First Flat Yesterday
 

I guess it had to happen eventually. . .Eighteen miles into a 54 mile Club ride, I was going downhill at about 30 mph in a shaded area when WHAM I hit a small pothole. I never saw it. I could hear something rattling off the road behind me, and I immediately assumed my cell phone had bounced out of my jersey pocket. I reached around, confirmed my phone was still in place, but noticed that one of my water bottles was missing. I turned around to look for the bottle and realized my front tire was flat. Great. The ride leader stopped to help, and 15 minutes later (we twisted the tube once, and had to start over) we were back on the road. I was riding with the A group, so they were long gone. The A/B group passed a few minutes after the incident, and we hustled to catch up with them. The ride leader is much stronger than I am, so it was a struggle to keep up and take my turn pulling. Fortunately we caught the A/B crowd waiting to regroup at the top of a long hill a few miles up the road. Finished the ride without incident.

Moral of the story? Always pack a spare tube, CO2 cartridge and a small tool kit!

I never leave home with them, but I carry two or three cartridges.

On another note, I found out the hard way that one should check their patch adhesive periodically.

I ride solo. Two tubes, a boot, a pump and a patch kit

I always care C02, pump, tools and spare tube!

Had my first flat on my new Salsa Vaya last week. I had just cleaned the bike and removed my tools. My spare 700C tube (Schrader) had been with my tools in the seat bag. Not that that mattered much, the Sun-ringle Inferno rims are presta. My riding buddy called to see I had time for a 20km ride for a coffee. I geared up and took off on my shiny new bike. Most of our ride is rail trail and MUP with some streets on both ends. The ride went without issue except I noticed that both of us forgot our tools when we attempted a minor adjustment on the trail.
The next morning I went out to the garage to find the rear wheel flatter than a pancake! A shard of glass had entered a tread block, pushed through the Kevlar protection in the Schwalbe Silento and punctured the tube. I was lucky that it must have happened near the end of the ride.
I purchased two new tubes, patched the old one, bought a new Blackburn pump for Presta valves.
Now at least one tube, the pump, patch kit, multitool, and two levers are ready for every ride.