The first time it happened was on the previous chain; the first time it happened was also the end of the line for that chain. It's now happening quite a bit with the new chain, but I obviously can't say for sure if it'd be happening if I still had the old chain. Not sure how worn the old chain was, but I'm generally pretty good at replacing them when they need it. When I did a side-by-side with the brand new chain to get it's length, it honestly didn't seem that stretched or anything. Well, regardless of the cause there's no skirting the fact that it's happening, and I doubt there's much anyone can do to really fix it.

If I were to just replace the big ring, any value in getting one better than what I've got? It's an FSA compact, uh, Omega I think. Not really in the budget right now to get anything spectacular or even a whole new crankset if I can avoid it. Thanks for the help.