New Bike Damage

So, we did our Easter thing on Saturday.  Had some family over, egg hunt, food, gossip, etc.  Sunday turned out to be the nicer day, weather wise, of the weekend so we decided to hit up some mountain biking at Eastwood.  Carin could try out her new ride and I could try out mine--a 2007 Gary Fisher Caliber 29'er--not totally new, but new to me. Prior owner had maybe 50 miles on it so for all intents and purposes its new.  Well, here's the damage my bike had on it by the end of the day:


Rear Deraileur



Right Crank Arm

 And the worst damage of the day, the saddle:

The sad, or maybe the good thing was, was that I was not even on the bike when it happened.  You know when you transport the bikes on the top or the rear of the vehicle and you think in the back of your mind, "What if the bike came off on the highway?"  Well....it DID!!  Yep, we had three bikes on rear trailer hitch mounted rack--Carin's brand spankin' new Trek 3700 was on first, then Jaces 20" wheel mountain bike, then mine was on the very end.  Since its a full-suspension it didn't fit right so one of the fastener straps was around the rear suspension.  The other one was on the down tube just behind the head tube.  Then as a safety measure, and to keep the front wheel from spinning and the turning, I had a bungee cord thru the wheel and hooked to Jace frame.  All that saved the 29'er from bouncing down the the road at 65 mph 73 mph was the bungee.  I was watching the bikes more than usual as I was a little extra worried about them.  I happened to be looking at it them when it sprung up, then down out of sight.  I was in the left lane on Hwy 14 heading east, just beyond Byron, with a few cars behind us, but spaced pretty far apart.  I checked he mirrors to see it it was sliding around on the road getting kicked around like a soccer ball by other cars, causing accidents, etc, but I saw nothing.  I pulled over to the shoulder probably within a 100 yards of when I saw it spring loose.  I got to the back of the vehicle and found the bike hanging by the front wheel with the bungee in a position that made it obvious it was dragged.  I don't know how the right crank arm took a hit--it doesn't look bad in the photo, but its a serious gouge.  While riding, I notice the rear deraileur would hit the spokes if I shifted to the biggest two rings in the back.  I bent that out and found that it was actually loose too--the bolt that mounts it took a few turns to tighten it up, but that was most likely loose already.  That was about all the damage for the day. Better that the bike got banged up without me being thrown off it, right...
That experience didn't stop us from having a good ride.  Carin and I each went with Jace as one of us stayed back with Sof in the park.  Carin can't believe how much of a difference a real mountain bike makes as her prior off-road experience was on a comfort bike.  Jace has pretty much out grown the 20" mtb and man-handled the trails pretty well going over the biggest log pile out there.  Was it skill or just a kid not knowing any better?  A little of both.  Either way, he was able to do it.  I didn't even feel comfortable doing that one.  At the end of the day no one ended up in the ER and the bike made it home safely.