Two Weeks

It looks like I'll be without my main road bike - the Scott S20 Speedster for two weeks. Actually, I could be riding it now, but then I'd have to remember to bring it in to the shop two weeks from now. And I don't necessarily think I can do that. Besides, this is why I own two road bikes. If one goes down, another takes its place.

Remember my post last week when I mentioned that I needed to adjust my rear derailleur? Well, I did. And I made it worse.

I was having some issues with the second- and third- largest cogs slipping into lower gears and I noticed when riding at high speeds, my chain didn't like to stay on the smallest cog and would shift up off it for no reason.

So I set up my repair stand and did some adjustments to the high- and low-gear limit stops and the adjusting barrel. Then I took it for a ride. My favorite ride over Waggoners and Sterrets Gaps. Which it turns out is pretty tough to do when you can't use the granny (largest) cog and the chain falls of the smallest cog when you're speeding down the hill at 40+ mph.

I made it home, both myself and my bike in one piece (two pieces actually, one for me and one for the bike - we weren't fused together in some kind of 20-speed transformer/cyborg) then I began working on the deraileur again. This time I tried something I never dared try before. I removed the anchor bolt on the rear deraileur cable.

And now my bike is in the shop. Because if I try to fix it now, I'm pretty sure it will never be the same again.