Quote Originally Posted by emily_in_nc View Post
Ugh, ny, sounds like you've had some challenging times! I broke the rear shifter cable on a very long (over 80-mile) ride last year and had to limp back in one gear, so I do feel your pain! It was mostly flat, thank the gods, except at the very end, where there was one long and steep climb that I had to walk.

I hope you feel better in time for your ride Saturday. Colds suck, and though I don't get them often, mine tend to linger and turn into a horrible cough at the end, so I pretty much know I'm going to be "out" for any athletic endeavors for about a month when I get one.
Thanks Emily. Fortunately the thing with bike rides is that if you have a few bad ones, you just keep going out there and riding until they get good again. I worked from home all week so I could rest and by Friday the cold was almost completely gone -- with no bizarre complications or secondary infections like the last two times I was sick, so yay for that. Saturday we rode 49 miles and had a really nice time. My friend and I co-led it for our club. The route was a variation on one that we did in February on a day that was supposed to be spring-like but ended up cloudy and cold. I reversed it for a bit of variety and added a slight detour to pass a historic site in the area. We had a few minor incidents -- made a wrong turn due to a weird mistake from ridewithgps, had an unexpected gravel section that lasted more than a mile, then some confusion due to signs saying the road was closed for road work when it was really open. But the weather was nice, sunny and warm enough for late October, and we enjoyed the scenery along with good conversation.

The new shifter feels loose compared to the old one, but I spoke to the mechanic at the LBS today and he said that's the way SRAM is making them these days. It works well enough, just moves more when I shift than before. While I was there I picked up some new windshell hi-viz windshell gloves along with some knee warmers and compression socks that were on the clearance table. And the gloves were 20% off so all in all it was a good shopping trip.