OK, so on the third time of going to the LBC to get my front derailleur adjusted on my less than two-month old bike (it gets hard and/or impossible to get it onto the biggest front chainring), I asked how to adjust it myself.

The employee happily showed me while checking out all the adjustments, but after just another 30-40 miles, I need to adjust it again. (I'm talking about tightening the cable where it connects near the chainrings, not the bolt tightener). Is this normal?

Is there such a thing as a "bad" cable? Am I doing something wrong? Could it be a problem that I need to lay my bike down in my car to transport it (alway on the left side)?

"Shift early, shift often" is my motto, so I don't think it's a problem of not shifting often enough... and I try to avoid cross-chaining.

Any thoughts? I'm getting really tired of this, and can't imagine having to pull over every thirty to forty miles on any upcoming long ride to tighten this cable...