Rack Disaster

This morning on my ride to work, I heard a snap.  Then my bike became real sluggish.  I looked back to see that my rack had broken and was now rubbing against my rear tire.  I stopped, pulled by bike up on the sidewalk, and examined the damage.  Sure enough my rack was broken.  I reached into my panniers pulled out some tape and a couple of pencils to make a brace.  10 minutes later I was on my way home, my improvised rack support held and once home I hung up my bike and hopped in the car.  I’m pretty sure I have a spare rack in the closet but this rack isn’t that old, cost a lot more than the rack it replaced, and darn it I expected it to last forever.