# Trumbull, CT 8-24-08



## gmcunni (Aug 24, 2008)

Finally got to take out the new bike for a ride on some trails. As I packed up this morning i realized besides my bike i had two more MTB purchases also making their maiden voyage. 

Padded bike shorts (via chainlove). - WOW, how did i ever live without these before!!  Felt very awkward walking around the house but once i got on the bike it was wonderful.

Hydration pack  (via chainlove). I hadn't used one before. When trying it on at home without water it felt light. full of water it was tight and i had to readjust but after 2 minutes i didn't even notice i had the thing on.

Trek 4500 - overall love the bike.  when i bought it i tried both the 16 and 18 inch bikes. on the 16 i felt squeezed,like the handlebar was way too close. 18 seemed to fit me better, at least in the parking lot of the LBS.  Once i got it home i realized how much higher the crossbar was than my old schwinn.  i had a little room to spare so i didn't think too much of it.

Took a solo ride today, started around noon in the commuter parking lot off rt 25, http://www.crankfire.com/trails/waypoint.php?wpid=64. WOW, 3x as many cars with bike racks as i remember from several years ago. I guess the place is popular.  i planned on taking same route i'd done before, i didn't recall it being too difficult but there were a couple of hills to climb.  i had no map or gps but the place isn't too big so i knew i'd be OK.  

My plan was to ride north to the playground and then back again. going out i followed the route i used to take which seemed to be a mix of the white and blue trails.  On the return leg i stuck mostly to the blue train which hugged the river.

Not too much excitement to report. I managed NO OTB which was a goal since my Dr. said no mtb for 1 more week.  I was reminded that I'm old and out of shape, there were several hills i remember being able to climb on my schwinn which i could not on the trek.. i need to re-learn some skills i think.  One thing i noticed about the trek vs. schwinn,  I never had a problem on the schwinn with the chain popping off, ever!  today, 4-5 times it came off. easy enough to fix but very annoying.  had several occasions to test the clearance on the crossbar. on the schwinn i could walk easily with the bike underneath me when i had to take a step or two after stopping on a hill. i can manage on the trek but there is less room for error ;-)

Overall, fun first ride back after surgery.  Looking forward to many more and meeting up with AZ'ers @ Nass soon.


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## Greg (Aug 24, 2008)

Awesome. Glad to hear you got out today. Let me know when you want a Nassahegan tour. Some great riding there.



gmcunni said:


> One thing i noticed about the trek vs. schwinn,  I never had a problem on the schwinn with the chain popping off, ever!  today, 4-5 times it came off. easy enough to fix but very annoying.  had several occasions to test the clearance on the crossbar. on the schwinn i could walk easily with the bike underneath me when i had to take a step or two after stopping on a hill. i can manage on the trek but there is less room for error



The chain popping off is *not *supposed to happen. Sounds like a derailleur limit screw adjustment is needed. Popping off the fronr or back?

Sounds like you can manage, but hopefully the bike is not too big for you. My Trek has a virtual length of 18.5" and I'm 6'1". Better to go smaller when in between sizes, but again as long as you have some standover clearance, you should be okay.


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## gmcunni (Aug 24, 2008)

Greg said:


> The chain popping off is *not *supposed to happen. Sounds like a derailleur limit screw adjustment is needed. Popping off the fronr or back?



chain didn't pop off on its own it was the result of me going over roots/rocks/logs and the derailleur getting bumped.  happened 2x on front and 3x on rear if i remember correctly. i get free adjustments for a year from the LBS so i'll let them work it out after i've gotten a few more miles on the bike.  no big deal just annoying for now.



Greg said:


> Better to go smaller when in between sizes


Tim gave me the same advise, smaller is better, but i felt like i was riding a little clown bike on the 16 inch. the owner of the LBS was the one helping me and he thought it was too small too once he saw me riding it.


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## o3jeff (Aug 24, 2008)

Don't worry about being old and out of shape. I think you are around the same age as me(38) and when I first started riding with the guys my legs would burn and I would get winded easily. Now after riding 200-250 miles the legs don't hurt on the rides anymore and I don't get winded as bad. Just keep riding and the old body will get used to it.


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## Greg (Aug 24, 2008)

You "old" guys are funny. You both have like 3 years on me.  :lol: I hope to be riding like a true maniac when I get to your advanced ages.  Jeff is right. The learning curve is steep as is the wind building process. I still suck wind from time to time, but it's brief and it is now almost an addiction for me. I feel *so *good. Mountain biking has put me in some great shape in only a few short months.

Gary - if the LBS guy said you're good on the new bike, then roll with it. He knows far more than me.


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## gmcunni (Aug 24, 2008)

you YOUNG guys crack me up.

i turn thirty-fourteen next month.


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## Greg (Aug 24, 2008)

gmcunni said:


> you YOUNG guys crack me up.
> 
> i turn thirty-fourteen next month.



Cripes. You *are *old. :razz: Keep at it, Gary. Plenty of riding season left. You will enjoy the early learning curve.


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## bvibert (Aug 24, 2008)

Glad you got out Gary!  Sounds like a pretty good initial ride.  Definitely have the bike looked at though, the chain shouldn't come off.  When you say it went off on the rear, what happened?  It went of the small cog towards the dropout or went off the big cog into the spokes?  Neither should happen on a properly setup bike.  Same goes for the front.  Bad things can happen when the chain jumps off.


