There is something that'll go through a Gatorskin!
All the intentions of doing a 30 to 35 mile ride this early am--about 17 miles into it I hit a nail and puncture my rear tire. Remember, this is around 05:30 and it's totally dark. As fortune would have it, the flat happened 2 houses down from the house of the owner of my favorite LBS--and he has his porch light on--much better than changing a flat by flashlight. I walk the bike to his porch area and remove the tire. What I see looks like just a hunk of metal that punctured the tire. After much work the object turns out to be 2 inch nail with the head deformed(made it look like some those nails from 100 years ago)--I suspect a roofing nail. I remove the punctured tube and pull a new tube from my bag(never been used). I try to inflate the tube a little to insert it but it won't hold air! WT*!@&$@@&!!! Just as I'm encountering this, the guy's significant other returns from walking the dog. She goes inside and just as I'm about to wake the wife with a phone call, Connie, the dog walker, comes out with a floor pump and a new tube. This time it works fine and I finally get back going...all this taking wayyyy too long and now I only have time to do a 22 mile ride(17 + 5) instead of the 30 to 35 mile ride I had planned.
Anyway, since I have just shy of 6000 miles on the tires, I go to the LBS in the afternoon and buy two new tires(folding Gatorskins). Additionally, the owner sells me 2 tubes for the price of one and takes the defective tube. I also needed a floor pump as the one I bought from the LBS less than a year ago has a problem. He takes 20% off the new, and better, floor pump. He plans to handle the return of the problematic floor pump to get it replaced--which will give me a back up pump or one I might sell on Craig's List.
A rather adventurous day if I must say. There was nothing left to do but have some pie--which I did, Cherry pie.