I have not been posting a lot lately, but as some of you might know, I am taking part in Mountain Bike Racing here in South Africa. I am competing in the Grand Master age category, which is for people of 60 years and older.
The Ford Trailseeker series is a series of 6 races, taking place at different locations in South Africa, over the year.
In my previous race, I came 11th in my age group and for this race, I was planning to be in the top 10. This however did not happen, as I had some mechanical issues with my bike.
I was traversing some very rough terrain when my chain came off and went between the front gears and frame, it actually wound around the crank axle, and in the process bent the rear derailleur. I took some time to fix this, as I suffered to get the chain out between the frame and gears.
After a while, I got going again, but as I went to a low gear, the derailleur caught the rear wheel's spokes and broke the derailleur hanger. Now I had no gears at the back and the chain was loose.
This was around half way in the 40km race, and I started pushing the bike to get back to the finish. It was then that one of the other competitors gave me the idea to convert my bike to a single speed bike, this is something I did not think off. Luckily my multi tool has a chain breaker on it, which I could use to shorten the chain, in order to make the bike a single speed. As luck would have it, I decided to buy a pack of master links for my chain, the Friday before the race, thus I could join the chain at the correct length again.
While doing the repairs, I took my sunglasses of to see better, and unfortunately left them in the veldt. Luckily it was not dusty as it rained the night before.
At least I managed to finish the race, between the backmarkers and also in between the kiddies, which had a shorter race. It actually was quite enjoyable to ride with the small kids, and it is nice to see what they achieve, with some off them being very small.
As you can see my speed was slow, but at least I made it to the end. Now I must fix my trustworthy Marin, which has served me well for the last two years, I have ordered the parts, and I should have it by the end of this week.
I hope you enjoyed the post and that you have a wonderful day.
