Quote Originally Posted by equus123 View Post

And to make sure this doesn't happen again when you shift to a smaller chain ring in the front, move down the cassette a gear or two if you're in an easy gear or within the top 2-3. You'll probably never drop you chain in this manner if you're in the middle of the cassette and if you do....get a tune up!!
Great advice! I think I'm starting to get this very thing figured out. I was dropping my chain constantly at first, but now I pay more attention to which gear I'm in before I try to change chain rings, and I haven't dropped my chain in weeks. Of course, now that I've typed this, I'll probably drop it on my next ride!

Someday, maybe I can just stay in the middle ring most of the time. Unfortunately, right now I need my granny gears on most hills. Actually, I need the granniest of my granny gears for most hills! So there's lots of chain ring shifting going on. But as long as I can keep from dropping the chain, it's not so bad.

Shifting it back on once it's dropped is not something I've figured out yet.