Awesome advice on this thread, and I used the TE tire changing link when I had my first flat. BF not only road home and drove back to pick me up after watching me curse my head off (and his), he responded to my yell from the garage, "Hey. Go to Teamestrogen.com and find the tire changing page....paa-lease."

My first flat was at only 200 mile on the tires, and it left a gash on the road surface of the tire, but not so deep that I could see the tube. I related my experience to my peddling dad, and he said, "Well, put nailpolish on it." So I did. The gash hasn't changed any in size after 600 additional miles--I added nailpolish every week or so! I suppose I should read up on other "patching" techniques for tires (and invest in some back up tires in the winter sales) but until it really blows, I'm sticking to Sally Hansen Hard as Nails.

-s