Know thy bike and carry tools lest thee be found in distress.
:)
What a day. Started off with my cell phone dying, which I needed for two conference calls. New monday mission: have new cell operating with hands free by 11 am. Pedal to work to check in, pedal to the phone store, buy two new phones as this is the only opportunity to upgrade hubby's at the "special low price," pedal back to office. Phones activated, so hubby loses use of current cell.
Fast forward to end of day.
It's gorgeous! 69 degrees F. Take the long route home planned. Moving along at a happy speed, laptop and work clothes loaded on the surly rack, when all the sudden ..... a horrible noise, back wheel locks up, I come to a screeching stop. :eek:
The rack clamps had come loose and dropped the rack behind the back tire. This must have pushed the planet bike fender onto the tire where it got caught and got double-folded and shoved up under the seat-stay bridge. Wires bent everywhere. Dang.
Fortunately, I had my alien multi-tool. I removed the back wheel, the busted up fender, then examined the rack. Rack looked ok but it was missing pieces. Oh where could they be? They're so small and there are so many leaves all over the trail. What to do? Who will I call if I can't get the rack operational?
I phone home to tell the boys I'll be late and to have dad call me when he gets home. (Worst case, he can come fetch my bags with the car and I can ride home.) Of course, they the boys are at the park and no one listens to the messages. I call again later, and no one picks up. (Land-lines at our house are useless). I call the bike shop and let them know I need parts.
I begin to go through the leaves and amazingly find all the pieces. I call the bike shop again and let them know I found the parts, would they tell me how they fit together since I didn't watch the installation carefully. One of the mechanics says he's headed down that trail in about 15 minutes, so if I hold tight, he'll put it back.
While waiting I figure out how it goes and reassemble. Mechanic arrives, tightens the bolts and says they'll give me a new set of fenders. He also has an idea for preventing such an occurrence in the future, so I'll post it here when we get that figured out.
In short:
1. I'm glad I had my tools, grease rag, and my phone.
2. If you're using that Surly nice rack, check the set screw frequently as they can loosen and a heavy load can come loose.
3. No injuries sustained, laptop ok, but if this had happened when I was crossing an intersection.... yikes.
4. If you have a chance to either install your own stuff, or carefully observe someone else do it, take advantage. You never know when that will pay off.
Cheers and happy riding! (my phone has the camera thingy so you can see how the rack fell backwards and the folder folded up)
/sydney
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