We started in the rain today and rode a few miles out of our way to reach a bike shop which said they could work on our bike right away. It turned out to be the most complete Pro Shop I have ever seen. Caters mostly to racers. We got good news and bad news. They were able to overhaul our front derailleur and enabled us to shift between the chain rings. But they said the problem with brakes was that the rims on both Wheels are pretty much worn out and there wasn't anything they could do about the brake problems. That was discouraging news and made us think we may have to make a new plan for the rest of the trip. But I asked them to reconfigure the rear disc brake to work from the brake lever which I control. That is a brake which Sandy normally controls and uses only occasionally on Fast descents. They worked very hard and quickly, and only charged us a little bit for parts. The disc brake works so well it gives our tour a new lease on life. When we get home we will still need new rims but I may have a disc brake put on the front wheel as well.
By the time we left the shop the rain had mostly stopped. We rode a short distance through the city of Arlon, and then a few kilometers more across the border into Luxembourg and the four star hotel at Gaichel. We aren't Four Star kind of folks but the reason we stopped here is for lack of an alternative but more importantly because it is our 51st wedding anniversary and a good time to treat ourselves well. Our anniversary dinner was in the hotel's dining room. Excellent food, unusual extra tidbits, and a good bottle of wine.
Besides the rain it was chilly today which seems about normal for this region, but the terrain was beautiful and the riding was very comfortable in our rain jackets.
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