The Little Thingy Fell Down Inside the Frame

Long story short - The Cervelo bike I ride has a very odd shaped seat post made of carbon fiber. The kind of rack I was going to ride attaches to the seat post, but will crush a carbon fiber post. I contacted Cervelo a few weeks ago and ordered an aluminum post to use in place of the carbon. On Sunday evening, as we were getting ready to pack the bikes, I attempted to replace my carbon post with the aluminum one. First problem was the aluminum post did not fit - so I used my metal grinder to grind off a few cm from the post. After about two hours of seat post wrangling, I was able to make the post work! Last thing to do was to take the post out to pack my bike. Simple enough one would think. As I loosened the post, a small piece of aluminum (about the size of a penny) came loose and fell down into my frame. Without the piece, the seat post would not be able to work. Nothing like trying to shake a piece of aluminum rattling around in a frame. Daniel, Gary and i worked on this problem until Gary and Daniel went to bed, and I continued to twist and turn my bike trying to shake the piece to freedom. No luck - the thingy was now entombed in my frame. I was now destined to ride with my beloved backpack for yet, another adventure! I packed my carbon post with my bike, sealed the box and was ready.