My Most Unlucky Day On A Bike!

I've been slacking lately, and with a serious lack of miles in the legs and some big events coming up, I decided that today was the day for me to right my wrongs and get back on track. The weather looked good, no rain and only 7 mph winds. I had no excuse not to head out on a ride and to tell the truth the idea was quite appealing. I've missed cycling, and the only reason I haven't been out more is because the weather has just been too miserable for it to be enjoyable. I got my pump, spare tubes and other things together, inflated up my tyres and headed out.

I was spinning along quite merrily, looking forward to getting out of the city and to the nice country lanes where the more enjoyable cycling could begin. As I approached a small hill I got out of the saddle to put a bit of extra power down. After a couple of pedal strokes I heard a loud CRUUNCH and the crank arms could no longer turn. I immediately realised something was seriously wrong, so I unclipped and pulled onto the pavement so I could take a look. I glanced down and realised that my front derailleur had slipped down from the point where it attaches to the frame, then fallen down and become mangled by the chain.

It was badly bent and I quickly realised there was no way I was going to fix it and continue my ride. I was a couple of miles from home and didn't particularly fancy a walk back pushing my bike in the cold wearing all my cycling gear. Fortunately I was able to get someone to pick me up and take me home (thanks Dad!).

I was still determined to ride that day, and besides I needed to. I have really felt quite a lot less fit over the last couple of weeks. I decided that I would just go on my indoor trainer and do a race on Zwift. I set it all up just in time to start the race, put on some Pendulum for added motivation and things got cracking. After a couple of laps the pack of riders in my category had thinned out, eventually to the point where it was just me and another rider. I planned to attack on the last climb, and had an aero boost power up that I know would help me a lot during the descent and in the race for the finish line.

As soon as we hit the climb I upped my power to the maximum I knew I could sustain. The other rider stayed with me at first, but started to drop off. It looked like I was going to win and there were just 2 miles left in the race. Then all of a sudden all other riders disappeared. I was disconnected... damn internet! An hour of racing wasted just because my internet went down. I kept riding hard until the finish line just incase I reconnected and the other riders reappeared but no such luck. I crossed the line on my own, I was hoping that maybe at least my ride would be uploaded and I could see the race results online. No such luck. I clicked the save and exit button but the the spinning loading wheel kept spinning forever, before eventually the software crashed. All in all, a very unlucky day!