Well it finally has come... at the end of my 90 k ride yesterday i went to pick up the bike to find i had a rear tire flat ( thankfully it MUST have been at the end lol
anyways i've been anxiously waiting for my first flat, and i'm glad it happend before the ride. It was ALOT easier then i thought and i found the hardest part was putting the tire back on!
I did not find anything in the tire, but noticed the puncture in the old tube (stupid me looked at it after i had put the new one back into the tire)
It is a great feeling of accomplishment to fix your flat for the first time. Having said that, unless you know it was a pinch flat (the puncture was two snake bite like holes) and you did not find the cause, I would think about having a bike shop take a closer look at the tire and rim you flatted on. This year I kept having flats on my front wheel (I thought perhaps it was my weight I have put on a few since last year). I pulled the tubes, checked the tire and could not find anything but every week the front tire would be flat. I finally took it to my bike shop (after the 4th or 5th tube) and low and behold the mechanic found a small piece of glass imbedded in the outside of the tire. The theory is that every so often I would hit a bump while the glass was in contact and it would press through far enough to put a very small whole in the tube.
New tires new tube so far no problems. But I knew what I was doing, had checked the inside of the tire and found nothing so...to be on the safe side for the ride, you may want to check that wheele extra carefully if you have not identified what caused the first flat.
Did it once. Hope I never have to do it again. Don't recall any feeling of accomplishment, although I did discover later that the place I chose to sit down and work on the bike had poison ivy.
And remember, if you can make it to a pit stop there will be gear people to assist with any issues.... and on route, there will be gear people riding as well.
