Originally Posted by
sggoodri
Fixing my own flat is much faster than getting help. Fixing other people's flats makes me feel happy. I don't get many flats since I got religious about maintaining proper pressure and staying out of the debris zone, but I fix somebody else's every few group rides.
Yeah, in the several years since I started buying decent tires (and replacing them before I can actually see daylight through them!
) I've had very few flats. But for the few that have happened, yes, I fix them myself.
I've helped others, too. One episode that always makes me smile when I think of it: a few years back I was doing an MS150 ride. A long way ahead of me on a straight stretch, I could see two guys by the side of the road, one bike down. As I got closer I could see they were wearing all the "serious" roadie gear, team kit from their sponsoring company, etc. I was thinking, "Oh, man, they look so baffled, it must be something seriously wrong, like the derailleur has exploded into a million pieces or something, but I'll still do the 'accepted cyclist thing'
and ask if I they need any help."
Which I did -- and their problem was a flat tire, on the rear wheel. They had been talked into riding with the company team not too long before the event, the guy with the flat had just gotten the bike the day before, neither of them had a clue as to what to do about the flat. They asked me to do a "how-to commentary" as I swapped the tube for them.
Classic case of judging the book by its (fancy-pants roadie gear) cover!
