I was riding my brakeless track bike to the bar the other night for my friends birthday party. I was heading southbound on Broadway, and as I was coming up to Hollywood the don't walk sign was flashing so I gunned it to try to make the light...

The light changed to yellow when I was maybe 40' from the intersection. I was going pretty fast and getting through that crazy intersection didn't seem possible so I began to slow, and with maybe 10 feet from the intersection I needed to stop FAST. So I initiated a skid, which I normally do quite well. However I had had a couple of drinks already so my skid was rather sloppy, sort of a brute force move.

I heard a POP and then I was just COASTING. My chain had fallen off the drivetrain but was still in one piece. I coasted a quick right turn and then another quick right onto an empty street. I used my gloved hand to slow the front wheel and eventually came to a stop. The chain was just hanging there, and surprisingly did not get in the way when I was coasting. So I put the chain on the rear cog, started to put it on the top of the chainring, spun the cranks and it popped right back on. Everything was fine.

WTF happened?? Has this happened to anyone else? I cannot take the chain off by hand, the chain was not too slack, and axle nuts were nice and tight. I really don't understand what I did.

I got lucky being able to manuever myself out of harms way, and this incident makes me think very seriously about putting on a front brake. Duh.
Sorry for this being so long-winded. I wanted to be clear.
Thoughts?
(yeah I know, getta break. )