A friend of mine, who made his first commute with me a couple months ago, had his entire rear tire turn to shreds about one mile from work on said first commute. I had asked him about the state of his tires knowing bike had been stored for a long time. It was needless to say impossible to fix with a patch or two. Was kicking myself for not personally looking at them since we had several long and fast downhills to ride. Since then, he's been riding a couple days a week so good on him!