Shipping Out!

One week to blast off.  I am in Lake Tahoe and will hit the mountain passes this weekend (and the Alpen Wine Festival).

My bicycle has arrived in Astoria, OR - which is the start of the ride.  I shipped my bike via Fed Ex and once again amazed on the route and the short time the bike took to get from Cape Cod to its final destination.

Why I did not buy stock in Fed Ex is beyond me.  Just hope it got there in one piece.

Last year one of the riders bikes got damaged in shipment (Amtrak) and was forced to buy a new bike in Santa Fe.  So it is always a crap shoot on whether your bike will arrive in one piece.  Nothing worst than getting to the ride only to find out that your bike is broken (or that your luggage and your 5 sets of fancy padded Lycra bike shorts did not get there).

My bike box this year is a Jetpack and is from a company called Biknd (out of Canada). Here it is just before being handed off to Fed Ex....

This is now my third different "box" for getting my bike out to a ride start.  My first shipment container was a big plastic box that I bought on Craigslist for $50.  Worked well for my first ride but the hinges fell apart after two shipments.   

My second "box" was a big cardboard box from a company called Shipbikes.com.  Worked real well except when it got to Santa Fe last year - one of the hotel maintenance guys didn't know that the shipment was for one of the guests and so he decided to open up the box with a box cutter.  

Luckily, I was able to repair it with 3 rolls of duct tape for the return shipment.  But that box is now history too - as duct tape can only work so long.  

Also for some of the readers - if you intend to ship your bike via the airlines (US Air) this box is a couple of inches longer than is permitted and may get rejected for loading on the flight - as I painfully found out in Kansas City on my return trip.  Thank god for my lifetime AA Executive status (and that AA had just bought US Air).

So I splurged and bought the Jetpack .....

While it is a soft pack (made out of heavy-duty fabric) it has two air bags on either side of the bag (just under each of the bike wheels) - sort of like the beach tubes you used when you where a kid. The use of fabric and the air bladders dramatically reduces the weight of the  container to 17 lbs.

So total weight (bike and bag) is 41 lbs.  Cost to ship to Oregon was $85 - significantly cheaper than shipping my old bike boxes and significantly less that the airlines would charge ($150).   And no TSA pre-flight checks!!

Getting ready for the next adventure

In a week I will be heading out to Squaw Valley for Labor Day and then heading to Astoria, Oregon the week after to start my next bike ride.  It will be 23 day trek down the Pacific Coast Highway with a total mileage of around 1400 miles.

Ride the West Tour

I will be using the America by Bicycle company again.  Last year when I rode the Santa Fe trail we camped the entire way.  The hell with that - I am going back to hotels!  Real beds and no bugs (hopefully).

My goal is to blog again - should be a hell of a lot easier having electricity and WiFi at each stop.

We are scheduled to ride about 65 miles per day.  This is the perfect amount of riding.

When we rode cross country - we averaged about 80 miles a day - with a lot of back-to-back 90-100 mile days.  By the time you  got your luggage, registered, cleaned your bike and took a shower it was time for dinner and then bed.

I think I am in shape for the ride having put in about 2500 miles since May .  Got the miles but not the elevation as training on the Cape does not help prepare you for the hills. So I am looking forward to getting out to Squaw and hitting the passes.  There are a couple of good 3000-4000 foot climbs that should help me cap off my training.

So hopefully you will follow along..  For those that signed up for either of the last two tours I think your email is still registered.  For you nubbies....  add your email into the box on the top right corner of the blog.

The adventure starts September 12th.