Someone once told me that my bad luck when it came to getting punctures was God’s way of punishing me for past sins. Obviously they were catholic and, while I hold no truck with superstition, I often wonder why it is that it’s always me pulling up by the side of the road to curse and grapple tyre levers with numb fingers.

Clearly, my tyre replacement skills have never really been up there with the best. The last sportive I did I had three flats in quick succession all because of pinched inner tubes or from not cleaning debris from the tyre properly. With such bad luck and poor bike maintenance skills, the thought of solid tyres that don’t puncture has always been particularly appealing to me.