Decent Mechanical Disc

[Aggie_Ama]

I'd take that $200 and look for a good skills camp in your area. Skills training improved my biking more than 100%. I'm pretty sure there's a strong group in Austin that does women's clinics, spend your money there.

Actually they are free come May and I will be going. Now at least I can tell the man to be quiet I like Tess the way she is and nothing but time will help me.

Disc made him more confident but one of those fun things he doesn't understand, we learn differently. I am getting better and having fun he should leave well enough alone, which 9 times out of 10 he is smart enough to do.

[Irulan]

Actually they are free come May and I will be going. Now at least I can tell the man to be quiet I like Tess the way she is and nothing but time will help me.

Disc made him more confident but one of those fun things he doesn't understand, we learn differently. I am getting better and having fun he should leave well enough alone, which 9 times out of 10 he is smart enough to do.

Just for grins, here's my bike camp page. The listing of camps is way out of date, sorry

http://www.specialtyoutdoors.com/penny/biking/camp.asp

[alleyoop]

Disc made him more confident but one of those fun things he doesn't understand, we learn differently. I am getting better and having fun he should leave well enough alone, which 9 times out of 10 he is smart enough to do.

My DH gets confidence from trying, I need confidence to try. These are completely different ways of learning! Know what I mean?

Have the brakes let you down in the past? Is it the fear of not being able to stop that keeps you from doing big downhills, or the fear of falling in other ways?

[Aggie_Ama]

Not at all Alley. I was cool as a cucumber (don't know how) going down the Hill of Life. The thing that keeps me from trying things like the Liver Lacerator for so many times is not stopping, it is seeing the line (which is plain as the nose on my face but I digress). But truly downhills mostly don't freak me out it is climbing.

And riding with someone who doesn't bomb down them (like C) helps because otherwise I am a bit prone to panic if I have never done it. I am still so green that I really have trouble reading lines. Of course I wonder if my husband was born on a mountain bike because he is such a natural, some people just are lucky like that. I am on slow learner path.

But the bike could use a nice tune up and some new pads.

[alleyoop]

There is a difference between confidence in the bike and confidence in your skills. I think that for men those two are much more closely related then for women (or at least myself). When I see a guy bomb down something and then say, "see, it is easy" that just doesn't do it for me. When someone says, "see, I am going to go really slow, the easy line and you stay on my tail..." That is what I need.

You are doing great! Sometimes I have to remind myself that I ride for fun. Every ride does not need to be some test of skills and improvement. Sometimes I just want to ride without the constant dialogue in my head, "hill coming, shift down, pull up, butt back, shift down, right brake only, pedal pedal pedal, boobs to the tube...." blah blah blah. Just ride and smile. The rest will come, right??

If the weather improves, want to do the Nut this weekend?

[Aggie_Ama]

Which day works for you? We were planning to hit the Nut this weekend. C is trying to kill himself training for another marathon race (Fat Chuck's in March) so I would rather ditch him anyway.

Since I am flexible just shoot me an email, it is supposed to be nice this weekend chilly in the morning but sunny and 60's by the afternoon.

[Gertruda]

It is a bit off-topic...
but - I have "Pro Max, alloy linear pull" brakes.
And my concern was that my front wheel was stopping by itself pretty fast (when the bike is on the kind of "stand"). LBS guys said that pad was misplaced a bit, and they put it in right position.

I went home and start looking at it by myself (out of curiosity, of course I am not an expert at all...) And one of the the pads (on front wheel) is always touching the wheel (rim?). I am not sure it should be like this.
Now it makes about 2-3 circles/"360" and then stops. The rare wheel makes about 5-10 before stopping.

I did not pay much attention at first but now I start thinking what if it might be a problem on the long ride. I like how front brake works though. Any ideas? Should I bring it back to LBS, or that pad should touch the rim?
Or maybe it is just very new as I just bought the bike, so the pads will become thinner and it will not be a problem?

[Irulan]

I'd take it back. Or, you can go to the Park tool site where they have very good instructions on how to do brake pad adjustments yourself. It is a pretty simple procedure.

[DirtDiva]

...I did not pay much attention at first but now I start thinking what if it might be a problem on the long ride...

Brake-rub is a problem on any ride - it wears your pads prematurely and unevenly and it slows you down!!! It doesn't usually take much to fix it, so do get that front one seen to again.

[Gertruda]

Irulan, Dirt Diva - thanks!

Just came back from LBS - they fixed it. And it took like 2 minutes (And it took me ages to find time go there... I definitely should learn how to fix basic stuff by myself! )

Apparently it was installed not well/not symmetrical from the beginning, so I hope there will be no problem with that brake for some time.

[fatbottomedgurl]

Here's a good article for you. The only caveat I would mention is that when mtbing there can be the chance of a mindless "panic grab" which can launch you over the bars. But if you learn to use your very powerful front brake it has all the stopping power you need.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html