Mechanical issues....
Saturday I met up with Scott from Indy, Jonothan L., Valorie N., Dennis K. and Clay F. for what ended up being a short ride for me. The plan was to do the classic Big Creek loop but mechanical issues held me back. Dennis and Clay hauled ass up 1206 to Yellow Gap and I was pleased to find Jonothan and Valorie content with keeping a slower pace up that three mile fire road climb. They were talking trail politics, tomato and I talked racing, we had a chill fun warm up to the gap. We picked up Scott from Indy (after a tour of his campervan/mobile palace) and hit Laurel at full steam. Dennis, Clay, Jonothan, and I were having a great go at it and eah time we stopped to check up, Valorie and Scott were right there, one twist or turn behind. About the time I decided Clay was having a much better day than me and I let him around ... my chain dropped... and I thought back to a few nights ago at the shop.... when I noticed my chain was loose.... and I proceded to strip out one of the sliding dropout set-screws.... F$@%!.... I put the chain on and watched the train leave the station. I got back on and tried to catch back up and.... ooomph! the chain dropped again. OK, that sucked..... I got back on and tried to spin nice and steady... keep it rollin'..... hit the techy rootyness just before the gap and... it dropped again. I got to the gap feeling defeated and decided it would be best to head back down the hill, get over to Pro Bikes before they closed and have Jason or Alex start drillin'.... so.... that's what I did. After a series of 'oh wells' and 'next times' I retraced the ride back down to the car. I hope everyone had a great ride after I turned around, I was having a blast!
You need to get the different hardware from Walt so you can ditch the weak little tension screws (they're prone to stripping as you found out). I've had zero slippage with them. Good luck...
Luis (Comment this)