ride, stop, put chain back on, repeat

A few months ago I had the opportunity to buy a complete, slightly used 10 speed drivetrain at a pretty good price. Technically I didn't need it but it sure has made riding the JET more enjoyable. I've been a 1x9 or singlespeed rider for many years and having a front derailuer on my bike has never been something I've entertained. I like the simplicity of the 1x9 system and once set up properly with a good chain deflector works pretty damn good.

Enter the new JET9 last year, complete with big squishy parts on both the front and back, also something I've not ridden in a long time. The 1x9 system, no so much fun with all this new extra travel that I'm not used to, especially on the big climbs. Once I threw the 2x10 system on the JET it made riding it much more enjoyable. At first I was afraid it was going to make me soft especially with all the extra squish but riding it has become so much fun I can't bring myself to change anything on it. This might have something to do with my craving for another singlespeed, maybe to even me out and feel tougher.

For the past couple of months I've noticed my front derailuer on the JET has been acting a bit screwy. Screwy as in throwing the chain both to the inside and outside of the crank during shifting. No biggie I thought, just needs a bit of a limit screw adjustment. I let it slide for longer than most partly because it really didn't happen that often and partly because whenever I try to do derailuer adjustments they usually get worse resulting in a bad ride for Greg. Over the past couple of weeks it seems to have gotten a little worse and even throwing the chain off the chainrings when riding through rock gardens without any shifting involved.

I finally took the JET to the experts at my local bike shop to address the issues thinking maybe not only am I having shifting issues but maybe the shifty bits were getting worn. The first thing the guys at the shop noticed was my front deraileur and shifter were not the 2x10 system I thought they were. I felt dumb, they were 3x, set up to run just 2 chainrings. Not 100% sure this was the cause of my problems, they went ahead and made some much need adjustments and put some new chainrings and a chain on order.

Now as I said before I'm used to SS and 1x9 systems so the only chainrings I've bought in a long time were Surly singlespeed steel chainrings @ $25 - $30 a piece, they work perfectly for both systems. I never gave much thought to how much the chain rings for a 2x10 system would cost me. Today I heard that price and was blown away! Ouch, don't get me wrong I wasn't being cheated by my LBS, those guys are my friends and would never pull the wool over my eyes. I knew 2x10 stuff was more expensive but I guess I just wasn't expecting it. Once I replace these parts I hope my problems go away and I don't need to invest in a new front derailleur and shifter.

I can't believe I just wrote 5 paragraphs on drive train issues, I'm sorry for that.

I've noticed quite a few local peeps on the Facebox expressing they're grief in missing out on getting into the 6 Hours of Warriors Creek next April. You would have though more folks would have been on the ball, there were Tweets, blog posts, emails and smoke signals announcing when registration opened and with how fast it sold out the last 2 years if I were racing I would have been online the minute it opened.

This year I'm taking a break from the 6WC to head out west to Moab. I've done the 6WC race the past 3 years in a row and it's one of the best races on one of the best courses I've ever done hands down. The fine folks at the BMCC do a heck of a job at putting on one helluva race. I do however hope to visit their hood next Halloween for the 2nd Annual Escape From Dark Mountain. A point to point race consisting of all 3 trailheads, Dark Mtn, The OVT and Warriors Creek. How awesome of a race would that be? This year was the first year they ran it and I hate I missed it. I got an email from the promoter a few weeks prior asking that I help spread the word through our local club with I obviously obliged.

Enough rambling for one night, maybe I'll have something in the way of viewing pleasure after this weekends festivities.

The dirt is calling my name.