“HOLE!” BANG. f*ck! That was the sound of my first big ride of 2026 ending prematurely on Sunday, as I cycled straight into a pothole, the kind that’s big enough that you would not drive through in an SUV, let alone attempt to tackle with 28mm tyres. Think the Mariana Trench, but on a quiet road in south-west England.
There was a moment, a brief moment, when I thought I was lucky just to suffer a flat tyre. But closer inspection revealed my poor front wheel had taken the brunt of the impact; the rim was cracked, and made ominous sounds when I squeezed it. This is very much not the fault of Hunt Wheels, as no carbon rim should be subject to such sudden pressure, but instead my fault for not going round the crater, and Wiltshire County Council for not repairing the road; and mankind, I suppose, for speeding up climate change.
