Lost and Broken in the Wilderness

Mountain bike freedom

Well .... not quite that bad but a 10 mile walk (16 kilometers) back to my car isn't what I call enjoyable when you are pulling a mountain bike behind you.

I lost a pulley wheel on my rear derailleur and was excited when I only had to walk back a few steps and found all the parts.

But the excitement quickly subsided when I realized I didn't have my back-pack with my tools.

You are probably saying, "what sort of idiot goes for a long ride without at least some resources in case of problems"; and I would have to agree.

But can I give you an excuse ?

My fellow riders and myself did a last minute "change of mind" and we ended up on this track instead of going to our regular riding area.

The regular course, although quite long and challenging, is in a confined mountain top area where at any point we are only about a mile or two from our Ute. (About three and a bit kilometers).

We just don't bother about "fix kits" or the like at this track as we would just easily walk back to our vehicle.

So we were unprepared. None of my buddies, (there were 4 of us), had bothered to even bring a multi function bicycle tool or the like.

The fairy tale ending was that another more prepared group came along about 10 minutes after I started walking and I was able to do a repair and finish my mountain bike experience.

And an experience it was. I SHOULD HAVE had the basics with me, no excuses; but I didn't. Now a little saddle bag lives behind my seat that DOESN'T come off. The few essentials it holds are a pair of tire levers and a puncture repair kit and a little "multi-function bicycle tool".

I still take a bit more "stuff" on our remote rides, for example a spare tire, but my little seat saddle bag goodies will be the absolute basic kit I take each and every time