Ok, I haven’t had a flat yet but it is inevitable. I bought a patch kit, the string-type, and an air pump. I just have little faith in this system and would like to hear from others what actually works. Particularly about the pumps. I have the yellow HFreight thing ($9.95) and recently filled an inner tube for the kids rafting. It took an hour! 60 minutes! Not counting the cool-down time every 15 minutes! The 200 decibel racket and 19,000 rpms make me suspicious too.

So I get a flat. I poke the string in the rubber cement, jam it in the hole. Fill the tire with air. If flats on my car are any indication of our rocky terrain, "gash" or "big gash" would probably be the problem. I imagine a tube back-up wouldn’t hurt. Does anyone actually do this? Anyone ever have to walk out 40 miles because of this? So now I need some tire irons?

Help me out here with your solutions…