June 7, 2022
For Want of a Nail
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
Despite the chain of events predicted in this variation of an old proverb, I am not in danger of losing a kingdom, but without a derailleur hanger the bike was lost and without Vivien George this rider has been somewhat lost these last few days in Paris. Waiting and waiting. Waiting to see if the part came in; waiting to decide how long to wait before changing my airline and hotel reservations for Slovenia - a trip scheduled to commence on Wednesday, June 8.
The broken derailleur hanger was discovered last Tuesday, a week ago today. As detailed in an earlier post, we contacted the Moots distributor for France - they had the part and would ship it to my local bike shop. Now all I had to do was wait. I decided to not be a pushy American, to let the French system work, and I spent the two delightful days showing Team Anderson a bit of Paris.
I stopped by the bike store on Friday afternoon to see how things were going and learned that the part had not yet arrived and no more shipments were expected that day! The head guy, Max, was very sympathetic and promised to replace the hangar as soon as the part came it - a process that shouldn't take too long. I left reassured that all would work out and prepared for a weekend in Noyers with my friends Carla and Alex.
Severe weather alerts for Burgundy and Paris caused us to cancel the trip to Noyers and I suddenly I had loads of time to really consider the implications if the part did not arrive on Saturday. It was then I faced the fact that that Vivien George would likely not be ready to fly on Wednesday. I went over my planned route and bookings to see how I could minimize the effects of the delay. There was one booking I definitely did not want to cancel - dinner at Hisa Franko on Friday, June 17, rated #21 on Pellegrino's list of top restaurants in the world.
The news on Saturday was not good - the hangar had still not arrived and the bike shop was closed Sunday and Monday. If the part arrived Tuesday, there was still a chance they could complete the work in time for me to pack up Vivien George for my Wednesday departure. The guys in the shop were all sympathetic to my plight, but there was nothing they could do without the hanger. I considered getting an Uber and go the distributor, which I discovered was located just outside Paris, closer than CDG airport as Carla said. But they were closed and due to the Whit Monday holiday would not be open until Tuesday. And besides, they had shipped their only derailleur hangar in stock to my bike shop.
I went back to my apartment and rebooked my flight to Slovenia, delaying my departure until this Saturday, July 11. I had an Air France voucher from cancelling my Spain trip last March and it covered the increased airfare. I shortened my route to minimize changes in hotel bookings, and rebooked where needed, avoiding all cancellation fees. Taking these steps relieved a some, but not all, of my anxiety and I've not slept well the past two nights.
I headed over to the L'Hirondelle bike shop around eleven this morning. Max was on the phone, but he had a big smile as he picked up an express mail envelope and waved it at me. The part was in!! (It apparently had arrived at the Chronopost office on Thursday, but for some reason was not delivered until this morning). I told Max I didn't need the bike until Thursday, easing a bit of the pressure on them to get the job done and make sure all was okay. Hopefully by then we'll all be good to go!
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