Sad, and Happy bicycles

This bike is sad.
My own bike was sad, but is now happy again. Here's the story:

I was out for a much-needed ride when my bike stopped shifting. Completely stopped. I was stuck in the highest gear for my limp home. I discovered my rear shifter cable had broken.
I called the Brentwood Bike Company, my local shop, and owner Bobbi said they'd look at it that day! When Chris (owner-husband-cool dude) got the new cable threaded through the tricky internal sections of my Kestrel RT 700 it still wouldn't shift. It appeared the brake/shifter had broken. That's a major big dollar part. "Oh no" I was thinking.

About ready to spend the money, we discovered that the problem was that the broken cable end had fallen into, and become wedged inside of the lever. Chris polked, prodded then fished and shook until it came out. He recabeled, adjusted a bent derailleur hanger in the process and shazam, all better. Now my bike is a lot more happy than the bike in the photo.

Thanks Chris and your Brentwood Bicycle Company for seeing me right away and figuring out how to fix my problem and not just replace an expensive part!