Bike Challenges Pre Race

I have my first race, the Muncie, IN HIM this Saturday, and I do the vast majority of my rides indoors on a smart trainer. I did a couple rides outdoors this week the get acclimated to riding outside and things were going fine until late I moved to change gears half way into my second ride and got a poke in my shifting finger. It turns out there were several loose strands in the cable that could have been a disaster during the race if the cable broke. Maybe that's why it took me an hour and a half of cursing to get the rear derailleur to shift properly! I've been able to adjust the derailleur OK in the past but this time it was not working out well. I took the bike in and the local shop (Summit City Bike) is swamped but they are going to get this cable replaced this afternoon. Yes!
Great service!

My second problem, that actually happened first, was I was 30 minutes into the first outdoor ride on Saturday and my Garmin Vector power meter stopped reading. I figured it was a battery issue, although I just changed the batteries about a month ago. It turns out the connection from the antenna pod to the pedal broke off on the right side. Since my chain did not come off, I'm scratching my head as to how this would have happened. Fortunately, there was enough time to order a new pod that will be here tomorrow.