Mechanical Problems

In the last two weeks my bike has decided not to shift into the big front gear.  I don't know what changed but something did.  I messed with a few screws here and there and wound up with my front derailer cable coming unattached and frayed.  Awesome.  I contacted my local running shop and they were able to help me out the same day.  Dave took his lunch time to drop off my bike and picked it up after work.  I had to have my front derailer cable replaced.  In addition, my front and rear derailer were aligned, my rear brake adjusted, and the front headset tightened.  The bike guy said it was "dangerously lose."  Who knew?!

When Dave brought my bike home he left it leaning against the dining room table.  I moved it downstairs later in the evening.  But for one minute we both took our eyes off Anderson and this is what happened...

Don't look at the ugliness of this bathroom.  It has yet to be renovated.

I should also mentioned that my husband, without the baby in tow, somehow managed to knock over a bunch of bikes, domino-style, while getting my bike into the store.  Seriously, I could have done that myself if I had brought Anderson.

Unfortunately, my shifting is still not great.  It's better but still problematic.  Soft-pedaling doesn't really work, but pulling up with my left pedal seems to get the gear in place.  For now, it's okay.  But, I might take my bike back in a few days to see what else can be done.  Almost all my workouts have big gear work, so I kind of need it to work.

Have you ever tried to fix your bike mechanical problems by yourself?  Did you create more problems that you solved?