This afternoon I had a chance to do a rare evening ride after work. I've been wanting to see if I could combine a couple of the local rides I've done into a loop that would work for a new local ride since my old one is completely grown over.
I figured I'd leave from home, ride the 4S trails behind the Boys and Girls Club, go up Carmel Valley Road to Black Mountain trailhead, do a loop around Canyon Rim, go back up the road to the trailhead, ride across the meadow to the singletrack by the pond, go over that hill, and then ride back the way I came.
It was a great plan, and I recruited Sean to accompany me. He showed up at my place around 5:30 and we were ready to ride.
I hadn't done any maintenance to the Enduro since Noble, and had forgotten that it had started miss-shifting toward the end of that ride. But since this was a quickie local ride, I figured it would be ok and I would give it a full treatment when I got home. I didn't even bring all of my tools. That was a bad call.
About halfway up Carmel Valley Road, the miss-shifting got really bad, and the chain kept slipping off the front rings. I finally got it to stay on for a few yards, and then it just completely snapped, breaking one of the links.
I had left my Leatherman at home, so I couldn't bend the broken link back into place, and I didn't have a chain tool to remove the broken link and shorten it with the powerlink that was already on there. Sean and I fooled with it for a few minutes, but it was no use.
We were just two and a half miles into my beautifully planned ride, and a call to the sag wagon was in order. Rachel picked me up on the side of the road like a little kid, and we waved to Sean as he rode home.
I was pretty bummed, and don't really know what caused the problem. I think I'll thoroughly clean the chain, remove the broken link, replace it with another powerlink, and see if that solves the problem. If not, I'll have to have it looked at by someone who knows what they're doing...
Here are the aborted stats:
Total Distance: 2.50 miles
Total Time: 27:22
Ascent: 201 feet
Average Speed: 5.5 mph
Top Speed: 34.4 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite
Map:
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