Improvisation

Kirk wrestling his bike
in the Muck Pit

 The sound of an aluminum Klein frame clattering through a rock garden reverberated across the lake.  It was loud enough to turn the heads of two fishermen in a boat 30 yards offshore.  We were 10 minutes into the ride...

Dangly Limp Derailleur

...luckily the crash was followed by a hearty (albeit nervous) laugh from Kirk, and we took his bicycle wrestling act to a muckpit out by the Bonus Loop.

The fun was just beginning. On the backside of the bonus loop I picked up a stick which twisted the cage into my rear spokes and ripped my rear derailleur clean off.

We got right to work by removing six links from the chain and rigging the bike as a singlespeed in less time than it took Kirk to play U2's "Walk On" and Springsteen's "Long Walk Home" on his iPhone. The result was a very tight chain and I fully expected it to rip apart  after a few crank turns, but to everyone's surprise it held together.

Modification still holding
strong after an hour of riding

It was a bigger gear than I would have preferred, but it was nice to be singlespeeding again (I haven't been on my Rig since we started training for Durango).  In fact after we finished the ride on the east side we took it over to the west side for about 20 more minutes of riding.

In the end today's abbreviated ride left me behind on training for the week, but feeling pretty good about on-trail mechanical improvisation.