Took a very frustrating ride today.
1. Last night discovered that after a long ride this week I'd developed a flat.
2. This morning, went to get going, iPod battery dead, no tunes.
3. The bike was shifting like shit the whole ride. All I can figure is that I bumped something while changing the tire last night. The bike had been shifting a bit off for a few weeks...
4. Despite the shifting issues I was making good time on my ~17mi loop when I hit a big hill, downshifted, decided to pop up off the saddle for a bit only to have the chain jump the rear cassette and lodge itself between the first cog and the wheel. Thankfully I didn't crash. A few minutes of cursing, bloody fingers and grease everywhere and I was going again. But the shifting was even worse and nearly unbearable. So I decided in a last ditch effort to salvage the final three miles I'd try adjusting the cable tension and see if it helped (based on the advice of friend) and viola, blissful precise shifts returned. I don't know wtf happened but I'm glad the issue is gone (for now).
5. I'm a bit pissed to not get to see what my time/avg. speed would have been given that I had to stop twice and completely dismount and still managed 15.6mph.