Romy on Instagram: "TCR10 day 17: Good news first ☺️ I’ve made it out of the Montenegrin Mountains and I’ve entered Kosovo! I left around 630 this morning, feeling quite optimistic ☺️ Had two more climbs to conquer. But yesterday I calculated that I’ve already climbed some 28000m since leaving Roubaix, so I figured that I would be able to conquer these two last climbs as well 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻 And I did 🥳 And now I’m in Kosovo! Now the bad news 😓: I’m having issues shifting. I ride a Rohloff gear hub, combined with sti shifters and a Rohbox. The Rohbox is a very simple gearbox that uses two cables to shift on the gear hub. It’s super simple technology, and if it works it works. But if it doesn’t… well… 😓 The Rohbox is kinda depending on the cables to run smoothly. And currently one of the cables is a bit stuck, either due to wear of due to it being dirty. Some 100 vertical meters before the end of the last climb I found I couldn’t shift down any more. 🤷‍♀️ I had the issue once before, before last summer’s ride in the US. I ended up replacing the cables and that fixed the issue. Since then I rode some 8000k without issues 🤷‍♀️ I pushed through to the top and then started the 30k descend, diverting into Peja, a reasonably sized town with a bike shop 😇 Problem with the Rohloff and the Rohbox is that they are quite exotic outside western Europe. We ended up WD40ing the cable and it became a bit smoother. And loosening the tension on the cable brought back shifting capability. But unfortunately it doesn’t feel the way it should feel 😓 It could hold up or it could quit on me in 1k 🤷‍♀️ No way to tell. I’m going to give it a try tomorrow. If it really fails I now at least have spare cables 🥳 Will stop by the DIY shop first thing tomorrow morning to buy the right tools to perform emergency surgery if necessary. I need just a right sized torx bit and a cable cutter. Shop opens at 8 meaning I can sleep in 🥳 Really hope this isn’t the end of my trip 😓 I am looking forward to so much more. But if this is the end I’m happy it’s my bike that broke, and not my mind or my body. I feel I get a lot of attention and support as the red lantern. Hope I’m not letting anyone down 😓"

25 likes, 4 comments - r0my_b87 on August 7, 2024: "TCR10 day 17: Good news first ☺️ I’ve made it out of the Montenegrin Mountains and I’ve entered Kosovo! I left around 630 this morning, feeling quite optimistic ☺️ Had two more climbs to conquer. But yesterday I calculated that I’ve already climbed some 28000m since leaving Roubaix, so I figured that I would be able to conquer these two last climbs as well 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻 And I did 🥳 And now I’m in Kosovo! Now the bad news 😓: I’m having issues shifting. I ride a Rohloff gear hub, combined with sti shifters and a Rohbox. The Rohbox is a very simple gearbox that uses two cables to shift on the gear hub. It’s super simple technology, and if it works it works. But if it doesn’t… well… 😓 The Rohbox is kinda depending on the cables to run smoothly. And currently one of the cables is a bit stuck, either due to wear of due to it being dirty. Some 100 vertical meters before the end of the last climb I found I couldn’t shift down any more. 🤷‍♀️ I had the issue once before, before last summer’s ride in the US. I ended up replacing the cables and that fixed the issue. Since then I rode some 8000k without issues 🤷‍♀️ I pushed through to the top and then started the 30k descend, diverting into Peja, a reasonably sized town with a bike shop 😇 Problem with the Rohloff and the Rohbox is that they are quite exotic outside western Europe. We ended up WD40ing the cable and it became a bit smoother. And loosening the tension on the cable brought back shifting capability. But unfortunately it doesn’t feel the way it should feel 😓 It could hold up or it could quit on me in 1k 🤷‍♀️ No way to tell. I’m going to give it a try tomorrow. If it really fails I now at least have spare cables 🥳 Will stop by the DIY shop first thing tomorrow morning to buy the right tools to perform emergency surgery if necessary. I need just a right sized torx bit and a cable cutter. Shop opens at 8 meaning I can sleep in 🥳 Really hope this isn’t the end of my trip 😓 I am looking forward to so much more. But if this is the end I’m happy it’s my bike that broke, and not my mind or my body. I feel I get a lot of attention and support as the red lantern. Hope I’m not letting anyone down 😓".