Very first trail ride...

...was awesome! It was just a little double-track fire road with some grade to it - certainly far from a groomed mountain bike trail. There were fallen logs we had to move out of the way, and a couple we had to stop for and lift our bikes over. This was also the ride when my Jamis started having issues with "new bike cable stretch", and I learned real fast that I need to get a better feel for my disk brakes and shifting.

The shifting, outside of needing some adjusting, is fine. The problem is that now I have three bikes with three different types of shifters, and my two sets of triggers (Shimano and SRAM) shift opposite each other....couldn't figure out why I kept shifting the back the wrong direction, the solution dawned on me while driving home.

After that I hiked one of the easy groomed trails for the future - and glad I didn't try it today. I think I need to wait for the clinic before I try that - and that will give me time to work with brakes and shifters before then as well.

Catrin, I'm so glad you had fun. I feel for you on the shifter issue. My road, touring and mountain bikes each have different shifters, too. It's confusing!

Sounds like fun! I also understand re. shifters! At one point, I had STI, Campy, mtb trigger shifters as well; then sold the bike with STI and bought one with barcons, so still had 3 types of shifters! :eek:

I now only have the bike with barcons (and a single speed beach cruiser). Much easier on my brain!

Glad you had fun! :)

I'd love to see how Campy brifters would feel on my smaller hands, but I just don't. want. to try to learn to switch.

I'm fine with grip shifters on the hybrid and brifters on the roadie. But when I first got the new road bike, it took me at least 1,000 miles before I stopped reaching to the down tube, where my head kept telling me the shifters live on a road bike. :rolleyes:

I never had any trouble adjusting to my brifters from the trigger shifters on my mtb when I got my first road bike. Kind of unusual for me :D. I now have one of each. Once in awhile I find I shift the wrong way on the cogs on my Jamis (triggers), but I think it's more a function of the fact that I just don't ride that bike very often.
I looked at some touring bikes a couple of months ago and I have determined I could not do the barcons... you have to let go of the bar and I still am not so great with that. I feel like it would be added stress. I am happy with my combo of short reach Ultegra brifters and my short/shallow bar. A friend just got the SRAM brifters and she said it's easy, but she was coming from triggers and not having to unlearn Shimano. I'm with Oak. I would like to try different things, but I think it would be too much for my brain because they are different, but similar.

Glad you had a fun ride! Even better no dog gnawing on you.

I find I can go between my road and mountain bike effortlessly with shifting but I cannot go between SRAM and Shimano without being confused! So you are not alone, I didn't want Shimano shifters on a mountain bike because I had really learned to ride with SRAM (although my first bike had Shimano) and I didn't want to be confused. :p

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Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

Glad you had a fun ride! Even better no dog gnawing on you.

I find I can go between my road and mountain bike effortlessly with shifting but I cannot go between SRAM and Shimano without being confused! So you are not alone, I didn't want Shimano shifters on a mountain bike because I had really learned to ride with SRAM (although my first bike had Shimano) and I didn't want to be confused. :p

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Thank you for confirming that they are indeed reversed, I was starting to wonder if it was just ME!

Of course, my poor neglected LHT isn't getting to go for a ride very often, so once I've adjusted to the Jamis then it will be a problem when I ride the LHT...

I agree the best part was not getting gnawed on by a dog - but aside from that the very best part was being in the woods. I could ride a track like that for a long distance and really enjoy myself! There wasn't anything "technical" about it, outside of having to hop off the bike a few times to lift it over, or under, fallen trees/massive limbs, but it was great! A few hills, but not what I expected in that area. I need bug spray...

The beginner groomed mountain bike trail I hiked afterwards has a middle section that looked more intermediate to me. It had a couple of hair-pin turns and a couple of rock crossings over a stream that told me I need to get a better feel for my disc brakes before I try it. They will help me with that at the Clinic though :)

Haaa... You make remember when I first started riding MTB although a bit intimidating, it was just so much fun, especially every time I made it over that seemingly unsurpassable obstacle or climb. Keep it up

You're going to have a blast at the clinic!

Now you've got me all freaked, I've always used shimano and can't even fathom using anything else. It took long enough to remember what way those go, and I even had indicators on my last bike!

This is my first bike with no gear indicators of any kind... Am trying to just adjust. I probably don't want to spend a lot of time looking at my shifters anyway.

And actually (this is absurd!!) I can't remember what way the front shifter goes on my CURRENT bike. Seriously. :eek: I should just set the thing up as a 1x9 so I don't have to think about it :)

I have Shimano on all my bikes. My little trick I made up to remember on the mtb was "big easy". Once was a movie called that. So, the big lever makes it easier to pedal. Comes in handy when you need to shift in a hurry or bite it lol:rolleyes:.

I love my little Trek mtb for technical trails. It's a totally different challenge from road. And in ways will make you a stronger road rider. It's nice when you don't feel like dealing with Mother Nature's wind, head to the woods. Trees are your friend. Well, in terms of wind and shade. Biting it on a tree is not such a friendly feeling lol.

My cross bike I love for the type of ride you did today. With the 700c size tires though, I don't see myself doing very well on technical single track. Smaller is better to manuver.

Glad you had a good ride. The clinic will surely help. Some things are the best when you re-ride the obstacle yourself alone until you nail it. That's when whoops of joy can be heard echo-ing thru the woods.:D

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Originally Posted by jessmarimba

And actually (this is absurd!!) I can't remember what way the front shifter goes on my CURRENT bike. Seriously. :eek: I should just set the thing up as a 1x9 so I don't have to think about it :)

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LOL, that would indeed take care of the problem :) I have a 3x10, and the more I think about it I do wonder how often I will use that biggest chain for mountain biking - but I am sure I will be thankful for it when I need it!

