We spoke to the Man Behind the Chart, and the Other Man... Kenny Lee.
So, Matt - who are you?
MW: I live in Bristol and enjoy cycling, building my record collection and drinking craft beer. In my spare time I’m also a freelance sustainable energy consultant, mostly supporting innovative social housing retrofit initiative Energiesprong.
And you made the Puncture Graph.. What made you do it?
MW: “Day 5” was the longest and on-paper hardest day of Ride the Change. 145 km from Preston to Penrith, with all the hills after lunch and an amber weather warning. We were prepared for it to be tough, but what we weren’t prepared for was lots of glass on the roads on the edge of Preston and for every farmer along the way to be trimming their thorny hedges. LOTS of people got punctures that day and I wanted to know how many in total and who had the most.
How many punctures did you get?
MW: Four
Was this the most in one day?
MW: I had three more over the next few days but that was the most in one day.
Let’s talk about That Day. What do you remember from it?
MW: Despite the punctures, it was actually my favourite day! We had a loose “team” of about 7 people by then, and because I had three punctures in quick succession (glass on edge of Preston) I didn’t want the rest of the group to keep waiting for me with ~135 km still to go. Abi stayed with me and then we were joined by the ride mechanic Anna until “lunch” (about 2pm!). The afternoon was all about keeping the pace up as much as possible in order to avoid finishing the ride in the dark. About 1 km after lunch, riding along a country lane where the farmers had clearly just trimmed the hedges, Anna remarked that it was prime puncture territory, at which point I immediately got another puncture!
Fortunately I didn’t get any more after that, but we collected and met other people all afternoon who also had multiple punctures. Eventually we made it to the top of the last (and biggest) hill as it got dark, with 30 km still to go and several of the group’s lights out of battery. It was pretty sketchy going downhill on country lanes in the dark with water all over the roads, but there was a real camaraderie and when we met the BTC van that had arrived to rescue another puncture victim (too cold and dark to fix it), no one took the opportunity to bail out. We arrived at 8pm, about 12 hours after we started in the morning.
Why the hell did you get so many?
MW: I shouldn't have! It’s a new bike and new tyres. I’m going to blame it on poor advice from a guy in my Bristol cycling group who clearly secretly hates me. Also, glass and hedge trimming season.
Did you think you might have had the most punctures on the trip, overall?
MW: I did start to feel cursed after That Day. I even managed to get a puncture on the train to Edinburgh somehow.
How did it feel to find out you didn’t?
MW: I’m happy for Kenny to have the crown, although I got so quick at fixing them by the end that it didn’t bother me too much.
Ok, I think now, it’s time to bring in Kenny Lee.. Matt, whether you’ve met him or not, can you please introduce him?
MW: This is Kenny. We didn’t talk much on the ride, but it’s clear he makes really bad decisions when it comes to choosing his bike tyres. Or he takes advice from people who don’t like him.