Not enough Magic tonight )-=

Tonight I decided to go on a MTB ride with the guys from the Short Hills Cycling club.
Riding out of the Tremont Tim Hortons at 6:30.
I had to change the gear ratio on my Gary Fisher Paragon 29er, since it was still set up the way I rode it in the Squeezer MTB race, 40 some odd days ago. Geared exceptionally hard with 34X13. Super fast and hard for racing but outrageous for just a casual trail ride with the boys.
I decided to go back to my usual magic gear ratio of 34X17. Since it was set up like that all summer. Should have been an easy gear swap. But I ran into technical difficulties with my chain. Since I was adding teeth to the cog, I had to add to the chain too. 3 links plus a quick link. I searched the shop for the old piece of chain I had in there before but couldn't find it. So I found a suitable piece and figured it would be good. Next thing to find was a quick link. Apparently I gave them all away or used them because I couldn't find one. Instead I figured I'd just use my chain break tool and join them that way. It appeared to work and the chain looked tight enough.
So after getting dressed for a little cooler ride. Maybe around 4* Celsius out, called for some heavier and warmer clothes and winter shoes. I loaded the rack on the car and headed over to meet the gang. With so many red lights along the way I made it right at 6:30.
SO we roll out and head up Tremont dr. Right off the bat up the steep road. No warm up or stretching, just GO. It was pretty hard, I had to stand up and power up to the easier section. We hit the top and I was tired already.
My 29er is a good bike but a lot heavier than either of my cross bikes. The thing rides like a tank compared to the Kona or Specialized. The big 2.35" tires are more than twice the width of my CX tires. And the weight is around 24 lbs. A full 6 pounds heavier than my CX rigs. Even though it's geared at 34X17 now it feels alot harder to ride up anything and it takes alot longer to get up to speed. But the big tires and wheels really smooth out the bumps and rocks on the trails.

Not 250 yards into the trail, while putting on the power up a fairly mellow but bumpy climb, I drop my chain. Dang! Probably the first time since April.
So I stop and put it back on, while the group waits ahead. I don't know, I thought the chain was tight enough. But apparently not. Maybe it was because I was using a ramped cog from an old cassette.
So I get going again and we continue to roll along at a leisurely pace. It still felt pretty hard going, even though we we just takin' it easy. The next hill we come to, I go to power up it and the first bump I hit throws the chain again. So I told the guys I was bailing on the ride due my loose chain issue. And they carry on.
But I usually don't give up very easily ,So I flipped the bike and repositioned the wheel a little deeper in the vertical dropouts. Figuring it might have climbed a little when I tightened it. Voila! A little magic and it was tight again. So I picked up my pace to bridge up the the group. Taking a few short cuts along the way.
I caught them at the trail head at the top of Stewart Green trail and seamlessly jumped on the back of the single file as we went down the escarpment. They didn't even know I was back with them.
Riding behind the slowest wheel in the group was a little boring. But pretty safe, as the down hill was totally covered in a blanket of leaves, hiding the roots and rocks on the speedy downhill.
So far so good, the chain was staying on.
We went over to do Switch Back City and I figured my chain tension issue was fixed. But when we got to the top of the first climb and started to ride the switch backs up I dropped my chain again, and promptly announced I was done for the night ,and I would limp home from there, or maybe do some intervals up Hydro Hill.
Once on the road I stopped to check my chain alignment. Figuring maybe that was the problem. But at the same time I noticed my connection of the 2 chains was coming apart, so that put an end to my thoughts of putting the bike under load and sprinting up the hill for a few Tabata intervals.
I managed to drop the chain again on the way back to the car. But I made it back at 7:30.
My total ride time was around 45 minutes. Almost a prefect length ride to serve as a recovery ride from the intervals I did yesterday.

I hit tie Timmies for a little coffee and a fritter. Then went into the Goodwill store, right there, to see if I could find anything good. All I got was an old Snowboarding VHS from 2001. It should be a good waste of time in front of the boobtube after CX season is done.

So ends another misadventure of a single Single Speeder.