Does anyone carry a tube and some CO2? I never have, either because the circuit has been short enough to walk back; or take a chance that I won’t be right at the far end of a 10 mile circuit. But even a few miles walking in cleats could be grim.

I’ve not seen anyone else carry stuff but perhaps haven’t looked too hard. Does anyone? Small saddle bag? Or jesrsey pocket? Or something more novel?

Depends, if there is service or not.
Have i got club mates riding round the course? Am i running tubs today?

And so on.

The road races I mostly do are one big circuit ranging between 100km-150kms. I carry a spare tube and mini pump mainly so I can get back to the start/my car. When you have punctured your race is pretty much over anyway. I have a small saddle bag from Topeak which holds a spare tube and tyre leavers and a Leyzne mini pump which attaches to the frame.

Most races have a car following behind who would sort you out and the circuits around here are all <5 miles so i don’t bother!

Circuit racing no. But generally yes. Service is slow and not all that reliable – if you puncture on the last lap they may forget to come back and check for stragglers.

Basic pump and tube is about 200g so hardly a massive penalty. In lower level 3/4 races that only last a few hours without a team to pull you back you have no chance of getting back on so not too worried about how long it takes.

It either goes in a tool bottle or if it is warm and I need two bottle (not often in 2015!) I stick it in a small saddle bag. I wouldn’t put a pump in my pocket due to the high chances of crashes and losing it! A significant number of riders carry stuff in my experience. If you have a team mate with a car or someone coming with you then you could make arrangements for rescue if you don’t come back to HQ in a set amount of time. If you are brave there are normally enough other people that you may get a helping hand/tube but I wouldn’t want to rely on them.

“The road races I mostly do are one big circuit ranging between 100km-150kms”

not seen many of them in the uk.

i have been service – you might get lucky and they have double service but its not that common ime….

service goes with the breakaway on the whole.

There is usually however a broomwagon which will take you back to HQ in a RACE and this should stay behind the last rider in the race / take numbers off riders it passes if they want to keep riding.

I don’t carry anything! But then all the races I do are relatively short circuits with broom wagon, or with plenty of team mates who, I would like to think, would notice my absence/predicament and think to come back in their car and look for me. Hmmm maybe I have too much faith in them 😐

Very rarely.
The one occasion I had a mechanical that I couldn’t have fixed anyway, one of the marshals gave me a lift back to HQ (I’d blown out my tyre on a pothole, big hole in it!)

If it’s a particularly challenging / long circuit or one without any service at all then I’d probably put carry tube and gas. As a general rule even taking service your race is over by the time you’ve got going again, I’d really only use a neutral service wheel to get back to HQ.

I always carried a pocket pump,lever and some Parks patches,never liked the idea of hanging around getting cold waiting for the chance of a service car.

“The road races I mostly do are one big circuit ranging between 100km-150kms”

not seen many of them in the uk.

Maybe you should come over to the continent and do some racing. 🙂

No once in many years of racing. Just go for a wheel change or a following car will help you out. On a really big circuit I’d take a single inner tube tyre lever and CO2 cylinder though. I did have to wait over 15mins once on a big circuit when I was in a break away. That was depressing.

No only time i ever punctured I just rode slowly back to the HQ on the flat. And in most cases you could probably get a lift with one of the back marker cars anyway.