Originally Posted by spolls

Hello everyone, I'm a college student with an old road bike (hence the downtube shifters). I use it for cross-training when I'm injured (I'm a cross country/track athlete) and to get around campus or into town when need be. I live on a pretty small campus, so I only use it sparingly. Two weeks ago, I rode it across campus and it was fine. I tried to hop on it yesterday, and it wouldn't pedal forward, and the downtube shifters were incredibly "stiff" (they wouldn't move without a lot of force).
What could've caused this to happen during such a short period of time? I keep it under a covered bike-area outside.

Additionally, I noticed the chain was looking rusty, which I can't be sure whether or not that's a new development since I never really inspected the chain until today.

One more thing is that I noticed a little plastic piece that runs along the shifter cables as they descend the frame towards the gears appears to be loose, but it looks so small and light that I doubt it's the source of the problem.

I've never lubed the bike - I'm going to get some lube but I'm skeptical that's the problem given how quickly this developed.

Thank you all for your help!