I am such a Girl

Yesterday's ride was supposed to be much like the weekend before. I failed miserably. It is not that I ran out of steam, but it just did not start as or when it should.
Anyone who has has done any riding with me or in the near vicinity knows my Superfly is loud. I knew it was the drive train, but the why escaped me--sort of. Chris has been asking for a very LONG time if I want to replace it. I have been putting it off until the end of the season, after the winter, once my new bike gets here, etc. In the mean time, the noises were becoming increasingly frustrating. I finally made the decision to do it. We had everything we needed by a middle (32 tooth) chain ring. I sent some emails out to see if I could find one in town at a LBS.
We get to the trailhead yesterday and my bike it not shifting well. I had tried to improve it at home, but just ended up messing things up. Chris starts to look at my bike and realizes that while my derailleur may not necessarily be straight that is not the reason for my angst. My cassette was so worn there were burrs on almost every tooth. Now I knew that the chain was catching on the teeth, but did not realize what this meant. This was not a problem so much in the middle gears, but due to the angle of the lower cogs they were the worst. In fact when in the second gear, my chain would catch not just on the burrs on that cog, but also the first cog also. We had a cassette and chain in our spare parts so we threw them on.
When Chris looked at the chain to measure it out he thought was going to lose it. It was readily apparent that it was stretched. He said he was frustrated with me, but also with himself for letting me go this long without updating it. That made me felt badly about this. 
So after spending an hour in the parking lot "getting ready", we head up the road. My chain starts slipping. Son of a...! Chris starts to look at it, again. While we put a Shimano chain on it should work with the Sram cassette. After further examination, it is slipping in the front. I need a new chain ring. I head back to the car and Chris rides without me. I start trying to find shop that has what I need. Racer's Cycle Service comes through. I go and pick it up. As I was walking out Stu, who was hanging out, asks if I need it put on and offers to do it for me. Sweet! He throws my bike on the stand and goes to work. Which is good because I am not sure I really would have been able to do it and Chris would have struggled without the convenience of having a stand and/or being at a shop. (Thanks Stu!) I head back to the trail.
We first got to the trail around 10:15 at around 12:30 I was finally riding. But my bike has not sounded so good-quiet- in quite some time.