Okay, so I had mentioned earlier this week that I would take my new bike for one more ride to finish breaking it in. I head out to Yellow River this evening and take the River Bike Loop. I suppose I am about twenty minutes into the ride when I get off to cross a big log. As I roll forward beyond the log, I hear something fall past my spokes with that light, echoing sound they make when struck. It’s not an organic material, though. I am moving through sand, with only twigs and vines to get caught in my wheels. I immediately stop and look down to find the following:

For those not familiar with bikes and/or v-brakes, there should be a pad mounted just off that black arm beside the wheel. I managed to find everything but the retaining nut right away, then I spent 40 minutes beside the Yellow River trying not catch yellow fever as mosquitoes ate me alive while I searched for the nut.

I eventually gave up on the nut and decided this would be a good exercise in learning front brake control. So I headed back toward the trail entrance, annoyed that this happened on only the third use of the bike. But, hey, I figured it could have been worse, right?

Yeah, it could.

Roughly halfway back to the car, I come to the top of the only ascent of any significance on the entire segment of trail that I had covered. No big deal, just the only thing resembling a technical challenge on this stretch of the way. Once I top the hill and begin pedaling smoothly along, the rear derailleur begins to shift back and forth between two gears on its own. I had seen this before with a derailleur out of adjustment. I figured, “hey it must be getting right to that ideal break-in point; this will work out just right.”

About 60 seconds later, the chain made an abrupt grinding sound and I heard it snap. I was astonished. I had only had a chain break on me once before, but it was nothing like this. The sides of the links were bent outward in arcs. And when I unwound the chain from around the rear axle, I beheld my Shimao Deore XT rear derailleur:

Again, for those not familiar with this stuff, that it not what it should look like. For an analogy, think of that one NFL guy’s leg (I think it was Dan Marino, but I suck at football knowledge - or any mainstream sport, for that matter) when it got snapped in two.

So, now I am clipped in to one pedal, pushing this $900 bike like a damn scooter with the chain in one hand. What would have been a 10-minute ride with a working bike took about 30. (As an aside, the bike did make a fairly effective scooter, though I don’t recommend it.)

When I got home, I realized that the derailleur’s lower assembly is actually hanging by the cable. Nice:

I guess I will get to see just how well the service at Outback Bikes lives up to its billing.

Did I mention this is my primary recreational outlet?