Duck Holes Ride

This afternoon I went on what was supposed to be two laps of Duck Holes and Centre Tracks loop, but a couple of hundred metres in I picked up a huge stick in the rear derailleur.

I managed to skid to a dusty halt before it ripped the rear end off, but the hanger was obviously bent. I duly extracted the stick and whipped out the multi-tool to straighten the hanger. A quick whip up and down the gears while the bike was still on its back. Yep. All good.

Or so I thought. The RD had developed a mind of its own, shifting several times every pedal stroke whenever I put some force into it on the climbs. Urrrgh, mustn't have straightened it right. Had another couple of stops and goes - unsuccessfully - then, thinking it must have cracked, changed the derailleur hanger.

Better, but not great. Can't get granny gear at the rear, so now I need to use granny ring and then i find I still need to take it easy up the steep bits lest it start making like a demented auto gear box again. Looking down from directly above, it looks like the XT rear derailleur itself is actually bent.

Sigh.

I pass the entrance to Terry Hills track and momentarily contemplate that second lap, but with the lost time, the fading light, and the dodgy shifting I decide to head home and see if I can rescue the derailleur from an early trip to the bike parts grave.

In the garage, after a few failed attempts I finally work out how to get enough leverage in the right place. With a judicious tweak on a long-handled shifting spanner I get it to move the 3 or 4 degrees needed to get the cage pivot square and parallel to the hanger bolt again.

Put the old hanger back, bolt it all back up, fit the cable, fit the lights, take it for a quick spin and try a few out-of-saddle efforts just to be sure. Ah, that's better. Even the end point screws and cable tension adjusters are back in their original positions.

Bring on tomorrow's ride.