Originally Posted by
vesteroid
My big suggestion is that you pratique taking off the rear wheel and changing out a tube several times at home. I know it took me a few tries before I got the hang of re-installing that rear wheel easily.
AGREE!
Spend a little time one evening/Saturday afternoon doing a dry-run of swapping out a tube. Believe me, you want to work out the kinks in your own driveway, not 20 miles down some bike path.
Other notes:
-To agree with what was noted by somebody above: Slime in your tubes is a bad idea, it prevents making good patches.
-Definitely get a patch kit. Really, buy three... keep one at home, one in your car (for "rescues" in case the glue in your seat bag is dried out), and one in your seat bag. Every kit I've seen at the LBS is $2 and comes in a perfect-sized little plastic case. Alternately, you can keep the stuff in an Altoids tin or something similar so your patches don't get junked up, or the tube of cement gets punctured.
-Buy yourself a spare tire. Invariably you will get a huge gash on your tire the night before a planned ride and your LBS won't have your preferred size in stock. (I'm not pessimistic, I'm a boy scout!)