3:15 AM post ride-ARC ride

Oh my… like… 30 miles ridden from 8:45pm to now. In spite of getting my bike tuned up prior to the ride… I neglected to replace the chain with one that fits (this is on my beater raleigh record bike) so I managed to get it into this nearly physically impossible state where the back derailer is basically horizontal and the chain is stuck into a gear.
This happened in the San Gabriel Santa Monica [oops] Mountains at about the same elevation as the hollywood sign. I was hobbled and ended up walking the bike for a while… eventually at a paused point (even though I was walking my bike, I wasn’t the last person by a longshot.) my new best friend offered me his socket wrench, necessary to loosen the back tire and slide it forward in the horizontal drop outs enough to loosen the chain…
Anyone I know with a bike is hopefully laughing at the fact that I ride a bike with a chain that is simply too short. My only option is to never use the big front sprocket… which is kind of a bummer on downhills… so… other (actually correct) option new chain…

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  1. Not to be overly critical but the ride was in Griffith Park (Mount Hollywood) whic is actually on the Eastern edge of the Santa Monica Mountains. The only reason I know this is because I wanted to know in detail exactly where I nearly died of exhaustion on that ride. Which was really rewarding in the end but not at the time. I’d probably do it again.

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