Bike Travel/Trips/Out of Town Training

Feb 03, 2013 at 05:52 PM

re: Traveling with Bike --I've traveled with a bike in an Iron Case --unlocked-- about 20 times or so. I haven't had any problems (except a couple of marginally sloppy TSA repackings, which didn't result in any damage to the bike).

Shipping option: I've also shipped the bike in the Iron Case via Fedex --unlocked-- and had no problems. Cost is about the same as flying on most lines ~50 bucks (that was to Arizona). The latter is just more of a hassle outside your airport experience, but it makes flying easier. If you're really worried about damage or theft, then shipping works well as you can insure it for full value (if your renter/home insurance don't cover such travelings).

Ryan J

Feb 03, 2013 at 06:45 PM

Yeah I don't understand the worry here. I've traveled with my bike dozens of times and any problems were the result of the way I packed it. Not that I'm a fan of TSA by any means but that's a different discussion.

Adam

Feb 04, 2013 at 05:14 PM

I think the worry is simply that the bikes we are talking about shipping can cost up to 5, maybe 10k or even more (in the case of Ashley B's M-F-Venge with Dura ace and Zipps). Trusting that to an airport handling goon is a leap of faith. Couple that to the TSA's 'acting under the order's of the Commander in Chief to protect the nation' attitude, meaning they are quite capable of working under their own rules of fairness, means that some concern is to be warranted.

Ryan J

Feb 04, 2013 at 08:13 PM

Perhaps the solution is to have a Venge in every city to which you travel. Maybe even just rent studio apartments for them.

Adam

Feb 04, 2013 at 09:14 PM

That's the sort of thinking of a new, bold and progressive Sponsorship Director.

Ryan, I like the cut of your jib!

Dan Reiners

Feb 06, 2013 at 08:41 PM

Ryan,

I believe it isn't called a studio apartment, a studio apartment is for some sort of ruffian of the lower orders. The proper term is a pied-à-terre, or to coin a new term pied-a-velo.

may I suggest this.
http://www.forrent.com/apartment-community-profile/1000062967.php

Jules

Mar 28, 2013 at 06:56 PM

On the topic of Bike Cases - I used the Helium Bike Case and my verdict is: "Steaming Pile of Poo"

mugwump

Mar 28, 2013 at 07:02 PM

Why? My fear is that the inflated padding gets punctured.

Jules

Mar 28, 2013 at 08:07 PM

@Wump:

1) The device is insanely complex and won't close properly unless a very specific order of operations is obeyed. You can't just "pack your bike carefully and close it.

2) It is poorly constructed;

zipper seams blow out where they are under pressure
the foam block that sit under the bottom bracket is poorly attached to the bottom of the bag
straps that are designed to take a lot of pull pressure have buckles that fail

3) The air bags are great; but to pack it properly you have to inflate them after you close the bag. TSA will DEFLATE them to inspect the bag and won't reinflate them when they are done

4) The rear der and der hanger are absurdly exposed with no padding; so anything hitting the back of the bag will damage them

Jeff Owens

Mar 29, 2013 at 12:51 AM

Jeebus. Hope the whips were ok.

Brendan Rigby

Mar 29, 2013 at 01:33 PM

I'm up here in Massachusetts and will be taking a bus back to NYC. I want to bring some wheels with me on the bus. I was going to get a wheel bag at the LBS and hope that there's room to just...put them on the seat next to me.

Anyone got experience with bringing wheels on buses? Tips? Is this a terrible idea? How much to ship?

dstokes

Mar 29, 2013 at 02:54 PM

Just throw them in the luggage compartment under neath the bus. Maybe put them in a plastic bag to keep the grease off other peoples luggage. Wheels are not exactly fragile.

josephmueller

Mar 29, 2013 at 06:14 PM

Yeah I have a wheel bag I think i got it for $12 at nashbar. I would wait till everything is in the bus then put them on last and sit up front so you can be the frist to take them off.

Jules

Mar 29, 2013 at 11:15 PM

Buy each wheel a seat and then sing them songs the whole way. Make sure to bring a pink and blue blanket to cover them with while they sleep.

Brendan Rigby

Mar 30, 2013 at 02:02 PM

"the wheels on the bus go round and round..."

Jules

Jun 14, 2013 at 12:11 AM

(Merged) Aaron, drop and give me 20 for not being able to find this or existing thread...

Jules

Jul 26, 2013 at 01:00 AM

Spotted on the road from Minneapolis to Rhinelander...

