Slipped disc
After a hiatus of several months brought on by a sprained ankle and prolonged by sheer inertia, I began commuting to work by bike again back in March. I remember feeling a little distressed when I hopped on my bike and felt as though I were riding through molasses. At the time, I chalked it up to being away from the bike for too long, and within a short time, I seemed to be doing well enough back in the saddle.
Yesterday during my bike repair class, I replaced the cable for my rear derailleur and adjusted all my brake cables. As I spun the back wheel of my bike while it hung in midair from a trusty bike stand, one of my classmates furrowed his brow and frowned. "It's not spinning freely," he said. Sure enough, my back wheel would only rotate a few times before coming to a halt. One Torx wrench plus a few twists and turns later, I had adjusted a brake pad that had been rubbing the rear brake disc for the last few months. The ride home felt like one long cruise downhill.
There are other areas of my life that feel a great deal like that rear wheel these days. A few subtle, virtually invisible refinements will probably set everything right, but they require patience, a steady hand and a specialized toolkit. Getting everything together is going to be a bit of a hassle, but I'm already all over it, because the alternative is just a big drag.
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