Garlic didn't ward off punctures

6 bikes today - mine, Husband's, M's, C's, S's and X's - 5 punctures! And that was over just 22.5km from the house. M had 2 very loud blow outs withing a few hundred yards of each other - a new wheel was required so he retired to walk home - looking a little forlorn as you can see. 5 of us carried on but I then had a back wheel puncture, followed shortly by X on the front. This really held us up!

One of the objectives of the ride was to forage for ransoms. I never click that wild garlic surrounds me until it flowers - and that's the very point at which the leaves don't make good eating! Luckily, a few of the flower heads make a garlicky addition to salad dressings, bottle of olive oil and many other yummy applications. We were hoping for elderflowers too, but were a tad too early although X explained that they are already over in Vienna.

Loved going through the woodland bits today - everything looks so fresh English spring atm with bluebells as well as ransoms. Also enjoyed the bridle way from Owslebury with a surreal view of the zebras & giraffes at Marwell!

I hoped that the garlicky smell would ward off more punctures, but on the very last bit of off road, X's front wheel had a second puncture - different spot. I think we worked through every possible innuendo for pumping up tyres...

Momentous occasion today - I washed the bikes! I also have a new objective for 09 - I will learn how to fix punctures! I'd like to be able to do some vaguely competitive stuff sometime - and before I can, my extreme aversion to anything involving oil/screwdrivers/cogs etc has to be tackled or I'll end up stranded somewhere random without a lovely Husband to rescue me!