First Taste of Dirt

I took out the bike for a couple of rides this week. On Monday, I hurried home and quickly dashed over to Fairfax Lake to test ride the new beast. I was quickly disappointed. But let me qualify this statement... It is amazing how quickly all of the little things rear their ugly heads as soon as you are on a real trail instead of doing circles in a parking lot. The shifting was horrid - skipping gears, mis-shifting, not shifting at all, etc. The disc brakes were rubbing and I could not seem to adjust them properly on the trail. And the chain kept skipping at random intervals both with hard pressure on the cranks and without. The feel of the bike is going to take some to time to get used to. After only owning hardtail bikes, this feels like I'm riding through oatmeal. I kept looking down to see if my tires were flat. Most of that problem should be cleared up once I properly configure the pressure in the shocks for my weight and riding style. So that night I fiddled with the deraileurs, shifters, brake levers, and brake pads so that it should be working much better next time. I don't have a shock pump yet, so I have no way to adjust the shocks. Tuesday, I contacted Peter and asked if he help me out before the Tuesday Night ride. He brought along his shock pump and I increased the pressure in the rear shock by 50 psi (now set to 200 psi) and the front shocks I increased from 35psi to 65psi. The Tuesday evening ride was much better than the Monday ride. The shocks feel much better and I'm enjoying the cush (not mush). I have a lot more fine tuning to do with the dampening and such but I'm happy with the improvements so far. Now I just need a name for it?! Do I dare?! How about something along this veign: The Welsh Green dragon from the Goblet of Fire. I'll have to think about that. That's a big step that I'm just not sure I'm emotionally prepared for. I definately get attached but in sort of an apthetic way. This is a whole new level I don't think I'm ready for. What if something happens to it. I don't know if could handle that...