I don't do gym classes.
I'm much more of a fan of actually riding a "real" bike on a "real" ride.
Don't play music while I ride either.

If I want "intensity", I find a local hill, and do laps on it.
If I want "relaxed" I go slow and look at the bluebells by the roadside.

However, not everyone feels the same as me.

Some people pay good money to "play" at cycling.
Look, if you need more "intensity", whack the pretend "bike" up to a higher resistance setting, and pedal really hard - harder than you ever pedalled before.

Stop flapping your arms around.