I realize this is an old thread, but Sunday, while on a club ride, I also experienced my first ever flat. Since I've been back into cycling three years ago, I have gone through 4 bikes and ridden over 12,000 miles without a flat. I have a Topeak pump that I carry on my hybrid and CO2 cartridges that I carry on my road bike. I have used the hand pump to inflate a fellow rider's tire before and when it got close to 45 psi, it became pretty much useless. Sunday, I was on the road bike and had the tire fixed and filled in no time at all.

I think that putting everyone that uses CO2 cartridges in a group and label them as lazy for not using a pump is pretty ignorant, as you don't personally know the habits of the 99% being labeled. I take my cartridges home and put them in the recycling bin when they are empty. Most road tires can be inflated to the proper pressure without completely emptying a CO2 cartridge. The cyclist that I know, including myself, that use CO2 cartridges will leave the cartridge in the filler head rather than throw them away and use them the next time they get a flat. Although Sunday was my first flat, I have used several of my CO2 cartridges for riders that do not carry anything but a spare tube or don't know how to use the cartridge correctly and lose all the CO2 before it can inflate the tire. And CO2 does not endanger the atmosphere nor does it have any adverse affects on the planet. For those that dispose of their cartridges along side the path or roadway, shame on them, but they don't come anywhere close to making up 99%.