Hello all, it has been quite some time since I have sat down to write a new post, but if I were honest, not too much has gone on as far as cycling in my life this winter until this past week. I mean I think I have logged just over 50 miles on the saddle this year...boo! I have been a part-time wrench down at
EPBC for a little while now and Brian offered me a spot at the Park Tool Tech Summit. Naturally I jumped at that opportunity to learn about many different products and techniques from some of the best in the industry. There are only two of these events every year, one on each coast. Luckily the east coast venue happened to be just down the road in Chantilly Virginia. I was worried that we were not going to be able to make it to the Summit on time due to a last minute ice storm that conveniently started right before we left to drive down, but we made it. We even had an extra trip due to Brian forgetting his clothes at his house.
As you can see to the right, we had these cool guy badges with our names and class schedules on it, I changed mine around a little to get in the classes I wanted to take, one change I regret and another I am happy that I did. I opted out of the Campy class for Cane Creek, mistake, and also went to Fox instead of Park Tool. I wish I had swapped Campy for Fox and went to the Park Tool class but you know what they say about hind sight...
Day 1
Our first class after the surprisingly nice spread for breakfast was the FSA class. It was a pretty neat class dealing with their new adjustable headsets but the rest of the class was spent talking warranty information, it could have been a 20 minute tops subject but went way longer. I want to say that the best part of this class was the practical part of installing their new headset but the rest almost put me to sleep unfortunately. After this class which seemed to drag on was lunch. You know the Hyatt does a pretty good job with their events they host. The food wasn't bad and the service was top notch. Found out that Brian is scared of meatloaf for some reason but the lunch was good!
Our second class was Cane Creek. I really don't want to take up much room on this class, I feel it was a waste of time to me. They also had us working their new headsets but the second half was all about how to take the outer cover off their Double Barrel shock. There may have been more but that's all I
came away with, kind of dry speakers those Cane Creek Reps...
Our third and final class for the day was close to my favorite. We had the Sram/RockShox class to wrap up day one. For this class we were tinkering with their new Sram Red group and learning to dial that drive system in, after a interesting company history lesson I might add. Sram definitely had us working on some nice stuff, S-Works Tarmac frames! Once we learned the set-up of Sram Red we moved to the RockShox portion of the class, rebuilding/servicing their new forks. I was really pumped for this part of the class because this was something that I hadn't messed with too much but always wanted to...(Side Note: Since the Summit I have serviced 2 forks in at
EPBC) I was in a group with a guy that has a lot of experience so that was nice too. Not gonna lie, I was ready for the day to be over when that class let out!
*The Sram rep liked my Nalgene bottle, Fox rep didn't, wonder why...
Park Tool put on a little party after the last class let out. All the brands represented had tables set up to display their new products and do a little sales pitching. A lot of the people in attendance were bike shop owners. this was also a time to get some time with the products and also ask questions to the reps. There was also an open bar for those who chose too have a few and some awesome little finger foods. They couldn't keep the appetizers coming quick enough for everyone! Park Tool also coordinated with all the brands represented to get some sweet product to give away. I was really holding out hope for the brand new Dura-Ace Wheelset but luck wasn't with me this year! Below are some pictures from the different booths set up. Doesn't that new Sram XX1 set look amazing!
Day 2
Well after decent nights sleep in the grand canyon that was my beds mattress it was time for another sweet breakfast then off to the first class of the day, Shimano...
As I was eating I was hearing some different remarks from others about the Shimano class. I will admit I was a little nervous for this one going in. After just a little bit of instruction I could see why some may not have been getting it. The Shimano guys are very technical and thorough. I was really liking their presentation on the theory behind their new Dura-Ace 9000 11-speed groupset and new line of coated cable, housing, and new end caps. After a little time of instruction we were working on the set. I even caught Brian working some...(
haha this will be a test to see if he reads my blog)...
