I hadn't flatted in almost 2000 miles on a set of Ultra Gatorskins, until Saturday morning. The first flat occurred in the parking lot waiting for the Bike to Battle Cancer ride to start. That one was a teensy piece of glass. Fixed it just in time to start with the rest of the pack. The second one occurred around mile 18 or 20 and it was a small thorn. And of course I'd already used my spare tube. Continentus was with me though and just as I was getting ready to patch it, sag wagon drove by and gave me a tube. Filled it and off to finish the ride. So last night it was low again (CO2 effect) I let all the way down and pumped it back up to 100 and VOILA! Flat again. I think the tube failed around the valve stem, the stem was not threaded and was moving around a little bit in the hole. So three in three days. Not bad eh?

Man there is no way I could do that with the way the Gatorskins fit on my wheels. It's a struggle WITH levers and a light one is not up to it.

You've now guaranteed that your next flat will be in cold, heavy sleet, on the side of a mile-long freeway bridge.

I have discovered a Law of Conservation of Flats. Flats can neither be created nor destroyed, but may change into some other form of flat. Example -- since going to Marathon Plus with Mr. Tuffy tire liners, I have cycled about 25,000 flat-free miles. However, my car has gotten several flats during this period. Prior to fitting these tires, I had gone for decades without a car flat. Clearly, the bike flats, far from being eliminated, had changed into car flats.

Paul

Why does this remind me of the story about repelling grizzly bears?

To avoid grizzlies it's recommended that a hiker wear little bells to alert the bears that they are on the trail and won't surprise the bears. To repel the aggressive grizzly pepper spray should be carried.

One can tell if grizzlies are in the area by the scat they leave. Grizzly scat often has little bells in it and smells something like pepper spray...

I wonder how the flat tire gods are going to deal with that.

Sorry, Murphy's Law has no positive corollary. It sure would be nice.

There's:

5. Law of the Alibi - If you tell the boss you were late for work
because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you will have
a flat tire.

Oh, Positive. I got one, maybe...

9. Law of the Result - When you try to prove to someone that a machine
won't work, it will.

But then again there's always BF's own:

15. Patentcad's Law of Logical Argument - Anything is possible if you don't know
what you are talking about.

I thank you for your consideration on keeping your Zen to yourself.

Maybe not a good businessman, but a great Good Samaritan. But, I've wondered if he actually got everything back together without flating the new tube.

You can just switch to carrying a patched tube as your spare and feel less angst. There's a concept, selling patched tubes for more than you paid for new, to clueless people.

I'm "old school" and ride sew-ups, so patching a flat on the road isn't a practical option for me. I carry a spare sew-up under my saddle and a Silca Impero frame-fit pump. If I get a slow leak, I can air it up multiple times if necessary in order to limp home (can't do that with a CO2 cartridge). If I have a blow-out I can switch to the spare. If I have two blow-outs (which never has happened in over 20 years of cycling) then I'm on my cell phone . . .

Well, since he had removed the tire liner in his aborted attempt to fix his flat, I sincerely doubt it. My attempt to point that out, and that he might want to take the wheel off of the bike to fix it, was ignored and resented. I didn't even get to, "Maybe you ought to find the cause of the flat."

But, they were close to a pickup point on the trail, so I imagine one of the others likely rode and got the car.

You are probably correct. At least you did your best and escaped before they could somehow blame you when the new tube flatted.

Yes, but if you buy the $100 jacket instead of the $250 one, then you have $150 for beer after your rides. And that's more important than staying dry.

Or smile on the inside like I did when Mr. Beanz flatted in the mountains last week, which of course was the cause of my flat yesterday, on the same route in the mountains. And it was a lot hotter out when I flatted then when he did, ,making it more miserable. LOL

I'm not sure but I may have caught you crying on video!

They are going to make him sorry he has fingers to type. Don't mess with the flat gods.