You're nearing the end of your ride, 3 miles from home you start up a steep climb and all of sudden.... POP.... you're pedaling and not going anywhere. This happened to me on today's ride, a drizzly 35 degree affair. In my case the chain on my fixed gear broke at the universal link. I walked up the steep part of the hill, and thought about whether I should try and walk the last 3 miles to my house in my bike shoes or call someone for a ride. I thought about rolling back down the hill to Frenchtown, where I could probably borrow a chain tool from Cycle Corner, but my guess was that the shop was closed, being that it's the middle of January.
Then I remembered an article that said you could make temporary fixes that would get you home. A broken chain could be wired together and while you can't make a complete pedal stroke, you can "ratchet pedal" to get yourself rolling, which is still a lot faster than walking or waiting for a ride. OK, all I needed was a piece of wire or a heavy paper clip, right? Never mind that in a rural area of Frenchtown the side of the road is not exactly littered with paperclips or metal wire. It was then I noticed the house on the corner that had about 50 little flags around the perimeter of the property. The flags are used to train a dog to an electric fence and each flag is held by a nice piece of strong metal wire. I snatched up a flag, folded it appropriately and tied the 2 open ends of the chain together. Note, because I ride a flip-flop hub that was possible, I switched from the fixed gear to the freewheel sprocket (You can't ratched pedal a fixed gear).
Armed with my "repaired" chain, I was able to pedal a half stroke back and forth. Probably looked ridiculous, but this did get me the last 3 miles back to my garage.
Do you have a quick improvised fix? Email your stories to me and I will incorporate into my next post!
