Originally Posted by rekmeyata

While I do carry my phone, but only after my wife twisted my arm a few years ago. But I never ever call her to help me unless it's an extreme emergency, like I called her when I was on my way to the hospital after crash with car, and one time I got diarrhea so bad, that even my 4 Imodium ADs I carry for emergencies did nothing, and it left me too weak to pedal, but I had to use a pay phone that time. But repairs like flats or anything else, nope, I have stuff with me that can fix most problems, because my wife is not my mommy, and I'm not her little boy, so I make damn sure I can either fix something, or walk, or hop a bus if necessary. I have never had to walk or hop a bus yet in 50 years of riding, but I am prepared for such a contingency by carrying cash with me, and if I can't get to a bus I can call Uber nowadays. Back before cell phones the public was a lot nicer to people, if they saw a broken down cyclists they would give them a ride home, today very few people will do that because they expect you to have a cell phone.

I keep my bikes very well maintained, I can count on one hand how many mechanical problems I had in the last 50 years, and those I fixed on the side of the road. Years ago I got a flat, went to use the pump, and it broke, I'm up in the mountains, so I grabbed weeds and stuffed the tire with those weeds, and I made it home. Another time I broke a spoke, but I had 36 spokes, so all it did was make the wheel no clear the brake pads, so I simply adjust the surrounding spokes and rode it home, todays 20 spoke wheels that's not going to happen, that wheel will taco, then you will have to call someone, unless you can do a wheelie all the way home...assuming it's the front wheel that taco'd like mine was.

While, yes we are roadies, but we don't have a team car following us, so we are not afforded the luxury of a mobile mechanic, thus we need to be that mechanic. Keep in mind, that for a long time professional roadies had to fix their own bikes.