Out on the weekend group rides I have noticed that some riders seem to carry no basic tools. Not a spare tube. Not a lever. Not an multi-tool. Not even a mini-pump! No bulges in the back pocket. Two normal water bottles, no spares or tools hidden…

Must suck not to be prepared.

Well, I found that out at my own cost last week when I was heading out on the Taipei bike path to head into the hils up in Pinglin on a 140km ride. 18km in and I got a puncture. I had a spare inner tube and tire levers, but I’d forgotten the pump.

D’oh!

This is where it gets a little embarrassing tho…. just as I was taking the axle out of the rear wheel this kid rolled along and he says ‘Do you need help?’

Flat tire, I said.

‘You have everything?’

Yeah, thanks, i say… I’m thinking ‘I’ve fixed hundreds of these kiddo!’

Then I take the tire off and get the new tube out and… wait… oh… oh feck!

Idiot. Hey kid?… KID!

He was gone.

Pump was nice and cosy, stretched out on my coffee table.

So I thought, yeah ok it’s usually busy here, there’ll be someone along in 3 minutes, I’ll borrow a pump…

10 minutes pass, 15… finally, I see a guy – I ask him if I can borrow his pump.

‘I have nothing,’ he says.

Huh? I say.

‘Nothing.’

Now, he’s on a Pinarello, he’s wearing Sphyres or whatever the Shimano shoes are called, the full kit, nice lid – and doesn’t have a saddle bag and nothing in his pockets apart from a phone.

Couldn’t believe it. Only once in my life have I met someone who doesn’t carry tools – ever – but seems there are more out there?

I waited and asked the next rider: same answer. Nothing.

Then another.

And you’ll think I am exaggerating here – but a fourth – all… had… nothing.

Not one of them carried a repair kit.

In the end I walked to a bike rental station in Tamsui, a good 4km, in cleats, and used their pump.

So what do riders do when they get a flat? Call an Uber home?!

The answer to this I know – and it’s yep! My mate was recounting his last ride recently, he got a flat, up on a mountain (a good 15km up, here in Taipei), and he just called an Uber. Apparently he does this each time he flats, unless a bike shop is near.

Hmm, I didn’t ask but… do you think he takes the wheel to the shop to get it fixed?!

What’s wrong with people?! Look, ok, I wouldn’t be too keen on taking out a bottom bracket, but I can fix a bloody flat tire…

Except… seems not without a pump!