Always check your axle bolts

So, there I was, getting my Gnar on yesterday. Just Riding Along, on my Transition Smuggler, in Wompy. I heard a clunk as I descended from mad air coming down prospect hill in a cloud of dust as I GiddyUp’d and put the hamma down🔥🤪. Ok I exaggerate alittle. But my AVS did turn out to be the fastest this year for a 60yo with bruised ribs and shortened T11, nevermind all the other geezer aches and pains. I will however give credit where it’s due, to Jeff G, a BikeBarnRacing.com buddy of mine, who I came across about halfway through. We decided it would be more fun to ride together rather than solo, it always is, and yeah, it’s always inspiring to ride with someone else, especially someone faster and more technically adept. Younger too of course. So anyways, back to the clunk. We had just been talking about rear shocks and my Fox Evol RP3 HIJKLMNOP or whatever it is. I run it on the middle setting mostly, in the ‘hardtail’ setting when the trails are smoother and I wanna go fast. But just to clarify, it was in the middle this time. The reason I don’t use the plush setting is because I inevitably pedal strike everything, which more often than not, I get thrown off. So this was the subject of conversation. That maybe I should seek and install a ‘volume spacer’. So when I came off that tiny lip, and heard the clunk, I thought of that and figured, yeah! That’s what I need, then I can run the shock full bore like it should be. Of course, I heard the wheel go ‘ping’ at the same time, and maybe shoulda suspected something else. But I was having too much fun at maximum warp, and the bike seemed ok. Back in the parking lot, off the bike, something was wiggly. Not the usual dropper wiggliness. And all the sudden it wouldn’t shift or pedal. Grabbed the rear tire, gave it a squeeze and wiggle, sho ‘nuf that was it. The thru axle was loose, hanging by a thread! So I tightened it, mounted the bike in the truck and headed home. When I got home, I figured I’d wipe and lube things down. NOW, the rear is locked up like a fixie. WTH??!! Shit, I broke the wheel, too??!! Visions of having to shop for a new wheel, spending more cash on a stupid mistake, but still drooling over pictures of expensive new wheels an how much faster they’d make me go. So I take the wheel off, put it back on. Still jammed. So I took it off again and removed the Eagle. All looks fine.....cleaned it all up nice .... then I pulled off the XD driver, and all those little clickety bits fell out. Or at least a couple did. Apparently, there was so much play in the hub/frame interface, a couple of them got jammed between the hub and driver. Have it all a cursory wipe, put all back together, voila! That was it. My 3 year old wheelset is still rolling, and I’m happy with it. Stan’s Flow S1, neo hubs. Ironically, I usually take pretty good care of my bikes. This one just slipped by me. And Mark, at BikeBarnRacing.com will take care of that volume spacer next week.