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## Greg (Aug 24, 2008)

bvibert said:


> Bad things can happen when the chain jumps off.



Agreed. I suspect it wasn't trail obstacles pushing that chain off, especially on a maiden voyage, after recovering from surgery. Even if you are clearing big logs and such, the chain should not only stay on, but should be staying firmly in your selected gear.


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## gmcunni (Aug 24, 2008)

bvibert said:


> When you say it went off on the rear, what happened?  It went of the small cog towards the dropout or went off the big cog into the spokes?



when it went off on front it was when i was trying to pedal over a rock once and a tree the 2nd time.  in both cases then chain went off toward the center of the bike, i just used the front gear shift to move it back out, kept pedaling and it went back on.

withthe rear it was odd and i'm not 100% sure what was going on.. i lost traction looked back/down and saw the lower part of the derailleur going one way and the chain going the other, again after running over something like a root/rock/log.  had to stop and reverse pedal then forward again and it kind of fixed itself.


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## gmcunni (Aug 24, 2008)

Greg said:


> Even if you are clearing big logs and such, the chain should not only stay on



oh, did i say i actually cleared the obsticles? didn't mean to imply that. just that i attempted to go over them (and they weren't big).  i'm sure if i actually cleared them instead of simply bumping into them that the chain would have been more likely to stay put


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## bvibert (Aug 24, 2008)

gmcunni said:


> when it went off on front it was when i was trying to pedal over a rock once and a tree the 2nd time.  in both cases then chain went off toward the center of the bike, i just used the front gear shift to move it back out, kept pedaling and it went back on.
> 
> withthe rear it was odd and i'm not 100% sure what was going on.. i lost traction looked back/down and saw the lower part of the derailleur going one way and the chain going the other, again after running over something like a root/rock/log.  had to stop and reverse pedal then forward again and it kind of fixed itself.



Both the deraillers need to be adjusted.  It should be an easy adjustment for the shop to make, it would be easy for you to make too, but the shop should take care of it.  On the rear it sounds like it's 'ghost shifting' under load, which is from the rear derailler being in between two gears (or sometimes from a worn chain, but that's not likely the problem on a new bike).  On the front are you sure it just wasn't dropping down into the small ring?  If it was falling off onto the BB shell you wouldn't likely be able to get it back on using the derailler and pedaling.  Either way that's just a simple adjustment too.


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## Greg (Aug 24, 2008)

gmcunni said:


> withthe rear it was odd and i'm not 100% sure what was going on.. i lost traction looked back/down and saw the lower part of the derailleur going one way and the chain going the other, again after running over something like a root/rock/log.  had to stop and reverse pedal then forward again and it kind of fixed itself.



Sounds like cross-chaining. Be sure you don't go too high on the rear cogs when on the small front chainring. I usually ride in the middle front ring which let's me shift up from the lowest rear cog up about 5 or 6 gears. I usually don't need a higher gear than that considering the terrain I ride. I never even touch the big ring when on trail. I only drop onto the small front chainring on the steepest of climbs, and rarely shift higher than the 2nd or 3rd cog when on the small ring. If you go higher than that, you risk cross-chaining.


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## severine (Aug 24, 2008)

o3jeff said:


> Don't worry about being old and out of shape. I think you are around the same age as me(38 ) and when I first started riding with the guys my legs would burn and I would get winded easily. Now after riding 200-250 miles the legs don't hurt on the rides anymore and I don't get winded as bad. Just keep riding and the old body will get used to it.


I don't believe that you're that old!  



gmcunni said:


> you YOUNG guys crack me up.
> 
> i turn thirty-fourteen next month.


Don't sweat it!  You're probably in better shape than I am and I'll be 31 in October.

Sounds like a decent maiden voyage.  No OTB is good, especially under your circumstances.  Seeing as you used to MTB before, I'm sure you'll pick it all back up in no time and be keeping up with the rest of the crazies on here.


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## gmcunni (Aug 24, 2008)

Thanks Carrie



severine said:


> I'm sure you'll pick it all back up in no time and be keeping up with the rest of the crazies on here.


that's my goal!!


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## gmcunni (Aug 24, 2008)

bvibert said:


> On the rear it sounds like it's 'ghost shifting' under load



that also happened once or twice going up a hill. used to happen on my old bike too so i wasn't overly concerned.   LBS gave 1 year free adjustments so i'll make a list and let them handle it for now.  i'm making a bigger deal out of it than it really was. in the grand scheme of things it was annoying but didn't ruin a fun outing.


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## Greg (Aug 25, 2008)

gmcunni said:


> that also happened once or twice going up a hill. used to happen on my old bike too so i wasn't overly concerned.   LBS gave 1 year free adjustments so i'll make a list and let them handle it for now.  i'm making a bigger deal out of it than it really was. in the grand scheme of things it was annoying but didn't ruin a fun outing.



Yeah, but neither the chain popping off, nor ghost shifting should occur. The LBS should fix it up for you. You might go through some tweaking until everything breaks in, as cables stetch, etc.


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