I ride alone most of the time, my husband and is a much stronger rider than I am, so if we aren't on the tandem, we are usually doing separate rides, and many of my rides are extensions of my ride home after work. I can say from experience, if you only learn one bike repair, make it fixing a flat. Losing a nail is better than being stranded miles from a phone--depending on where you ride, you can't depend on cell phone coverage.