Thread: Carry back up! or what you wish you had put in your pack.

Today on a morning ride, we came across a guy who was changing a flat, as I always do and most riders do (for the most part). I asked "Do you have everything?" The guy asked for a pump, as he was having trouble with his CO2 cartriage, not sure what, I don't carry one, just a pump. So we gave him a pump and he attempted to pump up the tire to no avail. Turns out he had tightened the thread nut on the stem too tight and tore the tube, after he had already patched the tire, but no back up. He was looking at over 3 miles of sweet downhill walking. I had 2 tubes in my bag and gladly forked one over. (as my sweet tubeless setup is flawless as of late/anti-jinx) He thanked us and we were on our way. But it triggered memories of other strandings on the trail of recent year and things that I or my friends carry now, due to never wanting that to happend again.

Of recent memeory:

Loosing a rim brake pad and having to poach a rear pad to have front brake only riding in winter park for 8 miles back to the car. While still having a rim brake bike, i carried extra brake pads, spaces and bolt.

At hermosa creek, we got 5 miles in when a rear linkage on a friends Blur broke, he now carries a spare, since he missed out on 15 miles of fun riding.

An unusual crash up at the top of Bergen peak led to a broken skewer and having to walk all the way down Bergen, now he carries a back up skewer.

I had a bad seal on a rear shock, which kept loosing air, I would pump it up before the ride, but didn't take it with me. Well that led to a walk out of 2 miles once after it lost too much air and was bottoming out. I carry a shock pump now.

so throw your stranded stories here and unusual things you carry in your bag in odd cases.

I once cracked a handlebar 10 miles into a 20 mile ride. Thank god for duct tape.

Good thread Crink!

extra SRAM chain link emergency bolt - saved my ass yesterday - i tried to jump over some small rocks, my left cleat came out, and when I landed the chain had lost it's Powerlink - 1,2,3 i put on the one I carry and off I went



extra rear derailleur hanger also

extra SRAM powerlink
extra UST valve stem
derailleur hanger
spare bulb for my light if night riding (did a 4-mile night jog at buffalo creek once)
extra lighter!

note - check the bolt size on your hangers, mine is a 2.5mm and alot of multi tool allen kits don't have that size included

Extra air. Gave my last cartridge to a friend at trail head once then blew a tire at the turnaround of a 14 mile out and back. Other than that a chain link. Most of the rides around home are a combo of short trails. If anything happens I can usually get help.

i carry way too much shit. but then again often if i break down, i am in another country (france) so being stranded is not quite the same.

things i carry -

alien wrench
extra tube
tube repair kit
tire pump
shock pump
powerlinks
2 sets brake pads
small roll duct tape
a few zip ties
rain jacket
passport
50 CHFs

i did get stranded once but not for breakage. it was early season and they only open a few lifts at first then progressively open the rest of the lifts later. i was all stoked and gung ho that i didnt notice the lift back up from the france side wasn't running (the trail even passes under the lift twice during the descent). i pulled into the lift station area at the base which was eerily empty. fu-uck. my options were a 100 CHF cab ride back around the mountain (assuming they could also bring my bike which is doubtful) or a 2.5 hour push back up the way i came.

it was the longest 2.5 hours of my life. to add insult to insult, i left with my camelbak empty, assuming i could fill it as the base lift station. no food either and about 3/4ths the way up i started bonking hard. i prolly lost 2kg on that push. but at least i can claim first descent!

My worst breakage PITA...
Peru, 2002.
We hiked over Hondo Pass in the Cordillera Blanca, while the mules took the bikes. The grade up was 20-25%, unrideable. After waiting twenty minutes or more at 15,500 feet, wearing only cycling spandex in the hail and snow, the burros finally arrive with the bikes...everyone is stoked for this epic, 8000 ft, gnarly, boulder filled, Inca Trail DH.Except me.
The Burro guide had tightend the ropes over my hydraulic line, severing one cable, and making the other leak a bit.
MISERY.
I did the DH as best I could, and in the 'town' (three burros, one tienda, a church, and a coca leaf store) of chacas, somehow managed a repair the brakes by going to a health clinic and begging for a syringe and some surgical tubing. I bummed some dot 3 from an old dude who had some machinery, and off I went for the rest of the trip.
I WILL go back and slay that DH again....I WILL.

Originally Posted by rideit

My worst breakage PITA...
Peru, 2002.
We hiked over Hondo Pass in the Cordillera Blanca, while the mules took the bikes. The grade up was 20-25%, unrideable. After waiting twenty minutes or more at 15,500 feet, wearing only cycling spandex in the hail and snow, the burros finally arrive with the bikes...everyone is stoked for this epic, 8000 ft, gnarly, boulder filled, Inca Trail DH.Except me.
The Burro guide had tightend the ropes over my hydraulic line, severing one cable, and making the other leak a bit.
MISERY.
I did the DH as best I could, and in the 'town' (three burros, one tienda, a church, and a coca leaf store) of chacas, somehow managed a repair the brakes by going to a health clinic and begging for a syringe and some surgical tubing. I bummed some dot 3 from an old dude who had some machinery, and off I went for the rest of the trip.
I WILL go back and slay that DH again....I WILL.

Too bad about the hydraulic line, but it makes for a cool story.

I'm the queen of flat tires. For a while I wasn't carrying much of a repair kit which meant that I had to bum cartridges off other people. Bad form on my part. Now I carry a full tire repair kit, but I'm really tired of getting flats. These aren't pinch flats. I just seem star crossed with flats. I'm seriously considering tubeless rims. Has anyone had bad luck with tubeless?

A galvanized nail and tipties.



Just kidding.... except I really did run that setup for a long time, and am rather proud of it So ghetto!

I've been lucky, Nothing major other than 2 flats in 5 years for XC.

In my pockets I have:

Tool thingy
2 small C02's
1 Tire lever.
1 Tube.

Edit I take that back.... Last year in a pre ride for a race, I lost it on a off camber downhill section slid in to a tree folding my front wheel in half, shoved my brake rotor in to my spokes and cracked my Handel bars(didn't know it at the time). I beat the front wheel strightish on , pulled the rotor of out of the spokes, took my brake off and rode 12 miles with only a rear brake.

Worst Snafu was on the Trail 19 at Bromont, lost a rear pad with out knowing it. Then hit the brakes again, braking the post.... That was a long ride down...

Originally Posted by homerjay

... and alot of multi tool allen kits don't have that size included

and alot don't have avid rotor bolt torx drivers

I now always carry and extra derailleur hanger. Took a bad crash years back about half way through a 25mi ride and broke the hanger. Didn't have a spare with me. Ended up taking a bunch of chainlinks out and finishing the ride singlespeed. It wasn't too bad but it took quite a while to get out as I had to walk most of the steep climbs.

I did the same thing ColMan, with my full squish. I still don't carry an extra.

Zip ties are a nice thing to have, which i carry a few of.

here's another: hope your Alien or whatever tool set you carry has a can opener, no, not like a bottle top opener, like a can of tuna...opener.

So when you ride hard without a bashring and you bend the bejesus out of it and its hitting the deraileur or the chain as it comes around when you are in your middle ring.....you can pry it back into shape. This has now come in handy twice, once 9 miles from nowhere and yesterday 3 miles into 25. Works way better than smashing it with a rock.