How to work on your bike?

[jwrushman]

I'm hopefully starting on my adventure (self-supported, NJ to Anacortes) in 2 1/2 weeks.  To try out all my camping gear, etc. after the long winter, I did a moderate ride to a state park, camped overnight, and returned home the next day.  I'd had some problems with my front derailleur and was trying to adjust it in the campground.  Balancing the top tube on the corner of a picnic bench kind of worked.  Any suggestions of how to elevate your bike to work on it when on a self-supported ride?  I was thinking about how I could hang it from a tree branch using the nylon cord from my "bear bag". 

[DaveB]

Turn it upside down and stand it on the saddle and handle bars.

[Pat Lamb]

Just take everything off the handlebars before you flip the bike.

In this case, though, it might be worth swinging by the LBS before you leave.  Front derailers don't need much adjustment (IME) after they're set right.  There's enough excitement coming in the next month that getting good help (and the mechanic might even show you what s/he's doing) is an easy way to lower the stress level.

[jwrushman]

In retrospect, the problem I was having with the derailleur was probably my "screwing it up".  I couldn't shift down to my granny gear and I thought I needed to change the limit screw.  Unfortunately, I moved the wrong limit screw the wrong direction and didn't fix the problem.  Later on, in the campground, I concluded that my problem was likely due to the moving parts of the front derailleur needing a little bit of lubrication, and after a few drops of oil on the pivot points, it seemed to work better.  The second problem I had, which I'm sure I created, was that when shifting quickly to my large gear, the chain fell off.  Whoops!.  I'm sure that was from me messing up the limit screw.  So I have an appointment with my LBS on Wednesday for, I'm hoping, a one-on-one tutorial of derailleur adjustments.  Hey, I'm not leaving for another two weeks.  No problem!

My original question though was how to work on my bike in a campground without the usual bike supports.  When I was young, I always worked on my bicycle upside down (the bicycle that is).  I was just hoping for other ways to support the bicycle. 

[bnolan@yahoo.com]

This reply is too late to help the original poster.  My Pletscher kickstand allows me to turn the crank and spin the back wheel without u loading the bike.