The way I figure it, as a good cycling tourist, you've weighed the risks and the probabilities of a flat within a mile are pretty low. Even moreso, the remedy is pretty simple, too.

There are times when I have ridden some distance without tube and repair kit because I had forgotten to change over the gear from one bike to another. Living on the edge? Maybe. Stupid? Far from it, because the incidents gave me more data points to consider the risk of riding one mile the store and back again without a kit.

I've even ridden the last 10km of a century by stopping, inflating the tyre, riding about a two kilometre, inflating the tyre again... rinse and repeat. No damage to tyre or wheel. It was quicker to do that than stop and repair.

I've also ridden the last two kilometres on a work commute on a flat front, on more than one occasion.