DNF'd today's 300, it's a bummer 'cos of the centenary medal but I'd had 3 flats in 30km, including changing a flat when I woke up this morning. Couldn't find anything in the tire but some holes... rims are tubeless and the tires are so incredibly tight I snapped one lever and could only pry the bead off with two side-by-side. Took me 20 minutes to change the tube, normally I'm 5 minutes or so, have done thousands of flat changes in the decade I volunteered at the local co-op so it's not my first rodeo. These tires feel as tight as a 700c stretched over a 27" rim, something I've seen people manage at the co-op.
I managed to pick up another flat 5km later and decided to just pack it in. My pump couldn't seem to inflate the patched tube I put in, dunno if the pump is bad or what, but it was my last patch and I'd already used my spare tube. I was only 17km away from the closest LRT station so I started walking. I made it ~8km before someone in a pickup stopped and offered a ride... I tried to decline since he was only going a couple km up the road, but he insisted, and then changed his mind and drove me back to the ride start. Turns out we had some friends in common so that was pretty neat.
Time for me to research tubeless tires and all the crap, I've been lying to myself about how many flats I get and how much of a pain it is... I've DNF'd a few rides but never for something so stupid and trivial, these kinds of flats likely wouldn't have even been noticed with a tubeless setup. Kinda glad it was close to home and I didn't have to get a taxi, I once spent a 100$ on a cab ride when I DNF'd my first 400k.