In this area we have a lot of "star thistle" (centaurea solstitialis, aka yellow cockspur and St. Barnaby's thistle), which is absolute murder on your tires. When riding out a country road one Spring, I was "off gathering wool" as usual, wasn't paying proper attention, and rode past a home whose owner was cutting star thistle with his weed whacker. The wind was blowing the cut thistles across the road into my path.

(A Real Cyclist should always beware the sound of a weed whacker up the road, and his instinctive reaction when hearing one should be to seriously consider getting off the bike, making like a cyclocross, putting that top tube over his shoulder and carrying the bike well past the affected area.)

I had one spare tube and 6 patches in my seat pack, and I used them all up with puncture after puncture. I had to hitchhike home, which took a really long time because there wasn't very much car traffic on my route. Star thistle is insidious because the thistles remain on the road long after the stem and branches have disappeared.

But of course you guys will all have Puncture Stories that put mine to shame!

On Wednesday, October 27, 2021 at 2:59:00 AM UTC-7, William Crowell wrote:
> In this area we have a lot of "star thistle" (centaurea solstitialis, aka yellow cockspur and St. Barnaby's thistle), which is absolute murder on your tires. When riding out a country road one Spring, I was "off gathering wool" as usual, wasn't paying proper attention, and rode past a home whose owner was cutting star thistle with his weed whacker. The wind was blowing the cut thistles across the road into my path.
>
> (A Real Cyclist should always beware the sound of a weed whacker up the road, and his instinctive reaction when hearing one should be to seriously consider getting off the bike, making like a cyclocross, putting that top tube over his shoulder and carrying the bike well past the affected area.)
>
> I had one spare tube and 6 patches in my seat pack, and I used them all up with puncture after puncture. I had to hitchhike home, which took a really long time because there wasn't very much car traffic on my route. Star thistle is insidious because the thistles remain on the road long after the stem and branches have disappeared.
>
> But of course you guys will all have Puncture Stories that put mine to shame!
After the rain these puncture seeds become3 soft and pliable so they are then harmless to tires. This year they have been very rare because of the drought and now the early rain.

On 10/27/21 2:58 AM, William Crowell wrote:
> In this area we have a lot of "star thistle" (centaurea solstitialis, aka yellow cockspur and St. Barnaby's thistle), which is absolute murder on your tires. When riding out a country road one Spring, I was "off gathering wool" as usual, wasn't paying proper attention, and rode past a home whose owner was cutting star thistle with his weed whacker. The wind was blowing the cut thistles across the road into my path.
>
> (A Real Cyclist should always beware the sound of a weed whacker up the road, and his instinctive reaction when hearing one should be to seriously consider getting off the bike, making like a cyclocross, putting that top tube over his shoulder and carrying the bike well past the affected area.)
>
> I had one spare tube and 6 patches in my seat pack, and I used them all up with puncture after puncture. I had to hitchhike home, which took a really long time because there wasn't very much car traffic on my route. Star thistle is insidious because the thistles remain on the road long after the stem and branches have disappeared.
>
> But of course you guys will all have Puncture Stories that put mine to shame!
>

I haven't had a flat in years and ride through all this stuff. About
3000-4000mi/year. On the MTB I do that on purpose as a courtesy to other
riders, to flatten the plants in the trail.

My road bike has thick thorn-resistant tubes plus Mr.Tuffy tire liners.
My MTB had thorn-resistant tubes plus tire liners plus older good
quality tube slid over the tire liners. Yes, this is all heavy but I
hate flats. I have used my bike repair stuff several times but that was
always for other riders.

The other advantage of all this protection is that I can ride my tires
to almost where the fabric shows.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On Wednesday, October 27, 2021 at 4:59:00 AM UTC-5, William Crowell wrote:
> In this area we have a lot of "star thistle" (centaurea solstitialis, aka yellow cockspur and St. Barnaby's thistle), which is absolute murder on your tires. When riding out a country road one Spring, I was "off gathering wool" as usual, wasn't paying proper attention, and rode past a home whose owner was cutting star thistle with his weed whacker. The wind was blowing the cut thistles across the road into my path.
>
> (A Real Cyclist should always beware the sound of a weed whacker up the road, and his instinctive reaction when hearing one should be to seriously consider getting off the bike, making like a cyclocross, putting that top tube over his shoulder and carrying the bike well past the affected area.)
>
> I had one spare tube and 6 patches in my seat pack, and I used them all up with puncture after puncture. I had to hitchhike home, which took a really long time because there wasn't very much car traffic on my route. Star thistle is insidious because the thistles remain on the road long after the stem and branches have disappeared.
>
> But of course you guys will all have Puncture Stories that put mine to shame!

Don't know about putting your story to shame or not. But your story does rank pretty high on the misery index. My worst flat filled ride was Paris Brest Paris 2007. 6 flats in 765 miles. Many of them, not all though, were in the dark night. I attempted to be smart or wise or tricky or something, and I chose some lightweight racy tires for PBP. Lightweight racy tires do not do well in rural France in 100 miles of rain and cold. Not that every flat was in the rain, thankfully. I believe the lightweight racy tires were some Vittoria model.