multiple rookie questions

I haven't even had my new mountain bike for a week yet. I've been riding laps around my quarter mile trail on my property, it's got quite varied terrain with some short steep hills and rocks and ruts and tree roots.
Fit- I test tode a lot of bikes, and the bike shop folks seemed to be pretty casual about fit. They first tried me on small or 16" frames, which usually felt pretty cramped to me. I finally liked a 17.5 gary fisher wahoo, it just felt very nice on the test ride. I rode about two miles tonight and felt kinda tight in the shoulders, is this because my position is a little different than on my hybrid or folding bike? I think I made myself paranioid because today I read where I should have 2-3" of standover on a mountain bike, and I've only got 1" on this one. It seems like a lot because I've got less than that on my hybrid. But it still feels nice to ride.
Gears- I am trying to get used to the trigger shifters, but need more practice with this- I usually go the wrong direction and run out of time before the next steep incline. I read that I should be in the gear I need to get up the hill in BEFORE I get to the hill- I've been doing this all wrong so far (I'm fairly new to cycling in general). There's a pretty steep little berm that I need to be in 2 (middle chainring) to get to the top of, so I've been trying downshifting to 2 just as I reach the base of it. ON my hybrid and folding bike, all this time, I usually hit the base of the hill in whatever gear I was trying to get momentum in, and downshift through the gears only as much as I need to as I'm climbing, but these are more gradual hills on the road. Have I been doing it all wrong?
The jury's still out on the saddle. I'm riding the saddle that came with it, and so far no problems but I haven't ridden more than 2 miles.
Anyway, I'm having a blast.
thanks for any tips and advice.
vickie

Vickie - How tall are you? Do you have a long inseam or long torso? Gary Fisher Wahoo's have a nice stand over. I feel it's just as important to fit to the top tube reach as it is for stand over.

Well, my advice is humble because I would consider my riding as such, but I guess I can say I have crossed the path where some your questions are to a degree:).

I ride primarily road. I bought my mtb first though. I had this near fist fight debate about what size to buy with the sales guy who was a die hard mtb goat. I'm 5'5", but with a short inseam, and long torso/arms. I own a Trek wsd 4500 hard trail, 16". Your post brought me out to my garage with my tape measure to check the stand over height. It's about 2 to 2 1/2". I really wanted the 18", which felt more comfortable, being less cramped in the upper body... but barely any stand over clearance. I was used to a road bike frame in my former kid bike life, and just felt like the 16" that the goat kept insisting I buy was just too tight:mad:.

I rode that 18" to death on their back path that's about like your house trail. It felt good to me:rolleyes:. The goat said, "Lady! that bike is toooo big for you! ...when you get in a 'real' trail situation where you are twisting, turning, dropping, your mtb bike on a dime in short notice, it will be toooo much (big) of a bike for you to handle... I'll sell you whatever you want, but don't blame me when you crash because you couldn't handle your bike". I finally gave into the goat, and bought the 16".

It sat idle for a while. Then when I rode it some more on a non-trail situation, I hated it:(... and the goat. THEN, I recently finally took my mud girl to her homeland on some park trails designed specifically as mtb. Whoaa:eek:... as I was twisting around something really tight, I thought, "thank gawd my bike was not any bigger, I would have never made it.... @#$% goat was right:o".

On the shifting you are on the right idea. I think on the road, you have much more time to plan your shifting. You visually have more time to plan in general (well, unless a dog or crazy driver mess you up). That was something that just freaked me out on the trail at first. Having no clue what was coming until I was right on top of it with only literally split seconds to decide what to do... much less do it. But, when you make it through one of those situation without crashing, it's a huge rush:cool:.

For me thus far, the other thing that surpasses the above rush is making it through something I crashed on, or avoided, in a second time through. One of my guy friends who was a mtb first, then roadie (good at both) said in his man ah-hem bluntness, "M, one day you will just get sick and tired of avoiding or riding around an obstacle... a lilttle voice will suddenly just say in your head f*** it, I'm doing it! ...and that will be it".

Well, I'm sorta there on that one;).

EDIT ADD: Sorry, more blab on... one last thing on how I remember to shift. Anything I'm trying to learn new, I find it helps me to make up some visual pic, or play or words in my head to say as I do it. I don't think I ever watched this movie all the way, but it was called "The Big Easy". I asked the lbs goat, "sooo... when I want an easy to pedal little gear I click the little sized shifter with my right hand, and a bigger harder to pedal gear, I click the big shifter, correct?". The goat said, "no it's the other way around". Well, that's just azz backwards I thought:confused:. A big down, will then equal a big up... so big up means it's time for "the big easy"... push the big clicker with my big thumb on my right hand to make it "easy". Yes, I know that's loopy:o, but I have never forgotten since what to do in a split second. FWIW.

Thanks, I'm going to remember that shifting thing- and you are right- I don't have enough time to pedal and downshift right after slooowly making my way down one rutted rocky hill and then there's a small steep climb right after it. A couple of times I found myself getting off and pushing the bike up it because I was in too high a gear. When I just left it in the lower gear coming into that stretch, it worked out better.
And reading your discription of buying your bike makes me think I may have got the "too big" bike, but it just feels so much better to ride!

I am 5' 6.5" or 5 7. (used to be 5'7" but I'm 50, so may have shrunk). I think my inseam is 31". Riding it, I don't feel like the bike is too big for me, but I know nothing about mountain bikes. I will keep learning with this one for now.
Thanks!
vickie

I'm 5ft6ish and my Mountain bike is an 18, BF was dubious at first as my stand over is rather small and my saddle is about as forward as it gets but it's great for me. I love it and feel comfortable on it, I also have shorter legs and a long torso. I can take it around hair pins going down will with no problem at all. I don't know what you are aiming for but for what we are doing right now and probably for the near future what I have is great, we just have to get around to fixing the handle bar too wide issue.
My new road bike is a 52.5cm if I remember correctly (he chose that one based on my measurements and thats it).

thanks everyone for the information, it's very reassuring. I only doubt my bike's size until I get on it, then I feel like it fits great.
The "big easy" shifter trick really works, too. I didn't mess it up once today (shifting the wrong way).
I'd like to find a women's moutain biking class, if such a thing exists, but I also need to take some maintenance classes too.
vickie