What have you done to your bike today?

The shock mounting hardware didn't touch the vise, the sockets that I don't care about did. I also obviously checked beforehand to make sure I could get a replacement set of mounting hardware overnighted just in case I fucked anything up.
The one on the right looks a little dubious, also I wouldn't press against a plastic spacer with a steel socket...regardless, you should use an aluminum cover for the vice jaws. I made mine with a spare piece of L shaped aluminum bar that I hammered into shape, doesn't need to be fancy...

TBH, I prefer to press shock hardware using my self made press, a threaded bar with flat washers at both ends.
 
So this is a different kinda new bike day, some of you may have seen my Strava post or we talked about this in person, but I wanted to also share it here.

The company I work for sponsors an employee only charity bike event every year September-October for the last 11 years, dedicated to raising funds for cancer research via the Jimmy V Foundation. When I started this job 1.5 years ago the event was already underway and I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of immediately.

The event is by application/lottery only each year, and is very selective requiring you to demonstrate your connection to the event and why it's important. The event consists of 9 teams riding relay Coast to Coast from Oregon to NJ, with each team riding 3 days covering ~60-80 miles per day. I applied to ride in 2024 but didn't get selected, most likely because I was pretty new to the company. This year they had 1500 applicants with only about 120 spots available, and I was fortunate and honored to be selected. My segment is considered the hardest one, I will be riding from Salt Lake City UT to Denver Colorado from Sept 14-16, 2025.

The company sponsors the riders end to end, with a bike, indoor trainer, full kits, hotels, airfare, meals, SAG/mechanical support during the ride, professional training & coaching staff, etc... All I have to do is follow the training plan and show up to ready to ride in Sept. And well I have to raise $5000 in donations ;-) (more on that to come soon).

Anyway, this is the bike they sent me for my local training, but this will not be the bike I use for the event (we will ride much better high end Canyon bikes for the actual ride). This was from my first shakedown ride about 2 weeks ago, hence no bar tape just yet but its a work in progress.

Official training starts April 7th but I have been working on my overall fitness already this year, so hopefully being coached by a pro will help me identify bad habits or improve on things I am already doing. Fundraising begins late May/early June. If you want to read more about the event you can check out last year's web site, it will be refreshed for 2025 soon.



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So this is a different kinda new bike day, some of you may have seen my Strava post or we talked about this in person, but I wanted to also share it here.

The company I work for sponsors an employee only charity bike event every year September-October for the last 11 years, dedicated to raising funds for cancer research via the Jimmy V Foundation. When I started this job 1.5 years ago the event was already underway and I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of immediately.

The event is by application/lottery only each year, and is very selective requiring you to demonstrate your connection to the event and why it's important. The event consists of 9 teams riding relay Coast to Coast from Oregon to NJ, with each team riding 3 days covering ~60-80 miles per day. I applied to ride in 2024 but didn't get selected, most likely because I was pretty new to the company. This year they had 1500 applicants with only about 120 spots available, and I was fortunate and honored to be selected. My segment is considered the hardest one, I will be riding from Salt Lake City UT to Denver Colorado from Sept 14-16, 2025.

The company sponsors the riders end to end, with a bike, indoor trainer, full kits, hotels, airfare, meals, SAG/mechanical support during the ride, professional training & coaching staff, etc... All I have to do is follow the training plan and show up to ready to ride in Sept. And well I have to raise $5000 in donations ;-) (more on that to come soon).

Anyway, this is the bike they sent me for my local training, but this will not be the bike I use for the event (we will ride much better high end Canyon bikes for the actual ride). This was from my first shakedown ride about 2 weeks ago, hence no bar tape just yet but its a work in progress.

Official training starts April 7th but I have been working on my overall fitness already this year, so hopefully being coached by a pro will help me identify bad habits or improve on things I am already doing. Fundraising begins late May/early June. If you want to read more about the event you can check out last year's web site, it will be refreshed for 2025 soon.



View attachment 258188
We assembled several for those doing the ride last year. The only issue was every rider who showed up at the shop with their new Cannondale had a 56CM. DIdn't matter what they actually needed.
 
