Originally posted by Irulan
I've been on several rides where deraillers have broken off, and yep, you single speed it the rest of the way.

I carry a spare hanger for those kind of issues. My solution is to ride with guys with tool kits. ;-)

seriously, Zinn and the art of MTB maintenance has a whole chapter on trail fixes.
Do you really carry an extra hanger? Wow! Were you a boy scout? (Always be prepared!! )

When $hit happens, you have to improvise. Have you ever heard of fixing a flat with dead leaves? My friend was out on a trail and got 2 flats. He had one tube and no patch kit. He put the tube in the back tire. Then he took a bunch of dead leaves and stuffed them in his front tire until it was full enough to ride on. That was pretty resourceful and he didn't have to walk out or ruin a rim!

And back to Pink Kona's original question, it sounds to me like single speeding WAS a good MacGyver fix.