"... a cloud of cash confetti".  :)  Reminds me of novelty pens I used to see, that had  fragments of shredded dollar bills suspended in some sort of liquid- almost like a snow globe of money.

I had no idea that a bank would exchange an intact bill for one that has been shredded.

Many years ago, I had a tire develop a bubble and blow up. Read this page and the next one for all of the details. We were close to Dillon, MT and traveling with an ACA tour group. There was an emergency contact in our paperwork. I had bicycle road service come and rescue me! IDK if such a thing would happen today. Probably the shop would be short staffed.

For many years after that, we carried a spare. Then, one year on the descent of McClure Pass Jacinto replaced a tire. He was happy to be carrying a spare. Then the spare blew up! Within miles! He was so disgusted about the bad spare, that we didn't carry one for a few years. I cannot find the journal page to link the story. The tire was a Rene Herse tire, a Slumgullion model. Jim had brought it to us in glee, as Slumgullion Pass is my favorite pass in Colorado. The tire was a dud. We sent a photo of the packaging, and the big hole in the tire. We were refunded the money, no further questions.

We  now carry a spare tire, depending on the remoteness of the terrain. On our border to border trip in 2020, we carried one.

“While I would expect any bike shop to have 700C tires, it seems to me that finding 20 inch ones may not be so easy”

Keith an additional consideration nowadays is that expecting local bike shops to have the same amount and type of products in stock that they had a few years ago can be disappointing. Even certain tyres and tubes have been hard to get.

Other parts and components can be very scarce. It took four months for one of my local bike shops to get a pair of 26” rims (for a spare set of touring wheels for my Thorn Sherpa), and I’ve been waiting 6 months for a basic Shimano chainring for my commuter bike.  It’s on back order from another local shop.

I’ve have a reasonable stash of tyres and tubes at home, so I’ve had no problems with tyre/tube supplies, but I certainly always patch tubes nowadays, and keep tyres on until they are really showing wear. Three years ago, I was far less frugal with tyres and tubes.

Although I am still unsure as to whether I will carry a spare tire (discounting the built-in one around my midsection) I just stocked up on tubes.  I think I have spare brake and shift cables, it's just a matter of finding them.  A new cassette, chain, and chain rings are on the work bench awaiting installation when the time is right,  along with new tires (also already in hand).  The brake blocks are basically new, having only been on the bike for about 100 miles.

Supply chain disruptions have seemingly hit every facet of life.

I had a sidewall blowout on a rainy Sunday on the GAP trail on my way home from Indiana in 2003. Nothing was open. I used duct tape and cardboard to patch the hole and limped 10 miles to Rockwood. What a miserable day that was. I really needed a fistful of Advil that night.

I always carry a folding spare tire on my trips. With 700C wheels I carry an old Pasela that I had in the basement. Nothing special. You'll add to the load on your bike but take a load off your mind.

The denouement to this topic:

In my first week I have had SIX punctures, all from sharp gravel embedded in the treads of my brand new Marathons.

Yesterday (July 10, 2022) the bead on the rear tire failed, causing a catastrophic failure of the tube.   Wobble wobble wobble BANG!!!

I was five miles up the lonely Weiser River Trail from Cambridge ID and facing a long walk back when a group of good people happened by.  They eventually sent help back, in the form of a 2.25 inch knobby tire stripped from one of their bikes.  It got me back to town but rubs the chain stays because of its width.

My wife is FedExing me the two used tires I left at home after mounting the fresh ones.  Until they get here I'll be cooling my heels in Cambridge.

Argh.

My sympathies to you. What are the two tires she is sending? Which model of Marathon did you install for the tour?

I'm a long time Marathon Racer fan. Jacinto likes the Marathon Supreme or the Plus. We occasionally buy him a CST brand tire. He likes the super thick ones as he would do (and ride) almost anything to avoid a puncture.

We started the tour with one extra tire, which has been put into rotation. The extra we are now carrying, Jacinto is suspicious of, because he had a flat and couldn't find the cause. Perhaps it was something that poked through, and fell out. He still doesn't want to use it. We've looked in several towns for a new spare. We thought Moab would be the place. It is, if you want a mountain bike tire. 

I know this isn't your problem - this thread is 'small tired bikes': But, it's on topic for what I'm writing. A word to the wise. 26" tires come in two sizes. 559 and 590. They are not the same. 20" tires also come in two sizes: 406 and 451. We learned that lesson the hard way.

I think mine are just "regular" Marathons.  I know they fit and work because they're the ones I trained on, and took off to put the fresh ones on when I packed the bike.

And yes, I know about the 406 vs 451 thing, too.

And now the final indignity.  On what turned out to be the next-to-last day of my ride, I once again felt an ominous thumpa-thumpa-thumpa from the rear tire.  Being by that time highly sensitized to such things I stopped, lowered the pressure in the tire, and limped the final quarter mile to the campground where I spent the night.

Inspection the next morning (I was too tired, and had too many basic life chores like getting camp set up, getting dinner made and eaten, and getting cleaned up, to deal with a dicey tire the evening of my arrival) showed that there was internal damage to the tire.  The internal casing was splitting and it appeared that the actual steel belting in the tire body may also have been compromised.

I believe the cause of this was my having hit, quite hard, the lip of a pothole as I exited a bridge either that morning or the day before.  I do know I'd hit the hole pretty hard.  So, that particular failure may not have been the fault of the tire per se.  Whatever the cause, I put my final remaining spare on, rode to Cody, and terminated the tour.  The tire issues were a contributing, but not the deciding, factor in that decision.

What they are also contributing to, and more strongly, is my decision to start shopping for a new touring bike, with more common size wheels.  I'll still need to keep a stock of 20-inch tires on hand because both of our recumbent tandems require them, but I won't be touring solo and unsupported on such tires again.

I’m still astonished by your bad luck here, but just a counterexample.  We’re about 4,500 miles into our tour now and unless I’ve forgotten one neither of us has had even one flat so far, running on Schwalbe Marathons.  Don’t tell Rachael I said this though, because she’ll be mad at me for jinxing us.