A couple of Wednesdays ago, I was cruising down Redwood Road toward Little Pinehurst with a bunch of VeloRaptors on our weekly ride. The road was dry and fast and my heavy bike was sailing along at about 25 mph, and as usual while descending, I felt no resistance when I turned my pedals. But then, starting up Pinehurst I also felt no resistance. Whoops, I thought – I somehow dropped my chain. Having no choice but to stop, I turned my bike over and saw the reason: there was no chain! I literally did drop it. John, one of my cycling buddies, came up behind me and quipped “I think you lost your chain back up the road.” Assuming my ride was over, I tried to call my wife for a ride home, but there was no cell service. My Lyft app didn’t work either.
I figured I’d have a long walk back to Skyline and Joaquim Miller and cruise home downhill. Just then a guy came riding down Pinehurst toward us. “Need anything,” he asked.
“Well, I lost my chain up the road there.”
“I’ll get it,” he said as he sped away up the hill as effortlessly as I had come down it.
I started the long walk home, but when I got to the old fire station, that same rider came toward me and casually commented “I found your chain . . . and I have a chain tool to fix it.” He showed his ‘quicklink’ tool and went to work. His name was Dave and he was riding from Castro Valley. We chatted about the campaign Bike East Bay was supporting to restore a bike lane that politicians were proposing to remove from the city’s bicycle plan. Within a few minutes he removed a broken link from the chain, put the chain back together, and had it back on my bike! “You know, I feel like I’m part of a bicycling community. I can’t thank you enough,” I said.”Well, yes. Your work with Bike East Bay contributes to that community, too. We each bring different skills to our hobby.”I couldn’t have agreed more, but I forgot to get contact info for Dave, so if you see him, let him know the repair worked and I got home safely. I now have a new chain and a heightened respect for the cycling community we share.
Tom Willging
VeloRaptor Cycling Club
Oakland, CA