Foam ends somewhere mid frame, so can't start from the headtube. Is the foam attached to the chainstay on the inside where it exists. Or should it yank out?
Chainstays tend not to rattle. I use them in the downtube. You can jam it in, tho. If you only have one piece, it goes in the down tube. Can almost promise that it's not glued in the frame. That would be bizarre for something that is not a hard line.

The trick is to wet the inside of the foam with soapy water/alcohol, then slide it on as far as you can go from the front. poke it down a bit, then use a second piece to slide it on farther. If you are running a bare hose, it's even easier--just install the hose through the foam, and slide it all in at once. Otherwise, you can slide the brake all the way up to the frame opening, and then put the foam on as far as it will go.
 
The shock mounting hardware didn't touch the vise, the sockets that I don't care about did. I also obviously checked beforehand to make sure I could get a replacement set of mounting hardware overnighted just in case I fucked anything up.

did the sockets also come with the house? AFAF
 
We assembled several for those doing the ride last year. The only issue was every rider who showed up at the shop with their new Cannondale had a 56CM. DIdn't matter what they actually needed.
That’s surprising the bike size ordering process was very detailed. Maybe folks didnt understand the sizing. Lucky for me I’m a 58 and I also have local friends who helped me put it together. It was like 90% complete out of the box anyway.
 
That’s surprising the bike size ordering process was very detailed. Maybe folks didnt understand the sizing. Lucky for me I’m a 58 and I also have local friends who helped me put it together. It was like 90% complete out of the box anyway.
Have fun. The people who I dealt with were not riders at all before signing up for this ride.
 
So this is a different kinda new bike day, some of you may have seen my Strava post or we talked about this in person, but I wanted to also share it here.

The company I work for sponsors an employee only charity bike event every year September-October for the last 11 years, dedicated to raising funds for cancer research via the Jimmy V Foundation. When I started this job 1.5 years ago the event was already underway and I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of immediately.

The event is by application/lottery only each year, and is very selective requiring you to demonstrate your connection to the event and why it's important. The event consists of 9 teams riding relay Coast to Coast from Oregon to NJ, with each team riding 3 days covering ~60-80 miles per day. I applied to ride in 2024 but didn't get selected, most likely because I was pretty new to the company. This year they had 1500 applicants with only about 120 spots available, and I was fortunate and honored to be selected. My segment is considered the hardest one, I will be riding from Salt Lake City UT to Denver Colorado from Sept 14-16, 2025.

The company sponsors the riders end to end, with a bike, indoor trainer, full kits, hotels, airfare, meals, SAG/mechanical support during the ride, professional training & coaching staff, etc... All I have to do is follow the training plan and show up to ready to ride in Sept. And well I have to raise $5000 in donations ;-) (more on that to come soon).

Anyway, this is the bike they sent me for my local training, but this will not be the bike I use for the event (we will ride much better high end Canyon bikes for the actual ride). This was from my first shakedown ride about 2 weeks ago, hence no bar tape just yet but its a work in progress.

Official training starts April 7th but I have been working on my overall fitness already this year, so hopefully being coached by a pro will help me identify bad habits or improve on things I am already doing. Fundraising begins late May/early June. If you want to read more about the event you can check out last year's web site, it will be refreshed for 2025 soon.



View attachment 258188
Sounds fun, what if you're short on fund raising? Do you have to make up the difference?
 
The company sponsors the riders end to end, with a bike, indoor trainer, full kits, hotels, airfare, meals, SAG/mechanical support during the ride, professional training & coaching staff, etc..

That’s pretty sweet! My company doesn’t even want to send us to a conference these days. Hopefully you can make it a yearly thing, and take full advantage of that training!
 
So this is a different kinda new bike day, some of you may have seen my Strava post or we talked about this in person, but I wanted to also share it here.

The company I work for sponsors an employee only charity bike event every year September-October for the last 11 years, dedicated to raising funds for cancer research via the Jimmy V Foundation. When I started this job 1.5 years ago the event was already underway and I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of immediately.

