We had our first interesting experience with braking this past Sunday. We were descending a steep road with a sharp turn at the bottom. Our front rim did get hot and started squealing, then we flatted in the rear just after the turn. Our rear had gotten hot enough for the tube to blow through the Nashbar poly rim strip. A bit of boot material over the failures and we were on our way. Changed to Velox tape the next day. Also replaced the front pads, which were pretty bad, with KoolStop salmon/black.

Questions: if the pads overheat and glaze, does simply cooling them restore the surface? Or do they need to be sanded or something? Does anyone carry pliers to replace the pads on V-brakes? Or a way to do it sans pliers?