boatbuilder

I finally had time to do some riding today. I was at the office and was going to go up stairs to workout and thought I would rather ride than workout in gym. Had one of my friends drive me home (34 Kms) and I would ride my bike in. I got all my gear on and started riding. I met a buddy part way to town and visited it on the road for 10 minutes and started my ride again. I was about 5 Kms from the office and I got a flat tire. I had all the tools to fix it but knew my buddy would be coming by soon, so I phoned him and he stopped to pick me up and drove me back to the office.
Kind of bummed out that on my first ride to the office on the new bike I had a flat. I sure hope this doesn't happen very often.
I will be riding again tomorrow without a spare tube.
Jim

digibud

I'll bet there is some way a person could categorize roadside puncture danger. Whatever that scale may be, if you ride on a lot of trash you'll probably want to consider a more puncture proof tire. Personally I think it's silly for riders to put up with punctures with any regularity at all. If I were you and got another puncture in the next month due to debris...I'd be putting on Gatorskins, my favorite tires for bad-but-not-too-bad conditions. There's a huge body of "best puncture proof bike tire" web pages out there. The more incredibly puncture proof you get the deader the tire feels, all other things being equal, so the trick for any kind of non-competitive riding is to ride with the liveliest tire you can use while getting whatever protection you can live with to balance protection vs performance.
I keep a spare tube with me all the time because if you work efficiently you can take a wheel off, pull out a tube, put a new one in and be on your way in 10-15min or less. Patching a tire really adds a lot of time but a quick check of the tire for thorns/sharp stuff and a replacement tube doesn't take much time at all. Especially if you have C02.
I'll admit I'd be a little perturbed if somebody in a no-drop group flatted and djdn't have a spare tube. Either people wait extra long for him/her to fix the flat by patching it or...give him/her a tube...it's just a faster thing if you have a spare tube so I personally think it's good etiquette to bring along a spare tube on any group ride. And training is done just as effectively with a little extra weight. Leave them behind for a race perhaps. My son-in-law stopped to help a guy while he was doing a leg of a 4 person team race. His team still won. I thought that stopping in the middle of a race to help was a bit much

TrojanHorse

I have two spares in the seat bag at all times... I buy spares in groups of at least 4. They're disposable, although you can certainly extend their life with a patch or two.

It happens.

boatbuilder

I had a spare tube with me.I had never changed one as I just got the bike. I thought it might be better to change at the office and had a buddy driving by anyway. I will have no problem changing a flat on the road now that I have changed one

rumrunn6

riding was the right choice. bad things happen to good people :/

MattFoley

It definitely happens. My wife and I were at a rest stop on a local trail when all of the sudden we hear "pop! hissssss!" coming from the bike rack. At first I thought it was my wife's bike, but it was another woman's...she had just picked it up new from the shop like an hour before, so she had put maybe 10 miles on it and the tire popped while the bike was just sitting there. The husband's reaction was "well, this will be a great opportunity for me to teach you to change a flat."