All of this could have been avoided, but I wanted to sleep in this morning. It will end up costing me at least 70 bucks. Here's the story. My friends were getting together for a road ride this morning and in order to beat the heat, they were leaving from the bike shop at 830a. That is not early by any means but it meant that I would have to get up at my normal 6a wake up time. You see, Sunday is the only day of the week that I don't work, hence my only opportunity to catch some extra Z's. I relish my Sunday morning sleep in, I look forward to it. I got my friends text about the start time for the ride as my sister and I were getting ready to head down to Dickson st. for a couple of beers. After a couple of beers, I knew sleeping in Sunday morning was in order.
I woke up this morning to absolutely gorgeous weather at 830a. I knew my friends were going to have a killer ride given the down right nasty heat we have been expierencing lately. I was happy for them but I knew I had made the right descion for me. I got the dog out for a walk, a long one of about an hour. She was happy. Next up for the day was a movie, War Eagle. This movie was shot in NWA and I recognized several locations in the film, it was good. I recomend this film, go see it.
Now comes the ride. I decided to head out to Hobb's for a mountain bike ride. My plan was to put in three 9.5 mile loops at 80-90% race pace. Like I mentioned earlier the weather was brilliant. mid 80's and very low humidity. My first lap was great, lots of bikers out. I thought some guy was going to catch and pass me, but I lost him at the first climb and never saw him again. Pulled the first lap at 51 min. I stopped for about a minute for a gel and then it was off for the second lap. I was feeling great, the cool temps had me feeling extra strong. Then it happened. About a mile to finish the second lap, I felt something get sucked up by my back tire. I heard a slight rub so I stopped pedaling and was slowing to a stop. I guess I didn't come to a stop soon enough as I heard a very distinct snap. I slammed on the brakes, came to a stop, only to find my derailuer helplessly dangling off the hanger. What? The hanger is fine, the derailuer is not. That is not supposed to happen, right? The bolt coming from the d. was snapped, half was still in the hanger, the other half on the d. I thought the hanger was designed to break first, as a hanger is a lot less expensive to replace. Anyway, if I had just gone on the road ride, I would have saved some money. I made it to the road after about a half mile hike, I did the one legged scooter push/coast back to the car for the final mile. I was lucky the incident happened so close to the end of the trail, the silver lining I guess.
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