A Sorta Bad Last Commute

[Crankin]

OK, tomorrow is my last day of teaching forever. So, I decided to commute today, as tomorrow I have a lunch, meetings, etc. On the way in I was overdressed, and was in a cold sweat when I got to work. I was in layers, so I stopped twice to peel a couple of things off, which was annoying. It was the first time I felt totally sweaty all over when getting there in the morning and ended up giving myself a pretty thorough sponge bath in the ladies room. I felt sticky all day. It stayed cloudy all day, but right before i left, I checked the weather and it said it was 64, feels like 61. And, the sun was poking through when I went to change. I had on arm warmers, but decided against the knee warmers and vest. Well, by the time i got outside, it felt really cold and it was windy. I decided I would stop at the first gas station, about 3.5 miles. I was freezing at first, but then I got warmed up, so it was really just my legs that were cool. I decided not to stop at the gas station and gave myself another few miles before I would stop. It was spitting little rain drops, but not enough for the cars to have their wipers on. But still, I was praying it didn't rain, since I had no rain jacket with me. I got to the half way point and stopped to take a really long drink, since my little sips weren't helping the horrible thirst I had. I decided not to take the time to put the knee warmers on. I got through some heavy traffic situations, making a left and then I had to cross a highway with a light. The light was green and cars were going through, but I was still aways off. I really sprinted, but the light turned yellow as i was about half way through. Thankfully, the cars going the other way had to still wait for people turning left on an arrow. After that little fright, I felt OK, but the shifting on my rear cassette has been getting progressively worse. Ever since my husband put a 12-27 on last August, there has been one cog that sort of skips. He has tried everything to fix it; it will be OK for awhile and then it goes back. A couple of weeks ago, my bike fell over in my classroom. The derailleur got bent a little, we fixed that, but then it started shifting by itself! It's been on and off worse for a couple of weeks. It started really going crazy during the last five miles of my commute. A nice moving van stopped to let me make a left across Rt. 2A and I climbed up Pope Rd with no problems, except feeling tired. Feeling glad that i was almost home, I zoomed down Strawberry Hill, approaching the climb on my street. I put it in the granny and the rear was in the middle cog; all of a sudden, I felt like "gee this feels kind of hard", so i went to shift down and it wouldn't move. I looked down, and it was in the hardest cog... how it got there, I don't know. I clipped out half way up the hill and scooted over to a driveway on the other side of the street. I could not move the thing at all . But, I was determined not to walk, so I slugged up the hill, coasted on the down part and climbed back up to my driveway. Knowing I wouldn't make it up the 15% grade in this gear, I accepted defeat and walked up the driveway.
When I got home, the thermometer said 58, so no wonder I was cold. I called my husband and he asked if a cable was snapped, but i don't see anything that is visibly broken. I guess I should be glad this happened on my street!

[mimitabby]

quite the story, Robyn. You never fell! I am surprised that you didn't warm up with all that riding.

[Zen]

That is sheer determination.
I probably would have asked if they had room in the moving van for me and the bike

[Crankin]

Ok, it IS the shifter cable. I just wasn't looking in exactly the right place. This must have been building up over the past few months, almost since I got my bike. It's just barely a year old and my husband thinks that someone might have nicked the cable during installation.
As for being cold, yes, I did warm up quite a bit, that's why I decided not put the other stuff on. But when i got home, my legs were a little red from cold because I had not followed my own rule of "cover the knees below 65." I took a hot shower and changed, but I still feel sort of chilled.

[SheFly]

Congrats on the last commute! Not sure WHAT is up with this weather here in New England, but I went out with the team tonight, and was dressed like it was fall - knee warmers, underlayer, heavy top, vest, wool socks. Hard to believe that it is JUNE...

Good luck tomorrow; I'm sure that it will be a tough day emotionally, knowing you are done FOREVER! Just think of how much time you'll have to devote to riding now though

Happy retirement, Robyn! Here's to warm weather, flawless shifting, and rubber on the road.

SheFly

[Veronica]

I'm sorry your weather is crummy. But I'm also kind of glad. My sister has one more week of chemo and radiation therapy. Yay!!!! The cooler weather is helping her stay sane.

The one hot weekend you had was hell for her. Low 70s and sunny with low humidity would be nice.

V.

[emily_in_nc]

Congrats on the last commute! Not sure WHAT is up with this weather here in New England, but I went out with the team tonight, and was dressed like it was fall - knee warmers, underlayer, heavy top, vest, wool socks. Hard to believe that it is JUNE...

It's even cool here in NC! We were only in the 60s yesterday with clouds and sprinkles, and around 70 today with the same. Normal high is mid-80s this time of year and due to be 94-95 from Sunday through the rest of next week! Given that, I'm sure New England will be warming up very soon too!

Emily