James Scott said:Quoted message said:They're the evil goddamned spawn of Satan's garden,
small, hard seeds that look like a goat's head viewed
from the front with two horns.
You're right, that's one evil-looking plant. I don't think
I've seen anything like that 'round heah (Boston) but, like
kudzu and arena football, it's probably just a matter of
time. To combat goatheads, or at least make them tolerable,
what we really need is a genetically modified aloe plant
that thrives on the roadside and oozes vulcanizing fluid.
Quoted message said:Technically, it's tribulus terrestris
Entertainingly, web searching on the scientific name
turned up pages
Quoted message said:raysahelian.comtribulus.htmlOpen ↗, for example.
Quoted message said:Neil's scheme is laudable, but so far the goatheads are
winning, having extinguished bicycling in some regions
near where I live.
Where is that? The web page referenced from the rbt FAQ
mentioned Colorado.
JLS
Dear James,
Where?
I pedal west up the north bank of the Arkansas River valley
from Pueblo, Colorado--no goatheads in the river bottom.
South across the river and up the bluffs on the far side and
back into town along a quiet highway--goatheads blowing
hither and yon in the breeze of the Great Plains.
As a rule of thumb, goatheads go with prairie rattlesnakes
in the hot places, not with the bullsnakes in shade.
West of Pueblo and north of the river valley is a bedroom
community rejoicing in the clever name of Pueblo West. It's
improving, but large areas grow little but goatheads that
thrive on the scraped and baked prairie.
Local bike shops hate to sell 700c bikes to people who live
in Pueblo West because the bikes are returned so often. Two
flat tires each time in half a dozen attempts to ride down
to the corner can be awfully dscouraging. Children don't
venture outdoors barefoot in much of Pueblo West.
Such infestations are surprisingly local. I rode a five-
speed 27-inch Schwinn four miles daily back and forth to
school for several years as a boy and vaguely recall only a
single flat tire. Goatheads are no problem well within the
city on paved streets lined by homes with tended lawns. But
you can't lure me into heading east instead of west on the
river trail--there's a hundred yard section where it's
easier to pick a dog up and carry it than to try to force it
to walk over the goatheads.
I expect that there are similar and worse areas scattered
around the more arid parts of the SouthWest U.S. and
different thorns in other places.
Whenever I get too depressed about it, I look at this post
and picture from a cheerful Australian:
groups.google.comgroupsOpen ↗
jack%2Bgroup:rec.bicycles.tech%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-
8%26oe%3DUTF-
8%26group%3Drec.bicycles.tech%26scoring%3Dd%26selm%3D8bbde8-
fc.0312251828.520519ea%2540posting.google.com%26rnum%3D4
or
tinyurl.com25mnyOpen ↗
His "three-cornered Jack" version of a biological caltrop
has THREE goddamned thorns.
Unfortunately, it's spreading toward Colorado.
Carl Fogel
