What's this?

What am I looking at I can hear you all thinking?

Well, that little brown tuft in the middle of my front tyre is a cyclist's seasonal curse - a thorn! It's just about now that the nesting season is deemed to be over and the farmers attach their flails. Not that I'm complaining as they've got their jobs to do and they keep the highways and byways nice and clear for us to enjoy every year.

I took the slightly longer but much prettier way into Loughborough today and on the track from Beaumanor Hall to Woodthorpe, for those of you who are local, I followed a tractor that had just flailed the hedges and all you cyclists will know what that means. Pssstttt....

But with miraculous good fortune it stayed up so I resisted the urge to pull the thorn out and carried on with my journey into town to do the shopping with my fingers firmly crossed. Back home now and it's still inflated. I will have to pull it out though as it will only get pushed further in with more riding. 

In tomorrows gripping instalment: I'll let you know if it stayed up...