Most of us have probably heard the saying “all that glitters is not gold”. Unfortunately all too often I see something glittering ahead of me in my pathway as I ride my trike along. And most of the time what I am seeing is broken glass. Yes, it seems we live in a time when there seem to be a bunch of people who get their kicks out of purposely breaking glass … often right where they know those of us on bicycles (our human powered vehicles whatever they may be) will be coming along and have to deal with it. I clean up broken glass usually a few times a week. It really gets old. Certainly it is thoroughly disgusting. And it is extremely risky and fool hardy to ride over it. Obviously, sometimes we can’t help it. We may not see it in time to be able to avoid it. There may be some reason why we can’t maneuver around it.
I used to get a lot of flat tires and most of them were caused by glass shards. Also I have had tires destroyed by cuts which was really disgusting since I didn’t get the mileage they would have been capable of yielding otherwise. I am pleased to be able to report that all of this is past history for me personally. I still deal with broken glass, but I no longer deal with the concern and problems the broken glass causes. Since I started using Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires I have had no more flat tires nor have I had cuts in my tires. I always try to avoid riding over glass if it is possible, but if I do it is no big thing like it used to be.
Yes, when I see something glittering in the pathway ahead of me I am always hopeful it is gold … the real McCoy … but alas it is still just broken glass. (I would have even settled for silver.) Some times it is more like “fools gold” … as it looks like broken glass glistening, but when I take a closer look I see it is actually in the pavement and not laying on top of it. That glitter certainly catches my eye so I reckon it is good that this is a characteristic of broken glass. At least it helps us see it and hopefully avoid it. I’m sure most of us would much rather just …
KEEP ON TRIKIN’
than have to deal with fixing flats.
A FREE GIFT awaits you!
I think people like this ought to be given about 500 hours of community service. I find nothing redeeming in this video below … only total disgust …
A FREE GIFT awaits you!
Tadpole Rider 
That 500 hours of service should include cleaning up the glass from roadways, shopping centers, community centers plus spending 100 hours helping out at the local hospitals treating the people injured by broken glass. When I was a kid riding my bike to school, the roadside was a minefield & you just accepted a flat tire every couple weeks as the way it was but since we have become a more plastic centric society I’m happy to say I don’t see as much glass on my rides – it’s still out there just not as prevalent. Wow! A positive side to plastic!