stave off

The squeak I had a month or so ago was almost certainly a pedal on its way out whilst the squeak-plus-increasing-resistance-to-pedalling of the past month has almost definitely been the chain and jockey wheels. I used to have a set of sealed-bearing jockey wheels on the previous mech but when I fished it out of the parts box they had almost seized up, so I popped to the shop at lunchtime for another set, failing to note that I'd picked up the nine-to-ten-speed size by mistake. I cleaned the existing ones (also scrubbing the cage and being pleased to find that it came up shiny, unlike the old one which exhibited significant tarnishment every time the grime was removed) and replaced the chain with the original replaced-with-cassette one now that the replacement (replaced a few months ago) has probably done almost as many miles as the first, to the extent of hopefully being worn/stretched by the same amount. It should hopefully last over the winter without getting so abraded by the shite on the road that it becomes unusable and will hopefully not embarrass me by squeaking constantly on Saturday.