I broke two cables this summer for some reason. Once on a very steep climb on Blue Ridge Mt. Road in Loudon County VA, and once on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, at about mile 90 of a 100 mile ride. Neither ride was a good one to be left in a bad gear combination.

The first time I farked with the limit screws on the RD to give me a middling gear, but it was still pretty hard to make it back because I could only go up about two cogs.

After replacing the cable the first time, the mechanic gave me a tip that helped me the second time. Instead of messing with the RD, manually adjust the RD into a lower gear by manually pulling on the cable, and then tie it off to something like the water bottle cage. Then make fine adjustments with the barrel adjuster.

I'm not sure why the rash of cable problems. Maybe a bad right shift lever?