The Shimano triggers on my LHT won't allow me to shift the rear more than 2 gears at a time, and of course my SRAM shifters on the Jamis allows me to shift as many gears as I want - this is going to require me to learn more finesse in shifting as well so I don't accidentally shift 5 gears at a time again unless I mean it :o

I must note that the Shimano triggers on my LHT are "special" triggers and are not one of their common groups like XT or whatever.

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Originally Posted by Catrin

I must note that the Shimano triggers on my LHT are "special" triggers and are not one of their common groups like XT or whatever.

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They're the "Flat Bar" shifters? Those are just a mild variation on Deore LX and Deore XT shifters.

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Originally Posted by laura*

They're the "Flat Bar" shifters? Those are just a mild variation on Deore LX and Deore XT shifters.

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Yes, I am not very impressed with them but they get the job done. I am amazed at how much smoother the SRAM triggers work - guess I am just a sold SRAM woman, at least for now.

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Originally Posted by Catrin

The Shimano triggers on my LHT won't allow me to shift the rear more than 2 gears at a time, and of course my SRAM shifters on the Jamis allows me to shift as many gears as I want - this is going to require me to learn more finesse in shifting as well so I don't accidentally shift 5 gears at a time again unless I mean it :o

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I tell ya what, I LOVE being able to just shift all the gears on my bike with the bar-end shifters :) It's so nice to get to the top of a climb, slap my hand down, and instantly be in the gear I need for the downhill. It can be pretty startling to accidentally miss one on the way back to easy though. Tough to shift delicately when you're on a trail full of rocks. I guess every system has its trade-offs.

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Originally Posted by Catrin

...was awesome! It was just a little double-track fire road with some grade to it - certainly far from a groomed mountain bike trail. There were fallen logs we had to move out of the way, and a couple we had to stop for and lift our bikes over. This was also the ride when my Jamis started having issues with "new bike cable stretch", and I learned real fast that I need to get a better feel for my disk brakes and shifting.

The shifting, outside of needing some adjusting, is fine. The problem is that now I have three bikes with three different types of shifters, and my two sets of triggers (Shimano and SRAM) shift opposite each other....couldn't figure out why I kept shifting the back the wrong direction, the solution dawned on me while driving home.

After that I hiked one of the easy groomed trails for the future - and glad I didn't try it today. I think I need to wait for the clinic before I try that - and that will give me time to work with brakes and shifters before then as well.

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Wow, I'm glad you had a good time. Too bad about the stretched cables, but as you know, that is an easy fix.

Now, I have a question. What is a groomed mountain bike trail? I've ridden hundreds of miles of trails all over the west and I have never heard of a groomed mountain bike trail. What is that???

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Originally Posted by spokewench

Wow, I'm glad you had a good time. Too bad about the stretched cables, but as you know, that is an easy fix.

Now, I have a question. What is a groomed mountain bike trail? I've ridden hundreds of miles of trails all over the west and I have never heard of a groomed mountain bike trail. What is that???

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I just meant the difference between the built trails with the nice cleared track, rocks placed for stream crossings and so forth and the overgrown doubletrack fire road I was on Saturday where there was a good amount of eroded channels that had cut into the track and fallen logs that had obviously been there for for some time. Of course the fire trail isn't an official mountain bike trail, but it was still fun to ride! We knew how far we were allowed to ride it before it connected to a horse trail and of course that isn't allowed. Sorry for any confusion, was just trying to distinguish the two kinds of trail.

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Originally Posted by Catrin

I just meant the difference between the built trails with the nice cleared track, rocks placed for stream crossings and so forth and the overgrown doubletrack fire road I was on Saturday where there was a good amount of eroded channels that had cut into the track and fallen logs that had obviously been there for for some time. Of course the fire trail isn't an official mountain bike trail, but it was still fun to ride! We knew how far we were allowed to ride it before it connected to a horse trail and of course that isn't allowed. Sorry for any confusion, was just trying to distinguish the two kinds of trail.

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Oh, I think I got you. I just thought they might groom trails in the midwest where you are, kind of like they do snow ski trails. We don't have a lot of easy, well maintained trails here; as it is always rocky and always eroded - even if you work on a trail, it can be a mess just a few weeks later.

We have a great mountain bike association where volunteers work to build and maintain trails of all difficulty levels. I am a newbie but already know how lucky we are to have such an organization as HMBA. So much work is done at the volunteer level to support regional mountain biking, if it weren't for the efforts of HMBA members we wouldn't have the wonderful trails that we have at Brown County State Park and the others. As soon as I get over these unexpected dog-induced medical bills I will certainly become a member and help as I can.

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Originally Posted by spokewench

Oh, I think I got you. I just thought they might groom trails in the midwest where you are, kind of like they do snow ski trails. We don't have a lot of easy, well maintained trails here; as it is always rocky and always eroded - even if you work on a trail, it can be a mess just a few weeks later.

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Thanks for inquiring, Spokewench, I was wondering about "groomed" trails to. I think Catrin just needs to learn the lingo. :)Groomed mtb trails might scare me as in "why would you do that?" Now, you can have buff trails and manicured trails, but never groomed. :D

Buff : really smooth and fast, no technical features to speak of.
Manicured: leaves and sticks and loose rocks cleaned off, bushes trimmed back

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Originally Posted by Irulan

Thanks for inquiring, Spokewench, I was wondering about "groomed" trails to. I think Catrin just needs to learn the lingo. :)Groomed mtb trails might scare me as in "why would you do that?" Now, you can have buff trails and manicured trails, but never groomed. :D

Buff : really smooth and fast, no technical features to speak of.
Manicured: leaves and sticks and loose rocks cleaned off, bushes trimmed back

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I figured I had the lingo wrong, but was trying to come up with something that distinguished the two - thanks for the terminology :)