Properly Adjusted Limit Screws

I knew the limit screws on my rear derailer were out of adjustment, but it didn't really matter.

So I'm out on training ride, coming down a hill, toward a stop light. Speed, about 20, down shifting getting ready to stop. Forgetting the limit screws, I shifted too my lowest gear, throwing the chain into the spokes which sent me sliding down a hill uncontrollably. Luckily, I didn't go down. But my tire did.

About the time I get out of the road, Andrea and some friends came rolling up. They asked if I had a flat and why I wasn't fixing it. I stuck my finger through the tire, they said "oh." I waited about an hour for Andrea to pick me up, remembering that spare tire I used to carry with me. Eventually, I got home, changed the tire, it's all good.

Wrong!

About a month later, I'm on a multi-day tour up through Michigan (DALMAC). I'm riding along, about thirty miles from nowhere, when I here a loud ping. I pulled over to find a broken spoke. No problem, I think, a SAG wagon will be along shortly. They'll take me to one of the repair trucks and I'll be back on the road. When the SAG picked me up, we hit the first repair truck we could find. They didn't have straight pull spokes for Campy Neutron wheels. OK, the other truck's from a Campy shop, they'll have something. Wrong, again. Luckily, Andrea's mom came up to meet us a day early so I had someone to drive me around. We ended up visiting every shop along the route. No spokes. My tour ended early.

Lessons Learned: Keep the limit screws adjusted and always carry spare spokes.