Bike repair, or eh, advice

Last week I received an email from the university Bicycle Users Group. It was an email forwarded from the university's Coaching and Community Activity Development Officer. The university offered free bike maintenance, right in front of where I normally park my bike! Such service. And my gears needed tweaking; I had already tried it myself, I had had a bike mechanic look at it, but it still didn't want to go into low gear. Annoying! Especially in a hilly place. So I went. 

I was the first cyclist to offer their bike. There were three guys doing the check-ups. The first gave it a try; he started where one normally starts, and started to tweak the adjustment screws. I had already tried that myself without success. He fared the same way. So he called the next guy. He tried the screws too, and when that didn't help, he tried adjusting the cable tension. I had already tried that myself without success. He fared the same way. So he called the next guy. So then I had three blokes fondling my bike. The third couldn't do it either! An din the end the verdict was: I need a new limiter. The old one isn't springy enough anymore. So the bad news is that I still can't get into low gear. And I'll have to spend time and money to change that. But the good news is that I now know what to do, and that my ego  is saved: that I couldn't adjust my gear properly was clearly no shame!