19/05/2024
Nice weather, but it was getting a bit late for anything ambitious, so I thought I would explore a few nearby tracks as yet unknown to me. Although, from experience, I am given to warn folk not to trust Google Maps, this time I thought I would risk it. There's a thing about being 'off the beaten track' - that it's not (literally) 'beaten', and you run the risk of picking up large twigs which can get tangled up in your chain and exposed gearing. It has happened before on rough trails, but this time the twig was too tough to break and instead bent and twisted my rear derailleur hanger into my back wheel. Jammed up solid, so i had to take the rear wheel off, removed the twisted hanger and chain, and put the wheel back so I could at least push the bike. Thankfully, I was only a few hundred metres from quite a busy road, and my kind neighbour came to get me with a car big enough to throw the bike in the back. But it made me realise that I am often in much less accessible places, and at times when there would be nobody around to pick me up, however the chances must be small as I have ridden rougher and more out of the way trails quite a lot in my explorations and this is the first time it has happened. I have to say that it was always in the back of my mind that having your drive train and gearbox open to the elements and positioned so close to the ground always made me a little uncomfortable. I will be working on better emergency plans whilst the shop repairs my bike, bearing in mind that buying a Land Rover or Ford Ranger is out of the question😏