The only bad part of this class was a guy that was in our work group. All I can say is he had one of those personalities that just gets to me quickly. I hope for humanities sake he works alone, and if for some reason you are reading my blog, I'm sorry. This class was neat because, besides the mounting we pretty much set up the whole Dura-Ace group, brakes, derailleurs, shifters, cables, housing, and adjusting/ fine tuning all those components. Some had said that the Shimano class was hard to follow and not very fun but I thought just the opposite! Honestly I can not wait for someone to come into the shop and purchase a bike equipped with the new Dura-Ace so I can put my new skills to the test and also ride the BEAST!
Well after the Shimano class was lunch, not much special here but I did snap a picture of the room to show the crowd that attended the Summit. Also to the right is just a space filler really, I just wanted to get all my pictures put up!
My second class of the second day was one of the ones I switched to get into. Brian and I were both scheduled for Park Tool but I wanted to get into Fox, Brian did too but he decided to stay in Park Tool. I didn't get any pictures of the Fox room or anything because we jumped right in and there was no stopping until the class was over. Also I was trying to take good notes. The Fox class was cool because they had three different stations teaching three different things, all of which had to do with their new line of forks and shocks. There was some pretty cool stuff taught in this class. One little cool thing they have coming out this year is a double trigger knob for your bars that has the ability to lock both the front fork and rear shock at the same time...I will say that there was a lot of information and too much for me to write about on here but I was able to tear down another fork and get some time with that so I was happy.
The last class I took was the Mavic class. I personally love Mavic wheels. I like the design of them as well as the functionality of them. We sell a fair bit of Mavic wheels at
EPBC so I was pumped to get into the hubs and learn to service them. We also got to change a spoke on one of their carbon wheels. I would have been so nervous if one of those came into the shop until now. Still not gonna say that I am completely comfortable but at least I have a little time with it.
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I think everyone in the class was feeling about done with all the classes and learning, even the instructors seemed ready to be done before our time was up but we held in there and finished all they had planned for us. While we where in our last class the instructors handed out our certificates. It was like high school graduation, people where out the door as soon as they got that paper. We definitely weren't too far off their heels either. I think we where both ready to get home. I was so much in a hurry that I left my jacket in the room when we left, only problem with that is I didn't realize that until Brian dropped me off at the Park and Ride were we met. Oh and in case your wondering the hotel has not found my jacket or keys, I am still holding out hope that they will be found but its not looking good...Well I guess that's it for now, I kind of wrote a novel here and if your reading down this far then thank you! I really hope I get the opportunity to do this again in the future as well as hit up some other biking related events!
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Again Thanks for Reading!
-WVPedaler
I typically talk about cycling related things on this blog, but today I want to write about a new product I bought. Being as I am still active with the military in a state guard capacity the need to run is always lurking. I have a great love/hate relationship with all fitness activities besides cycling. I use a Garmin Edge for my cycling but didn't enjoy carrying the unit on a run. Of course I have to track my activities. I feed off information! The reasons stated above as well as a great curiosity with my sleeping habits lead me to research a fitness tracker.
I had been looking at getting a fitness tracker for quite a long time before pulling the trigger on the Fitbit Surge.(Purchased by me) When looking at other brands Fitbit stood out to me for many reasons. The design was very simple and felt sturdy. I am a mechanic by trade and I have never been able to wear a watch without messing it up. I will cover this a little later. I researched the app and liked what I saw. I had set out to buy the ChargeHR but went with the Surge in the end. I really wanted the GPS. 
The first day wearing the watch I almost took it back. I am not a watch or anything on my wrist kind of guy. I wore a RoadID for a while but even that had to go. Now I just put it on before a road ride. I stuck in there and kept wearing it. I believe it has been 3 weeks and it has become as necessary as underwear. The only time I take it off is to shower and that's when I charge the watch. That leads me right into battery life. I have had no problems with the battery life yet, I do charge a little most days and either run, bike, hike, or some sort of activity everyday. Got the battery halfway down one time on a road ride using GPS. I hadn't charged it the day prior and my ride was after a long day chasing my kids. The Surge was busy that day! I really like all the information that is at my fingertips during a run or hike or bike ride. Its also nice that it syncs right away with Bluetooth on my phone and PC. I was worried about the HR being off but I have tested alongside my Garmin with the strap and they are usually within 1 beat of each other. 
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