Yeah baby... TWO LIONS

2Z0A7819.jpg

Rick Perner

Sep 20, 2013 at 06:31 PM

Does anybody know of a shop in or around Chicago that rents cross bikes? Marc...?

My GF and I will be heading out there 10/19-10/20 for her nephew's baptism...she's the god mother. It means I'll be missing Marty's. But there are cross races both days there or close by as part of the Chicago Cyclocross Cup. I'll bet Chicago has some good hecklers and hand ups

I'm trying to decide wether I should bring my bike or rent one there (if that's possible).

mugwump

Dec 17, 2013 at 09:42 PM

Heading off to the Mt. Washington section of LA tomorrow for a week. I've been there before, but always looking for better rides and groups. I've got a ride set for Saturday morning starting in Manhattan Beach and taking in dirt roads in the Santa Monicas. Never been to the Rose Bowl ride, but don't know if I can make it due to timing.

thoughts?

Marc Bertucco

Dec 19, 2013 at 02:26 PM

Hi Rick, Just saw this thread...

I don't know off-hand about actual Chicago-city bike shops that rent. The shops I frequented are either closed or pretty far from the city (the team sponsor).

But I bet you wouldn't have to make too many calls to find one that would.

You could try this one:

http://www.ponyshop.com/

Evanston might be close to your location...and it's owned by a former race acquaintance (I think, if memory serves) who also used to a CRCA president way, way back in the day. And they sponsor a few cross riders.

The bike shop that sponsor's the team I used to be on Prairie Path Cycles, has a few locations, but I don't know if they rent, and they are about 1 hour west of the city proper. Another western Suburban shop from an even older team I was on is called Village Cycle Sport.

http://villagecyclesport.com/

http://prairiepathcycles.com/

I'd be really curious to see what you think of the Chicago cross scene. It's changed a ton since I've been there. And a good friend of mine curses it regularly. But he could just be behaving like a grumpy old man.

Rick Perner

Dec 20, 2013 at 04:38 PM

hey Marc,

Thanks for the links.

I wound up not racing when the GF and I were in Chicago in October.

I had contacted the Chicago Cross series promoter got the info for a number of shops(which didn't include any you mentioned). Nobody had cross bikes available to rent or knew of other sources. They were all pretty skeptical about me finding any shops that did.

I considered bringing my own bike but bad logistics got in the way. The final straw was your friend's take on the scene there. Right about the time we were making plans, you had posted a vid of a Chicago race along with your friend's commentary. I think Eric said something to the effect that in the vid it looked a bunch of guys riding out in a field. The race I was going to do was called Psych Cross out in Wauconda . I watched video of past years' races and decided that it was some of the least technical racing imaginable. Apart from some trucked in sand and a wooden runup flyover it really looked like it was just a bunch of guys out riding in a very well groomed/manicured field.

It looks like I'll be visiting Chicago w some frequency over time to visit GF's family and friends. I''ll probably have occasion to do a cross race there when the logistics are more favorable.

Jules

Mar 03, 2014 at 02:53 AM

Cross posting: certain credit cards will insure your baggage if you use the card to buy the plane ticket.

Jules

Jun 23, 2014 at 02:24 PM

Got my Sunday ride on with the Morning Glory Cycling Club up here in Toronto. It's a 625 (yes, no joke) strong club with over 40 women and a ton of masters racers.

http://www.strava.com/activities/157002930

Saw cows, horses and whatnot; learned Jules' life lesson number #lostcount which is that the big uphill attack in a group ride always happens juuuust after you take that giant bite of PB&J ...

Of interesting note, Michael Barry was there and was as friendly as ever. Although we've been on & off correspondents (he went pretty quiet post-grand jury) he recognized me from five years ago in Girona, and was eager to say hi. It sounds like he's organizing a series of grass crits for juniors, and is back riding with the guys he trained with as a kid. If there were any hard feelings amongst them I didn't see any.

MGCC has it's group-ride DIALED. Very well disciplined, no drops... we could learn more than a thing or two from them. They also have a dedicated women's only ride once a week.

mugwump

Jun 24, 2014 at 01:23 AM

Jules said:

Of interesting note, Michael Barry was there and was as friendly as ever. Although we've been on & off correspondents (he went pretty quiet post-grand jury) he recognized me from five years ago in Girona, and was eager to say hi. It sounds like he's organizing a series of grass crits for juniors, and is back riding with the guys he trained with as a kid. If there were any hard feelings amongst them I didn't see any.

MGCC has it's group-ride DIALED. Very well disciplined, no drops... we could learn more than a thing or two from them. They also have a dedicated women's only ride once a week.

