On 7/18/2018 12:15 PM, jbeattie wrote:

I spit on tiny clown pumps -- no, I mean it. Sometimes the pump-handle/piston needs lubrication. I prefer the hose models, but all of them are a PITA and require about 200 strokes to get a tire up to pressure.

I also carry CO2 cartridges and used both the pump and the cartridges last weekend due to a flat-fest with my son. I buy cheap cartridges in bulk from Amazon. Yes, the environmental impact of steel cartridges is bad . . . but they're so convenient! I scoffed at them until I started using them, but I would not go with CO2 alone. I always carry a pump.

A couple years ago, after some health problems, I went on a club ride
that was nearly too much for me. It was very hot, and I think my recent
bronchitis was still constricting my breathing. I was fighting to keep up.

As we were climbing on one of the more remote roads around here, one guy
flatted. Normally I'm one of the chief flat fixers, but I lay my bike
down, then lay myself down on its downhill side and propped my feet up
on the handlebars, trying to get some strength back.

Lucky for me, the repair was a disaster. They put in one spare tube, but
it was leaking badly. They put another tube in and tried inflating it
with CO2. The CO2 fitting somehow misfired. They wasted another CO2...
and so on.

I finally got up and gave them my full-size Zefal pump, the only
inflating device I ever carry. (Except on the folding bike, where I
have a mini pump stashed.)

They succeeded with the Zefal. And I had recovered enough that I was OK
the rest of the ride, and perfect after a Dairy Queen stop for a bunch
of Mountain Dew.

I think if I were to carry anything else on the bike, it would be
Mountain Dew.

--
- Frank Krygowski