Cross-chaining! Help!

[bikerz]

Well, this morning I did my first hill ride in about 2 months -a 20 mile loop that includes the Three Bears.

I felt pretty good, considering it was pretty hot even at 9:30 am! I feel like I whooped Mama Bear's butt (in my own "crawl-up-at-a-steady-3.6-mph" way!) and I was so afraid I wouldn't make it at all since it's been so long since I did any hills. The Papa bear hill is just so hard, but I made it all the way up that one without stopping too - just worked on keeping a steady pace, cadence above 60 rpm (that's pretty fast cadence for me on a hill!), and tried to keep my heart rate down. (Of course, I stopped at the top of both of these hills to recover!)

But I cross-chained three times (big chain ring in front, granny in back) - I feel like such an idiot, and almost fell over two of those times - that would have been really embarrasing and painful! It seems like I have enough mental energy to get up the hill, but I'm totally brain dead at the top, and forget where my gears are when I'm going down the hill, then I try to take advantage of the downhill momentum for the next climb, and arggh!

Then I got so self-conscious about it towards the end of the ride that I was shifting too soon for the climb and just spinning air for way too long. And after all this abuse of my front derailleur, it clicked at me for the last 5 miles as a constant reminder of how bad I am at shifting, so now I have to try and fix that too.

This is the 4th time I've done this ride, and I've had this problem every time! I even did it once yesterday on a tiny little roller. It seems like I am worse at shifting than I was a year ago!

Any tips on how to better keep my head tuned into the gear situation?

I heard about a simple little mechanical gizmo that can be inserted into the rear shifting cable that indicates which cog you're in in the back, but I feel like I have a more fundamental problem - I mean, would I even remember to look at the gizmo? Oh this is so frustrating! It's like I don't GET some essential thing about down and up shifting.

[Trek420]

I've got the mechanical gizmo of which you speak.

Funny, I don't know what it's called.

But looking at it has never been a problem, I just glance down from time to time and see where I'm at...whoops, no more gears left, better stand or walk

It sure is waaaaaaay cheaper than Campy Ergobrain or in your case and the case of most normal Shimano people....Flightdeck. There's no way I'll remember what gear I'm in.

So I'd highly recommend selling the saddle collection and get one.

Good going on the Bears!

[Veronica]

You know I remember when I first started riding how hard shifting seemed. Not the actual shifting, but getting the right gear for where I was. I think it's one of those things you just need to practice. There are times when I still don't have the right gear, spinning wildly usually , but now I'm comfortable with the process of shifting, so it's easy to get where I want to be.

I'm also getting into the habit of shifting my rear derailleur first when I start a descent to avoid the cross chaining.

V.

[Trek420]

yeah, but V, you are the cycling goddess of shifting and all gearing related anything.

Devil Mountain Double, look Ma, no brakes.

[winddance]

Just dropping in to say good for you, z! Congrats on showing those bears who is boss.

[bikerz]

You know I remember when I first started riding how hard shifting seemed. Not the actual shifting, but getting the right gear for where I was. I think it's one of those things you just need to practice. There are times when I still don't have the right gear, spinning wildly usually , but now I'm comfortable with the process of shifting, so it's easy to get where I want to be. I'm also getting into the habit of shifting my rear derailleur first when I start a descent to avoid the cross chaining.
V.

Thanks for the tips V - how may thousands of feet of climbing did it take?! I was thinking that maybe I need to practice over and over again on the same set of downs and ups to get it to be second nature. I think the shifitng the RD first would be a great way to start. I've got a long list of reminders to tape to my handlebars: shoulders down, elbows in, RD shift first...

Trek - I remember now it was you who told me about that gear thingy. I can look down and see my rear cassette more easily than before, but I just don't think to do it.

I guess I'll keep riding those three bears! Maybe as the climbs get to be a *little* less of a struggle, I'll have a little brain power left to figure out the gears!

[slinkedog]

Z, I'm not sure exactly what cross-chaining even is, but I will tell you that realizing that I could shift both derailleurs at the same time has helped me get to the right place a lot faster and with a lot less *Doh!* than I used to experience. Don't know if that's helpful or not, but there you go. My 1.5 cents.

[bikerz]

Hey Slinke - lucky you not to know what cross-chaining is! I've never tried shifting both at once - but yeah, I can see how that would be helpful... I sometimes feell like I run out of time.

I also want to (need to) learn how to adjust my derailleurs (sp?) - it's like a vicious cycle (har har) - I cross-chain - FD gets out of whack - I have trouble shifting - I drop the chain - FD gets more out of whack and so on... Time to find where I packed the bike maintenance book and dig it out.

