Rick and I will be on the NC Mountain to the Sea ride this week. He's here from San Jose. He found a route on ridewithgps and we were having a nice ride, getting to know one another when I got a pinch flat on the back tire. Drat! It is so hard to get the tires off my wheels. We struggled and fought and finally got the tire off. Changed the tube, fought and got the tire back on...the spare didn't take air. Eventually I gave my car key to Rick so he could ride back and get my car to pick me up. While he was gone, I was able to get to tire back on but the patch we'd done didn't fix the problem. I stopped at the bike shop, mechanic had a special tool to help get the tire off. So, new tube, filled with air, ready for tomorrow plus a couple new spares. This tool is amazing but a bit clunky and large to take on the bike.