You'll never get it back together

This past weekend turned out to be yet another adventure in our new city. We had hoped to explore the great outdoors but it was raining (STILL!). Friday, after we rode our bikes in a major monsoon, Scott's rear derailleur stopped working. Since our bikes are our lifeline right now, Scott spent half the day on Saturday trying to fix it. Sunday, we went to 3 different bike shops in the area to ask them if they had ever seen a Shimano derailleur mechanism lock up and stop working. Each bike shop person said something different. The consistent message from everyone was that Scott was crazy for trying to take it apart and fix it on his own. One of the guys said "I know only one person who would do that, and it's the guy who designed it". Another guy said, "Oh, if you take it apart, you'll NEVER get it back together".

This is what I love about Scott: he was completely un-phased by all the comments that he could never figure it out on his own. Part of his motivation for fixing it on his own is that it would cost a minimum of $300 to replace the ONE derailleur mechanism. Two days later, Scott fixed it. He stared at it and thought about it for hours. Maybe it's his 2 degrees in mechanical engineering that enabled him to do it, but we also thinks it's in his genes. Last night Scott suggested that his recent grandfather, a wily farmer from Indiana, would have figured it out and fixed it to0.

The other bike-related happenings this weekend involved shopping (the hobby for many Sydneysiders). I had been looking for some leg coverings for some time. They are pretty expensive and most of them are made for men so even the small ones are gaping around my super skinny ankles. What we have found is that extra-small biking items are quite a good deal here because not many extra-small people bike! In the end, I bought some extra-small leg coverings and shoe coverings at nearly 80% off! Now I'm ready for the monsoon. When will it stop raining!??