What kind of idiot puts a $10 chain on a spendy singlespeed?
This idiot, but at least I wear a helmet for those
unexpected moments that mountain biking brings to us all.
So, TJ pops by the Shack on his way to the 'hood trails and
I'm working on my Rollfast cruiser project. Of course I
can't resist a spin, so I gather my junk and hop on the
singlespeed to join him.
We spin over to the trailhead, catching up and BSing a bit
as we cruised over. TJ suggested a route and I agreed, so up
the main jeep track we climbed. On the way up we saw at
least four doofi riding down with no helmets, as well as a
dude walking his bike out with a toasted Mavic crossmax that
he had pulled a spoke out of while JRA.
Part way up, I showed TJ a singletrack diversion for part of
the jeep road. It's really swoopy and twice as fun as the
main route, especially on a singlespeed. The next climb
pitch is something I haven't climbed with a 2:1 ratio before
and it was no different than usual. I waited for TJ at the
top and as he finished pushing his pig bike up, I threw a
verbal barb at him and we had a laugh. Karma can be a [censored],
especially when instant.
I sped up the next short pitch and hammered at the
next sustained
climb. There was a jogger between me and where the route
narrows a bit, so I gunned it a little harder to
safely pass her. Just after passing her, I heard a
loud SNAP and the next nanoseconds seemed like an
eternity. First, my legs started spinning wildly as
if I no longer had a chain on my bike. Because I was
in a slight turn when this happened, I veered
towards the side of the trail while trying to brake
and control the bike. I got my right foot out to try
and help with the stop, but I was goig too fast and
realized I was going over the side. Ditching the
bike underneath me, I took a dive and while in the
air, realized that I was going to land in some rocks
that were pretty big. Head up, I saw one particular
rock rushing towards my mug like I was some kind of
demented smart bomb headed for a Republican Guard
tank. Instinct took over and my chin hit my chest
just as the top of my nugget pile drove right onto
the rock. I felt my spine compress and heard the
audible helmet-break snap then rolled straight over,
ending up flat on my back.
The jogger was horrified, immediately stopping and asking if
I was ok. I was already in the self-check mode and didn't
feel any numbness, so I answered that I was because my head
broke my fall and then asked her if there was a chain in the
trail. She said there was and brought it over to where my
bike had ended up. I thanked her for checking on me and told
her TJ was coming and she could continue her jog, so she
bailed. She had the full on bird's eye view of the whole
thing, I hope she didn't have any nightmares about it.
TJ pulled up, thinking it was staged at first, but after
seeing my shredded helmet knew that I had taken a good
digger. He immediately went into Navy Corpsman mode, which I
appreciated, though I knew I was ok. A second opinion never
hurts. I put the chain back together and he asked if we
should carry on and I told him my legs were still working,
so off we went.
Before we arrived at our ultimate singletrack destination, I
snapped the chain two more times, on the same cursed link.
The las tone happened just before the downhill, so I decided
to do it as a chainless. TJ laughed and off we went.
Singlespeed skills are definitely transferable to a
chainless downhill, where I made it all of the way to the
singletrack without pushing the bike.
I had spare chain links with me and could have properly
fixed the chain, but wanted to see just how far I could get
chainless on the next drop-in. I did a few push-dabs in two
of the flats near the top, but railed the rest it with no
problems at all. Around the corner I had to do a little more
pushing and then pushed up a small climb out of a side
canyon. TJ got a first for himself at the top of that
particular climb, cleaning a really tight turn in-between
two boulders and did it smoothly and in style.
At that point we decided to hit the next pavement, fix my
chain and spin home on the blacktop. On the way back, we saw
a deputy contacting a transient and I said hi to him calling
out his name. The puzzled look and wave told me that he
didn't recognize me, so I called him a freak as we headed up
the street. He passed us by right near the entrance to our
street, pulled in and was waiting for us. He admitted that
he didn't recognize me at first, but as soon as I called him
a freak, immediately knew it was me and laughed. Infamy can
be a good thing.
The moral of the story? Don't use SRAM PC-1 chains on your
singlespeeds. After snapping that chain about six times now
and almost breaking my neck because of it, it's getting round-
filed and replaced by a Wipperman or KMC chain today.
JD