Great ride on the fixed today. Only 10 – 15 miles, but I found a maze of previously unsuspected riverside paths and field boundaries and some challenging little twists, turns and obstacles. Great fun, except for the nettle stings on my bare legs.

Then, only yards from the tarmac road home, I got a puncture.

No problem: I always carry a spare and a mini pump. I whipped the front wheel off, swapped the tube, dropped the wheel into the forks, turned the track nuts to finger tight to hold it steady while I pumped, put everything away neatly, checked the ground for litter... and forgot to tighten the nuts properly. I only realised when I got home and found my spanner in my pocket, looked down and saw that one track nut had gone AWOL.

Perhaps we could have a long and slightly grumpy discussion about the price of track nuts? Oh, it's been done?

Hey, it sounds like you got home fine without one, so maybe the greedy bike industry is lying to us and you don't even need them in the first place.

Ha ha, well, it's £2.48 I'll never see again, but at least I'l have a spare one.

Ooh, no bueno. Good thing you didn't try to do any wheelies.