breakage

Well, I suppose the PMBAR training is going well. How do I know? Things are breaking on my bike, and that means I'm riding hard enough to push the equipment so I must be pushing myself. Today's ride started at the Horse Stables, up Clawhammer in record time for me (42 min.) and then off down Buckhorn. I was riding with Patrick (Asheville YetiRider) and Eric (NC_dirtsurfer) and we had a good pace going all the way over the S. Mills bridge. Then, about a 1/2 mile up Squirrel I lost a crank arm. The threaded end cap was gone and it just wouldn't stay on under load. At first I dismounted and tried to run after Patrick and Eric to let them know I had a mechanical, then when I realized I wasn't going to catch them I stopped to fix it. The fix lasted about 100 ft, it broke again... and I had not picked up the end cap where it fell off. In the middle of all this I encounter the one and only Eric Wever who noted my demise in his blog along with Dennis D. I finally got to Patrick and Eric, we returned to my original break and amazingly I found the end cap. Another fix, and then off. I got about 1/2 mile from Horse Cove Gap and it broke again. This time I noted that the threads of the end cap were stripped pretty bad so I figured my best best to start riding towards the car (now some 10 miles away...). I managed to make it all the way back down Squirrel, back up Buckhorn, and down Clawhammer without further issues.