Some rainy days this past week. I just spent an hour trying to get my chain to at least bend again. I ride 8 miles a day on gravel road with a clay binder. Clay, when it dries, is basically unfired pottery. This is what my chain looked like the next morning. It's not easy to see but every gap in the chain was filled with hardened clay.

This happens every time I ride in the rain. I had just cleaned and lubed it 2 days before. The entire chain was seized to where it wouldn't bend enough to get it out through the deraillers. I had to power wash it and hand bend it a bit to get it to bend enough to get it off. I rinsed it in hot water 5 times before the water wasn't instantly black, then soaked it in hot, soapy water for 30 minutes at a time, swapped it out 3 times, then took a toothbrush to it, then rinsed it again in hot running water while flexing each link. Then I soaked it in mineral spirits for 5 minutes and let it dry.

It's not clean, but at least it works.

This is why I go through chains every 1800 miles. I tried expensive chains, they last 1800 miles too. So I now use the cheapest ones Nashbar sells, when they're on sale.