Changing a Flat-Shouldn't It Get Easier?

Last week I got a flat-it was a slow leak and didn't appear flat until the next day. I found the tiny piece of glass and decided to give using a patch a go. I usually just use a new tube, but I figured I should at least try to patch a tube-there's war on, you know. I found the leak, carefully read the instructions and applied the patch. And it worked! I was feeling very smug and proud of myself.

A couple of days later I noticed a loose spoke, so I took it to the bike shop to get my spokes tightened. The next day, for no apparent reason, I had a flat. I didn't find glass or anything that would have produced a hole. I don't know if it's coincidence, but every time I have a bike shop do anything with my wheels, I wind up with a flat. I don't know if they over-inflate the tires or if it's just a tremendous coincidence or even a conspiracy, but there it is.

I filled the sink with water, pumped up the tube and put the tube in the water to look for bubbles. There were bubbles coming out of the nozzle (it wasn't tightened down so I wasn't surprised by that) and also on the seam on the rim side of the tube. Seemed like a strange place for a hole, which is why I naturally blame the bike shop. The last time I had a hole in that location was when I removed the rim tape from my wheel thinking it was just packaging.

The Lord finds new ways to challenge me every day.

I put a patch on the tire and put it back together. The emotions I experience while putting a tire back on the rim range from optimism, to discouragement, to desperation on to panic and then demoralization before I finally, finally, after much struggle, get the tire back on-I'm always surprised when I actually get it back on, thinking it's a lost cause. I always have to "positive talk" to myself. I always manage to get the tire back on, but the struggle is epic.

I  pumped it up and after I got it up to 100 psi, I saw the pressure gauge slowly drop. I listened to the tire and heard it leaking. How was that even possible? Pinch flat? So I took the tire back apart and pumped the tube up. No leaking! I pumped it way up, praying to find a leak. Nothing. So I threw the tube away and started over with a new one.

The tire finally stayed inflated. I hear of people changing a flat in 15 seconds, or under a minute anyway, and I wonder how that is even remotely possible unless there are magic tires out there that I don't know about. 

Mathematics and tools both evoke the same sinking, panicky desperation I experience as when I change a tire. Doing my own bike repairs always seem like a great idea until I recall my mechanical limitations. I will refrain from pressing my luck and limit repairs to simple tire changing and cleaning my bike with a soft cloth.