Sunday April 18th: My big accomplishment was putting a new rear shifter on my bike. I got it at Walt's in Sunnyvale. The previous one came with the bike, a little over eleven years ago. It just got to the point where I couldn't keep it in gears, it would aways drift higher. My wrist just got tired of holding it in low gears going up hills and so forth. The new one has an integrated brake lever, so now I have a spare silver colored brake lever. I also have a spare front shifter. They wouldn't just sell me just the back one, I had to get a set. The old one had "SACHS"  molded into the plastic many places. My new one is logo free, except for one "8 SPEED" where the shifter cable comes out. The guy behind the counter said it was made by Shimano, whatever that's worth. The bag claimed it was ""WALT'S Classic 8 Speed Shifter and Brake Lever Set." That's close enough to truth in advertising for me! The whole repair job cost me $43.22.

Update May 18th: I'm liking my new shifter a lot. It gives me much more control than the original one did.

  

  

    

It just fascinates me that the Green Party and the EFF are about the same age. There must have been something in the water back in 1990.