=click=

I didn't get back on the bike until yesterday. My shin was all kinds of ouch, feeling like a sunburn being rubbed by sandpaper every time I took a step, so pedaling was probably going to drive me a bit nuts. I listened to the little voice in my head that said to wait--which was helped out by several days of heavy wind--but yesterday was bright and beautiful and I just kinda had to.

It felt good. But I got a few miles into it and noticed a click that occurred with every pedal rotation. My first worry was that I'd done damage to the bike when I went down last week. My second was that if I kept riding, something was going to give and I'd eat asphalt again. So I stopped, and spent some time slowly back pedaling to see if it was the chain or the cogs, or what.

I noted one little blip on one cog, one tooth, but wasn't sure. So I ended the ride at 5 miles, which was fine for the first one after a week.

This morning I put the bike up on the work stand and tried again. I didn't know if I'd be able to figure it out--I'm still way too much of a newby--but I hoped I would at the very least be able to get some video and articulate to the bike shop what the issue was. And I found that same little blip, but I could not replicate the click.

I rotated the pedals forward, backward, fast, slow...no click.

So, I too the bike down, decided to go for a ride to see what was what, and right at 10 minutes, the click started again. It was with every full rotation of the chain, I thought, but when I stopped and tried to back pedal, no click.

Curious.

I decided to take a minute, think, get a drink. And as I held the metal water bottle, turned a little, I heard it. Ice cubes against the metal... click...click...click.

I'm a moron.