I used to patch the tubes on my dirt bike all the time as kid. I don't imagine that it's too much different. I used to submerge the tube in a bucket of water to find the leak. I'm guessing that you just have to listen and look for the hole dry. That and now I'll have these fancy lever things instead of using spoons from the kitchen.

Yeah, no spoons for sure!! You'll note right away mounting the bead on the wheel is a different proposition road bike V dirt bike. The last bit can be stubborn as heck to get over the rim. Using your thumbs is ideal, don't use levers for this task.

For truly stubborn kevlar tires I use a kool stop tire jack.

I got all the stuff mentioned above and a top bar bag to hold all of it. And I finally got to ride in to work this week. I rode in Tuesday and today. It’s a real nice ride. I like this riding to work thing.

But I’m really not digging the rough portions of the dirt/gravel path. Some of it is fine, but there are some rough spots. I swear, I’m working harder on those rough spots than the rest of the ride put together. Mostly just tensing up holding on the handlebars. I’m trying to train myself to loosen up on the grip.

Good work. It's completely counterintuitive, but the rougher the road the looser the grip. The bike wants to go straight but sometimes you have to let it find its way in rough gravel.