The event is by application/lottery only each year, and is very selective requiring you to demonstrate your connection to the event and why it's important. The event consists of 9 teams riding relay Coast to Coast from Oregon to NJ, with each team riding 3 days covering ~60-80 miles per day. I applied to ride in 2024 but didn't get selected, most likely because I was pretty new to the company. This year they had 1500 applicants with only about 120 spots available, and I was fortunate and honored to be selected. My segment is considered the hardest one, I will be riding from Salt Lake City UT to Denver Colorado from Sept 14-16, 2025.

The company sponsors the riders end to end, with a bike, indoor trainer, full kits, hotels, airfare, meals, SAG/mechanical support during the ride, professional training & coaching staff, etc... All I have to do is follow the training plan and show up to ready to ride in Sept. And well I have to raise $5000 in donations ;-) (more on that to come soon).

Anyway, this is the bike they sent me for my local training, but this will not be the bike I use for the event (we will ride much better high end Canyon bikes for the actual ride). This was from my first shakedown ride about 2 weeks ago, hence no bar tape just yet but its a work in progress.

Official training starts April 7th but I have been working on my overall fitness already this year, so hopefully being coached by a pro will help me identify bad habits or improve on things I am already doing. Fundraising begins late May/early June. If you want to read more about the event you can check out last year's web site, it will be refreshed for 2025 soon.



View attachment 258188

Do you get to keep the bike(s)? It's pretty sweet either way but I need to know
 
Sounds fun, what if you're short on fund raising? Do you have to make up the difference?
Good question I’m sure that’s listed in the rider guide I’ll have to double check. I don’t think that’s the case at least I hope not.

I’m not too worried tho I have a big network to ask from prior years of other charity rides plus local businesses in my town.
 
Do you get to keep the bike(s)? It's pretty sweet either way but I need to know
yes I can keep the bike i showed above with a donation of around half the MSRP of that bike. I do hope to keep it once this is over it will make a great winter/off season training bike in general for my purposes. will see how the home negotiations go after I come back from CO.

The bikes for the actual event are a fleet maintained specifically for the actual ride and get repaired and tuned up for future events. I did hear from the coaches that starting with last years event, they are all new Canyon road bikes but not sure which one or what level specs.
 
So this is a different kinda new bike day, some of you may have seen my Strava post or we talked about this in person, but I wanted to also share it here.

The company I work for sponsors an employee only charity bike event every year September-October for the last 11 years, dedicated to raising funds for cancer research via the Jimmy V Foundation. When I started this job 1.5 years ago the event was already underway and I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of immediately.

The event is by application/lottery only each year, and is very selective requiring you to demonstrate your connection to the event and why it's important. The event consists of 9 teams riding relay Coast to Coast from Oregon to NJ, with each team riding 3 days covering ~60-80 miles per day. I applied to ride in 2024 but didn't get selected, most likely because I was pretty new to the company. This year they had 1500 applicants with only about 120 spots available, and I was fortunate and honored to be selected. My segment is considered the hardest one, I will be riding from Salt Lake City UT to Denver Colorado from Sept 14-16, 2025.

The company sponsors the riders end to end, with a bike, indoor trainer, full kits, hotels, airfare, meals, SAG/mechanical support during the ride, professional training & coaching staff, etc... All I have to do is follow the training plan and show up to ready to ride in Sept. And well I have to raise $5000 in donations ;-) (more on that to come soon).

Anyway, this is the bike they sent me for my local training, but this will not be the bike I use for the event (we will ride much better high end Canyon bikes for the actual ride). This was from my first shakedown ride about 2 weeks ago, hence no bar tape just yet but its a work in progress.

Official training starts April 7th but I have been working on my overall fitness already this year, so hopefully being coached by a pro will help me identify bad habits or improve on things I am already doing. Fundraising begins late May/early June. If you want to read more about the event you can check out last year's web site, it will be refreshed for 2025 soon.



View attachment 258188

This is amazing. I love that you got selected. Enjoy this experience!

Note: I know I'm supposed to say to enjoy the "journey" but I don't like that expression. But if we are to use Journey here, I will say: Don't Stop Believing!
 
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