I just had to post about my mornings' commute today. It was the warmest morning so far this year at 59F. Its been 45-48 and I usually ride in my long pants and switch to shorts when I get to work. Not today! Rode in in my shorts and t-shirt, ah, that is so nice. Wonderful weather in the Reno/Sparks NV area!

About half way through my commute I saw a guy walking a huffy-like MTB and as I passed I asked if he had a flat. He did, so I stopped to help him. I offered to fix his flat for him and he was very very thankful, as he was on a way to a job interview and had already walked over a mile. I pulled the wheel/tire/tube and went to grab my pump so I could find the hole in the tube. D'oh! Somehow my pump had migrated to my OTHER pannier that I didn't bring this morning because I didn't need a change of clothes. I put his bike back together and gave him my patch kit and my profuse apology. He was just so happy that I'd actually stopped and that I GAVE him my patch kit. Lesson: ALWAYS make sure you have your pump! Maybe an argument for carrying it on a rack or something instead of a pannier?

Lastly, when I got to work I saw the front door open and no cars out front (we're a small office). A coworker of mine has a Cannondale road bike that I helped him get going (new pedals, air up the tires etc) and he rode it in to work this morning! It was his second work commute. He's an experience cyclist so it was no huge feat for him, but it is awesome to have another bike in the garage at the office. My encouragement, rising gas prices, ($3.25/gal here) and the fact that he only lives 2.5-3 miles away were all contributing factors. You CAN make a difference!

Hope you all are doing well. I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy geocaching and just plodding along to work and back.

Yay! I got my first flat in four years on Friday...I had my pump, but my extra tube was for my mountain bike, not my 700C commuter bike. Luckily I had a patch kit, though, and I had not forgotten how to fix a flat. I was impressed by the number of cyclists who stopped and offered help.

Great news about your coworker!

I'm the very distracted type and forget things often. Therefore my pump goes on the frame and my tool kit (with patches goes behind my seat). Just before I jump on the saddle to ride I, 1. slap my helmet (to verify its there), 2. touch my tool bag as I grab my seat, 3. as I get going reach down and touch my pump on the frame. The tactile touching seems to really help verify they are all there.

Maybe I'm crazy. But I've forgotten each of those three items once before I started this and I haven't forgotten them since.

I've had a similar experience, only it was after the guy had removed his tube that I discovered that I had lost my pump. Hope it still counts as points in the karma account seeing as I did stop and attempt to help.

Heh, I've forgotten to take a pump a few times but never when I needed it. However, I've forgotten to take a 15mm wrench which I need to remove my folder's (commuter bike) rear wheel. DOH. I pumped the tire a couple of times and road the slow leak to the LBS. I was too upset at myself for forgetting the wrench to think of trying to patch the tube while still "on" the bike -- it can be done, you know -- i.e. off the wheel but still looped onto the bike. Oh well, no harm done that one time, and a lesson learned.

On a side note. I hit the mother of all potholes yesterday while riding up near Bear Mountain (heh, yeah, not commuting mind you) because I was frantically screaming to my brother and the other person ahead "CAR BACK!!!". Anyhow, first flat in ages and, what more, finally, after months of having it, my first chance to try my "new" mini-pump / CO2 combo device. You knew there had to be a connection to commuting in this story: a gear recommendation! While I don't know that I'd EVER be able to pump my tires to anywhere near what I'd like with that mini-pump, it would be an acceptable back-up if I were to run out of CO2, and it was perfect for plumping the tube before putting it on the rim. The CO2 inflation was perfect, using the trigger on the device. I can't recall the exact model name and Performance's site is wonky right now; otherwise I'd give a link... but I highly recommend it. It easily fits in a jersey pocket though I keep it on the water-bottle-holder attachment thingie on the road bike and toss it in the seatbag on my folder.

Edit: I forgot to add one more wrinkle, much in the spirit of this thread. The tube I pulled out of my road bike's seat bag to quickly replace the punctured tube -- not patch as I was riding with others and we wanted to get going -- was a 20" tube for my folder! I must have grabbed it by accident when last restocking my seatpack. Fortunately I had another in my bike backpack, as did my brother in his jersey pocket!

I've been forgetting my helmet recently. I'll make it a minute or two away from home and realize my mistake, but feel too lazy or be in too much of a rush to turn around (and climb two hefty hills) to get it.

I've forgotten my tool pouch and map a few times too, but fortunately never when I really needed anything.

I like bike2math's slap checklist. I think I'll have to start doing that myself for the tool pouch and helmet at the very least. I only own one pannier bag right now (which will be changing this week when an Arkel Utility Basket I had my LBS order comes in) so I don't have to stop and think about what is in which pannier before taking off.

I also like to stop and help people that are having mechanical problems. It doesn't happen very often, but I do remember helping a cute young woman fix a derailed chain recently. While I got her chain back on the cassette and adjusted her derailer stop screws, I learned that she recently moved to the twin cities from the Netherlands and had just purchased the bike. She was aghast at all the 21 or so gears, since apparantly bikes in the Netherlands are almost exclusively coaster brake singlespeeds or three speed gear hubs.