Geez, I used to be a flat magnet. Every piece of glass or metal on the road seemed to find its way into my tires. I think I got a flat at least once a month. Because I was so prone to flats, I had lots of experience fixing them, and I could fix a flat in no time! I never lost control of my bike; rather, I would notice that pedaling seemed harder, or the bike seemed a little sluggish, before it would dawn on me what had actually happened. (Knock wood, nothing so far on my current bike -- it has Kevlar-reinforced tires.)

I once did a 60 mile ride down in Corpus Christi and flatted three times along the way -- all on the rear wheel of course. Just beware of where you lay your gloves when you're changing that tube: the last flat I got on that Corpus ride, I didn't discover that I had put my gloves down on a fire ant hill until I started putting them back on. Ouch!

After that ride, I installed Mr. Tuffy tire liners and didn't get any more flats.