August 29, 2011
What's better? ("ferme apres midi" Or "ferme a Lundi")
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It was a perfect morning. I entered the bank, the bank which looked lease likely to be unhelpful shortly after it opened. Pausing inside before consulting with anyone, I thought I'd tried one of the indoor ATMs. I did and it paid out cash. What a relieve. It wasn't such a perfect morning when I went to the bike-shop though. The stenciled opening times, "Lundi 14.00-19.00" displayed on the door, meaning-that, on a Monday, the shop doesn't open till the afternoon. I resigned myself to the idea of yet another day in Rennes. Another too many. I past the morning away on the computer then had a nice lunch, dish of the day, in a vegetarian cafe before cycling back to the bike-shop for two o'clock opening.
Waiting outside the shop was a young family with bikes, mother, father, an eight year old girl and toddler asleep in a trailer. They spoke English and told me they were from Paris and would be cycling from Rennes to St Malo. We waited and waited. It was gone quarter past two and yet no one came to open up. While we waited, turning about on our feet and looking down the street for a sign of the coming door-opener, they mentioned a bike-shop they'd seen opposite Le Gard (the railway station) on the other side of town and Is just about to say goodbye and set off there when, along came the proprietor hastily striding up the street jangling keys in his hand.
The family only wanted a bit for a mirror, the woman said you see I need to keep an eye on the little one behind in the trailer. The proprietor opened up and proceeded to wheel bicycles out and set them up on the pavement, then the mirror bit was easily begot for the woman and finally, he bent down to look at the broken stub of the gear-hanger on my bike. He stood up again and went behind the shop-counter where he fished in a drawer bringing forth a hanger in the palm of his hand. A pressed steel gear-hanger meant for a Gitane. Hem! I certainly would prefer something unbreakable (made of steel) than the soft easily broken (which did break) hanger that was on there but, it was a total mismatch for the Merida rear-dropout. The proprietor knew as much shaking his head saying "ne pas..........." something in which I thought I heard pacific, perhaps I heard, Merida needs a pacific type of gear-hanger. Well it certainly did and this fact would continue to cause much aggravation.
I needed disc-brake pads too but the proprietor didn't have the right kind so with the word "Gard" and sign language sent me to the other bike-shop.
I cycled across town through narrow cobbled stone streets and on nearly every street I just happened to be riding the wrong way down a one way street. I kept meeting cars that got in my way and worse, pedestrians that stepped off the pavement in front of me while looking the wrong way. It was tricky with rear brakes which didn't work. Arriving outside the bike-shop opposite the Gard, I straightaway saw no sign of life within and the opening times displayed on the chained and padlocked door read, "Ferme a Lundi". Bugger! I felt the day was lost as far as getting a repair done.
I cycled back more calmly to the hostel and in the garden set about removing the gear-cable from the gear-changer. I unscrewed a plastic housing thinking behind it I'd see the round barrel-like head, or the cable anchor, and all I'd have to do then is pull it out with pliers but no it wasn't in there. The only other thing that could be unscrewed then in order to open up the lever-body was the big bolt through the middle which the lever pivots on, but Is thinking I'd very much regret doing that as there's usually a tricky coil spring therein which if it's released can be the start of a frustrating time of fiddling like a watchmaker while trying to press the coil spring back in place with it's end in a slot. But what the heck. In a fatalist moment I had it unscrewed and the spring fell out. Still I saw no cable head. The coil spring however went back in it's place with a pinch and I screwed the allen bolt back in closing the lever-body. I still had gear levers which worked but didn't know how Is going to remove the cable.
I spent more than an hour then fiddling with the rear brake. The brake pad on one side was more worn than the pad on the other side and I thought if I swapped them around I'd at lease have some brakes at the back until the bike-shop opens tomorrow, but it didn't work, it looked as if the frame braze-on which the brake-caliper is mounted on, held it off-centre of the disc-rotor and this most likely was the reason for one pad being more worn than the other.
Well tomorrow is another day and a bike-shop will be open. Meantime I'll remain patient.
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