De-Railed Derrailleur

track me on the ham radio / GPS / APRS tracker

I got my replacement DV005 cheapie-cam in the mail last night when I got home.  Charged it all night, inserted my 16 gig SD card from the older cam, and took off with video enabled this morning.  It shut itself off prematurely, so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong with it or how to make ti work better for me.  I spared no expense with this thing:  24 bucks including shipping (via banana boat from China, apparently, since it took a month to get here).
About 2 miles into my commute, I hit a small bump crossing a bike-bridge across the diversion channel and suddenly there was a funny grinding noise in the rear, the bike slowed dramatically, and the pedals wouldn't work.  I was part way across the bridge and at first wanted to force the bike to the other side so I'd be more out of the way, but I'm glad I resisted that urge.  When I dismounted to look at it, the derailleur bracket had loosened under the rear spindle nut and just POPPED out and sprung sideways.  It's a wonder it didn't break anything or strip the fiber derailleur gears, which I feared at first.

As you may see from the jittery video, the spindle nut was entirely loose and the derailleur just hanging sideways.  I dug my trusty wrench set out of the rear pannier and re-wound the chain around the gears, held the bracket in place with one hand, adjusted the alignment of the wheel so it cleared both sides of the front  of the rear wheel fork, and re-tightened the offending loose nut.  Extra Carefully.  I was pleasantly surprised that everything worked, with only the one try, and all shifting etc. seemed normal all the rest of the way to work.
Which made me also -again- appreciate the "Pleitscher Double Kickstand" I bought some time ago.  I had to lengthen its legs to adapt to the extra height of the mount on  this recumbent, but when I engage this kickstand, the REAR WHEEL is elevated an inch or two OFF the GROUND, allowing easy access for repair or adjustment or even testing.  With the bike parked, on its own kickstand, the pedals can be cranked and the rear wheel spun, allowing adjustment for brakes, gears, etc, almost as though I had a repair stand right along with me.
Awakening BG:  191                              Post-Ride BG:  46 (!) (Not enough  Breakfast today!)
Morning Stats from the GPS:                 Total Miles:  7.43
Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed
09.7  Mph                          12.6 mph             24.0 mph
Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time
45:59 mins                          35:22 mins           10:37 mins

Evening Ride Back to Da Carrito:  A fair head-wind but that's getting to be de riguer so no biggie.
During my noon walk as I approached the intersection at San Mateo and Alameda, a motorcycle went through the intersection eastbound on Alameda with a HUGE rack of elk or some kind of antlers mounted on the back rack, standing vertical behind the driver.  What a sight.  I got video of him but it was too far away:  The ridiculous looking rack doesn't show up in the video.
Beginning BG:  106                              Post-Ride BG:  71
Evening Stats from the GPS:                 Total Miles:  7.45
Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed
10.2  Mph                          11.1 mph             22.6  mph
Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time
44:02 mins                        40:14 mins            03:49 mins