Monday, February 14, 2011

Broke My Chain

The weather here has finally broke and so did my chain.  Temps heading into the low 50's and pure sunshine.  I decided to take things slow but thought this would be a good 50 miler day.  11 miles into the ride on a climb, something pops and I'm spinning aimlessly.  I get off my trike, look down, and there it is behind me on the ground.  My chain.  OH SHIT comes the famous call.  I am out in rural NJ and my wife is out and probably doesn't have her phone on.  Fortunately I had a inexpensive small chain tool with me.  Not something I always carry but will from now on.  Too say the least it was quite challenging and took me 1.5 hrs.  I have changed my chains on many occasions, but not in the field.  Much easier on a stand in a controlled environment.  The biggest challenge is threading the chain properly through the chain tubes  I finally manged to get everything together only to find the tubes were crossed.  No big deal as I was able to pedal, just with caution.  I made it home slowly with no other hazards.  Putting the trike on the stand and using the Sram quick links I was able to untwist the tubes and all works fine.  The grease on my hands make take another month to scrub off.
KEEP RIDING!!!

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