Hadn't made it out all week, so decided today would be the day. Had a (mostly) relaxed ride out earlier, following the O/H about now he's got his 125cc motorbike (still ribbing him over how his tax disc calls it a 'Bicycle', and about the fact my bicycle runs on beer and chippy suppers rather than petrol). Felt a little like that cycling thing I saw on the telly last year where the riders chased a pizza delivery moped around a track (not sure what that's about exactly, is it part of their high-calorie diet or something?
).
I say it was mostly relaxed, because I had a near-catastrophic failure of my bike about two miles in when I heard the unmistakable sound of something falling off and bouncing along behind me. At first I thought one of my many lights had decided to jump ship, but life is never that simple. No, it very quickly became apparent that something more significant had detached itself from the bike as I could no longer find the pedal with my left foot. This was because the entire pedal and crank arm were skipping merrily down the road after me. Given I was still travelling at a fair pace (for me, at least), and had only started lightly braking before it all went wrong, it could've ended up much worse, but as it was by some small miracle I managed to keep the bike upright and the road behind was clear enough for me to run back and grab the thing.
Had to walk it home as the tools I carry around with me aren't quite up to the task of refitting a crank arm, but thankfully I wasn't too far from home. In the end, it turns out the nut holding the arm had unscrewed itself, so a quick go with a socket wrench sorted it for the moment, but I think I've found something else to check on at the end of each ride.
Edit: Got out on the bike again this evening with the O/H (he wanted a ride out, I was more than happy to get out again). About a mile in the crank arm falls off again. Starting to think this is a case of something more (and more expensive) than just a loose nut...