Oh - so much to learn!


(wow - I really need to spell check when typing "shifting" so many times don;t want to leave the "F" out!)

[bcipam]

The device is called a "third eye chain watcher."

I also have problems with cross-chaining. On my mountain bike its caused some problematic chain suck I could not fix (thus I now have a third eye chain watcher). So my goal is to get better about shifting when I am suppose to shift. On the mountain its easy cause I can watch the shifters. For a road bike a Flightdeck computer is a must or have a friend ride behind you and watch and remind you to shift. The fear of getting yelled at is worse than the cross-chaining for me.

[slinkedog]

So is anyone going to explain what cross-chaining is??

[bikerz]

Hey Slinke - well, since I seem to be a resident expert on the problem - I'll have a go (but hopefully others will chime in with a clearer explanation!)

Cross chaining is being in my big ring in front and the big ring in back (and vice versa, I suppose, but I don't seem to do it that way). There is so much lateral tension that the chain just jams up and the pedals don't turn, and I swear and curse and just about fall off the bike trying to get unclipped. It's not a pretty sight, let me tell you.

Oh - and it's bad for the chain and all the other moving parts too.

Edited to describe it properly - I had I backwards!

[slinkedog]

Thanks for the explanation. I guess I knew that it was hard on your drivetrain to be in that position (big/little to big/little), but I've never had my chain get jammed. Well, wait a minute. On a ride I did with CindySue and SadieKate, I had an issue where my chain got stuck under something down there and a really strong guy had to literally yank it out 'cause it wasn't budging for me. I don't recall being cross-chained at that point, but I suppose it's possible.

Anyhoo, what you describe sounds very scary. Having to clip out at a moment's notice is one of my least favorite things about cycling.

Edited to say that I asked Blaine about this issue and he said (others may disagree) that no matter how bad you're cross-chained, your bike shouldn't do that to you! He thought it might be a derailleur issue or a bad chain. You adjust your derailleur by turning those little tubes on the cables, but I can't remember which direction for what. Maybe your bike would benefit from a trip to the LBS for a tune up and a look at the cross-chaining thing. If it's fixable, you will be much happier, no?

[Dianyla]

Seconding the vote to get your derailleur adjusted. Even with the chain in the maximum diagonal position, it shouldn't jam up like that. Maybe the derailleur is too low on the post?

[bcipam]

...On a ride I did with CindySue and SadieKate, I had an issue where my chain got stuck under something down there and a really strong guy had to literally yank it out 'cause it wasn't budging for me. I don't recall being cross-chained at that point, but I suppose it's possible.

Anyhoo, what you describe sounds very scary. Having to clip out at a moment's notice is one of my least favorite things about cycling.

What you described is a classic chain suck. It won't generally happen on a road bike but does occur on full suspension mountain bikes especially those with weird rear chainstay designs. The chain gets loose and slappy and gets wedged up where it doesn't belong. I've gotten them so bad I've had to take the chain off (thank goodness for a Conex link) or pull the chain ring off. My Gary Fisher Sugar 3+ had a weird rear chainstay design and is notorious for this problem especially if I cross-chained. Thus the reason for the invention of the third eye chain watcher! Someone would not have invented it if there was no need!

[bikerz]

Thanks for all the tips, everyone.

Well I spent an hour fussing with the FD this morning - I adjusted the cable twisty thingy and the limit screws, with my trusty bike maintenance book open in front of me. I eventually got it to that I could shift smoothly up and down through all the gears without rubbing on the cage except just occassionally. So I was very proud of myself for not making it worse!

Then tonight I headed out for my local short hill loop. It was aggravating! It seems like the FD shifting was very sluggish - most of the time the chain wouldn't drop from the big to the middle chainring at all - I'd have to shift twice, and then eventually, bam, I was in the small chain ring - it skipped the middle one all together. Not what I had in mind, and by then I had lost a lot of momentum. Grrr.

I didn't cross chain at all (although there's not much opportunity on this ride, because it is just up, up up, then down, down down).

So I guess it's time to go to the LBS. I've been in for this kind of problem many times, and on the stand, it shifts great, just like it did for me today when I was done fussing, but then out on the road, under load, it's a whole different story. Each time the LBS owner, who I really like, has convinced me that I just need to learn to be a better shifter, perhaps maybe I am shifting too fast, or not letting it "engage" fully. And it has seemed like that must be the case because it shifts so smoothly on the stand. Hopefully I'l have a chance to take it in tomorrow...

Thanks everyone.