I took the Gitane Tour de France out for the first time in 6 weeks this afternoon for a nice fall ride - no wind, leaves are changing. Perfect day for a ride.

About 15 miles/24 km in I was rolling up to a stop sign. There was an approaching car but I figured I could make it across. There were two cars stopped on the other side of the intersection at their stop sign. I stood up to accelerate and the cranks locked up. In my mind - "what the ....".

I had to maneuver a quick u-turn to avoid the intersection and getting taken out by the oncoming car. The u-turn started fine and then suddenly I found myself on the ground. "What the ....." I unclipped from the pedals and stood up to check the bike. Wait a minute - the rear wheel was lying separate from the rest of the bike. Now it was time for "what the ##&@*@*##@^$*#!".

I picked up the wheel and bike and walked to the shoulder to put it back together. The only thing I can think of is the quick release skewer wasn't tight enough and the wheel slipped down in the dropout. There were a few paint chips on the freewheel from the dropout, but everything else looked ok - the bike shifted fine on the way home, the wheel was still true. It could have been more disastrous - guess I'll be checking quick releases a little more often.