Technical Difficulties

It seems that I've had a few technical difficulties this week:

On Sunday night, I spent about 20 minutes trying to adjust the rear derailleur on my 'cross bike. I'd put a new chain on and changed the cables, but I otherwise hadn't changed anything. So, I really couldn't figure out why the shifting was so bad. It looked like the chain just kept wanting to climb off the cog; it also sounded terrible in the bigger cogs. Then it hit me. I bought a 9-speed chain, for my 10-speed drivetrain! Doh! I went to the shop and got the correct chain; I had it on my bike and shifting fine in less than 5 minutes.

Last night I packed up my road bike for our trip to Georgia. I'm shipping the bike down ahead of time. It's the first time I've tried to box up a bike. I was a little frustrated by the experience; I had to take apart a lot more than I expected, so it took longer than I expected. Probably if my road bike were a little newer (like my other bikes), it would have gone more smoothly. Still, I got it all in there, and it will be nice to do some riding in shorts and a short-sleeved jersey.

I got on the trainer for a short, easy spin last night. I wanted to test out my knee before I start some more serious riding tonight. It felt much better than it did on my rides over the weekend, but it still wasn't perfect. I felt a few twinges. I think the plan for tonight will be to keep the intensity pretty low, but try to hit my target ride duration. I'm going to ride the road at Stony, so it will be pretty easy to soft-pedal and head home if my knee starts bothering me. I just need to keep in mind that it's only March, and spending a little extra time to make sure my knee is properly recovered won't have a big impact on most of my season.