Curious about Mr. Barry. Would you expect people to be all in his face grunting "doper" whenever they rode by? I'd venture to guess that some probably have dropped off the ride because of him while others tolerate his presence, and others excuse his behavior.

Of course, the real reason they excuse him is that he sent them hand-written notes with another amended "memoir."

But the final paragraph is what I'm really interested in. Tell us more.

Jules

Jun 24, 2014 at 01:40 PM

mugwump said:

Curious about Mr. Barry. Would you expect people to be all in his face grunting "doper" whenever they rode by? I'd venture to guess that some probably have dropped off the ride because of him while others tolerate his presence, and others excuse his behavior.

I sincerely doubt it. This club ride is a 5:40am regular; so it has a different feel from the Brooklyn crowd. Almost entirely Masters, and many of them new riders. I don't think it's the same as here where any random ride can have a 1/2 dozen guys who have a legitimate claim to having been wronged by dopers. All conjecturethough; the club is growing like gangbusters so if he's deterring serious riders it's hard to see.

mugwump said:

Jules said:

But the final paragraph is what I'm really interested in. Tell us more.

They practice what they preach - we link to it in our How to Ride & Race doc, but here is the link for review:

http://www.mgridetoronto.com/uploads/6/9/2/5/6925446/mgcc_groupridemanual-05.pdf

The group meets and leaves on time, just after the ride leader gives a quick low-down of the route ahead. They also collect waivers from any non-club members at that time (more on that later.) After an hour or so of steady riding there is a stop where the group is split (or not, depending) into A, B & C groups. Guys who want to go solo depart there (Paging Mr. Barry & his posse) and the more spirited section of the ride begins.

They ride double file, without fail (even when it's a 40-50 strong crew) and when they stop at a light (which they always do) they come to a halt in double file formation so they don't make a giant amoeba of riders clogging the intersection.

Lots of punchy rollers north of Toronto (where we rode) and although there are attacks and surges going up the hills they reform quickly and everybody is looking out for the hindmost (and the new guys.) At one point someone burned a match to get up to me in order to warn me about a MONSTER WHEEL-EATING pothole that was approaching.

In the cases where someone drops a bottle (or a chain) which happened a couple of times - the group slows but does not stop (except for a couple of helpers) and the hindmost gets some help back to the group.

The women's ride is completely self-supported - and is a regular 40+ rider peloton.

The club has various distinct weekly rides that are each aimed at different skill/fitness levels.

You can read much more about them here http://www.mgridetoronto.com/

I'm a bit pressed for time here (vacation ain't easy!) but here are some of the impressive things overall:

They have a U23 Bursary program (funded by their sponsors - buy from the sponsor and the sponsor donates a portion of the sale to the bursary)
In just 18 months they got the legislation passed to allow double wide bike riding
Their Risk Management Plan is something the KCC Board should read & consider
It's a different club for a lot of good reasons. The riding community in Toronto is very different from NYC; they don't have these large parks where people do laps, so rides have to be more organized, and the racing is much more sparse (they have weekly club TT's and some crits but basically New York is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to racing)

All this said, I'm a big believer in collaboration and sharing of best practices - especially when it benefits everyone.

Phil Maronilla

Jun 24, 2014 at 02:08 PM

EDIT -

Slightly OT - but speaking of collaboration, at the MTB race we did last Sunday, a guy from NYCMTB came up to Rick asking about Kissena and maybe linking up somehow. We gave your name Jules, as contact and told him to check our website and FB page to communicate.

Jules

Jun 25, 2014 at 06:22 PM

Phillip Maronilla said:

EDIT -

Slightly OT - but speaking of collaboration, at the MTB race we did last Sunday, a guy from NYCMTB came up to Rick asking about Kissena and maybe linking up somehow. We gave your name Jules, as contact and told him to check our website and FB page to communicate.

Thanks Phil!

Jules

Jun 29, 2014 at 12:12 AM

Woah. Ok, these guys up here in Toronto take their weekday riding seriously. There is a SAG WAGON for weekday rides. No joke.

Andrew Da Silva

Jul 01, 2014 at 03:07 PM

Visting Kieran and racing a pretend Six Day in London in mid September. Anyone have a bike box?

Footage of the race from last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXRJOWgsOTE

mugwump

Jul 02, 2014 at 10:35 PM

Andy,

I've used the Gavilan BFF twice. Like it--while it takes more work to set up, it is quite a bit smaller, which comes in handy not only for beating the airline fees, but also for moving it in vehicles. No longer do I need to take up the entire trunk of a Town Car or a minivan to get the bike in motorized transport.

http://www.gavilanbff.com/