The more experienced you get cycling, you will hopefully get the opportunity to go on some longer organized rides. They might be for charity like the Pan Mass Challenge, a local cycling club, or even just a group of friends. And as you do, one of the things you’ll start to hear is comments like, “is there SAG for this ride?” or “We’re doing a double century. my wife will SAG for us”.
Typically “sag” is not something you want. For example when it comes to pants, roofs, and br…uh…bridges.
But in this context, SAG is a good thing. It stands for Support And Gear. It’s that car that drives around full of tools, food, first aid, and even replacement bikes on the more serious rides.

I’ve done lots of rides where the yellow Mavic SAG cars are driving around looking for mechanicals and flats. These guys are life savers. or at least ride-savers.
Supported rides are expensive, and I’ve backed off from doing the organized rides in favor of being out with a handful of friends, and relying on our own ability to resolve any problem that comes up. Flats are nothing. Sidewall tears can be fixed with a ‘boot’. We’ve dealt with broken chains, spokes, blown cassettes, even broken seats repaired with cobbled together, non-critical parts of each others’ bikes.
These are all good things to know how to take care of without support.
What’s the strangest mechanical issue that you’ve had and were able to fix yourself?