Ka-boom goes the bike

I went out for a ride in Eagan two days ago.  I was on the highline, a very hilly trail, and came across this sign.  We've had a lot of rain, I knew the routes along the cliffs at the Mississippi were closed, but I didn't expect to see a sign in Eagan, let alone on the highline.  But given how hilly it is, it's not all high, there are lows.  And it's named after the powerlines, not its general elevation.


I biked down the hill to take a look.  One of the ponds near Thomas Lake is overflowing.


I almost thought I'd dare the water to see how deep it got, after all it's not rushing water, and then I heard several people talk from the other side of the water.  They seemed a long, long way away.  And the trail still goes down a bit from here, so I suspect it gets pretty deep.


Back up the hill and around Eagan.  I was almost home, on the last little super-steep hill, when I had to turn down the hill because the two kids ahead of me stopped in the middle of the trail (and hill).  I gave the pedals one turn, clicked the gear which didn't even make a noise, and suddenly the chain is off and wrapping itself so tightly around something that I had a hard time dismounting on the hill.  I worked on it for a while, but then had to call my wife to come get me while I hauled the bike, front wheel only on the ground, to a known place to meet.  Here it is...hard to tell anything is wrong, but if it were a horse, it wouldn't be running any races.


Here's a close up - you can see where the chain slid inside the gears.  It's not coming out without dismantling the rings.  I thought about doing it myself, but there were some scrapes across the spokes, deeper than just a scratch, and I was worried about what it had done to the chain.  And the shifting, on inspection, was done for, and I'm not keen on fixing that.  So into the shop it went.  I get it back next week.  Probably just in time to take my car in for a repair (minor - I think a piece of metal is loose under it somewhere).


Here's my attempt to extricate the chain.


And the other hand.  Probably means it was overdue for a cleaning.