PedalUma
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Petaluma, CA
It is Thorn Season for cyclists in Northern California from about August 7th through to the first rains in November. The best solution is to not go off-road with your bike during Thorn Season. One bike today had 50-80 thorns in each tire. The thorns are barbed and break off in the tire and only go one way, in.
What are the plants that cause the vast majority of bike flats in our area during Thorn Season?
Goat heads, Tribulus terrestris, or bad land in Latin. Stay far away from areas with this plant. It can often be found in sidewalk expansion cracks.
Yellow Star Thistle, Centaurea solstitialis in Latin, or yellow star. Stay away from areas with these. The barbs are microscopic and the thorns long. A landscaping crew can weed whack these and rake them, but that disburses the thorns by bike paths.
Wild Blackberry, Rubus moluccanus in Latin, or Spice Islands Blackberry. Even when you do stay away from growing blackberry bushes they are still often along creeks and bike paths. Crews will cut them back and use power blowers to clean up, thus spreading the thorns out on to paths and trails.
Although not a plant, avoid riding behind restaurants that serve wine, such as their alley ways. It is nice to avoid cars by using alleys, but those wine bottles drop out of their bins on recycling pick up days, spreading shards of glass. Brown beer bottle glass is especially hard to spot. During Thorn Season it does not rain in Northern California, and this glass accumulates behind restaurants with nothing to wash it away.
What are the plants that cause the vast majority of bike flats in our area during Thorn Season?
Goat heads, Tribulus terrestris, or bad land in Latin. Stay far away from areas with this plant. It can often be found in sidewalk expansion cracks.
Yellow Star Thistle, Centaurea solstitialis in Latin, or yellow star. Stay away from areas with these. The barbs are microscopic and the thorns long. A landscaping crew can weed whack these and rake them, but that disburses the thorns by bike paths.
Wild Blackberry, Rubus moluccanus in Latin, or Spice Islands Blackberry. Even when you do stay away from growing blackberry bushes they are still often along creeks and bike paths. Crews will cut them back and use power blowers to clean up, thus spreading the thorns out on to paths and trails.
Although not a plant, avoid riding behind restaurants that serve wine, such as their alley ways. It is nice to avoid cars by using alleys, but those wine bottles drop out of their bins on recycling pick up days, spreading shards of glass. Brown beer bottle glass is especially hard to spot. During Thorn Season it does not rain in Northern California, and this glass accumulates behind restaurants with nothing to wash it away.
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