cycling Tag

24 Feb A rallying cry for the travelling cyclist

Wouldn’t it be much easier to be a travelling runner?

Instead, we choose to travel around the world, by car, train, bus, and plane with our beloved bicycle. But it’s when we get to airplane travel, we encounter the wrath of airline policies on travelling with a bike.

And you will know they hate you then.

Flying with a bike cardboard
Flying out of Perpignan on thevictour.com, our 2010 trip

Airlines will charge between $0 and $200 per flight leg to bring your bike. This is preposterous, and these evil policies must die. Here in Canada we pay $70-100 on Air Canada and $70 on WestJet

Meanwhile, golfers seem to be loved by airlines — wealthy “lobbyists” perhaps — and as such rarely pay to bring their oversized golf bags.

Meanwhile, quantifiably, aren’t most cyclists fit and light, and so, even with the weight of their bike case, they’re lighter than many other passengers (via @amyakirkham)? And, unlike my recent endless three-hour wait on the airport tarmac to deal with an unhealthy passenger, most cyclists are healthy and probably won’t delay flights or aggravate flight attendants with health issues or needs.

How can we change this?
Consider choosing your flights and airlines based on their policy. Speak with your wallet. I’d love to see a comprehensive list of who charges what, but the reality is that it’s changing so quickly (in an upward trajectory) that it’d be obsolete soon.

Make a stink! I’ve had fun aggravating agents at check-in about their proposed bike charges. Normally, anything under $100 and I’ll comply. But with enough stubbornness, you can eventually get your bag through without a charge — not for the frequent use.

Make a stink using social media with your upcoming airlines.

And, share your thoughts and this post!

The worst?
Delta and Lufthansa are the worst I’ve seen, charging $150-200 per leg.

The best?
Many overseas flights won’t charge — unclear why — but do take advantage. Check out Virgin, BA, KLM.

Other tricks to travelling with your bike:

  • Don’t look like a cyclist, or you’ll be prey for bike charges. Avoid cycling related clothes, stay away from other cyclists at the airport, and don’t strap your helmet to the outside of your carry-on — a dead giveaway.
  • Pack a starting pistol in your bag — you’ll have to declare it, but TSA will assign an agent to your bag, and, promise, your bag will not go lost.
  • Don’t say it’s a bike in the bag! When asked, you can say it’s: camping gear, bike parts or “sports” parts, trade show materials, art, or even deposition materials. Yep, be nice and funny.
  • Get a bike frame with couplers and pack it super compact http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml5ZsuEdqOY
  • Don’t pack CO2 canisters — they may be detected and set off bike alarms
  • Put your foot under box while it’s being weighted to *slightly* lighten the weight under the 50 pound threshold. Also to get under the threshold, use a lighter soft-shell case or pack in a cardboard box.
  • Join an airline rewards program, and you may evade charges.
  • Remove your rear derailleur — the hanger is often a flight damage hazard. Also, protect your dropouts with those plastic pieces that come with new bikes. Wrap your tubes in cut up swimming noodles, a yoga mat, cardboard, or bubble wrap. Pack your frame upside down to protect the rear derailleur hanger.
  • Pack as little else inside your case to keep the weight down and agents and bag-handlers less grumpy.

And my two favourite tips:

Good luck, or let’s speak up. Perhaps an online petition via change.org/petition.

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23 Mar Race goals for 2009

There. Now it’s in words. I’m making goals for 2009:

  • Sub 2:10 Olympic triathlon. This won’t be easy as I’ve never done a triathlon yet and just starting to teach myself how to swim competently in November.
  • Sub 2:50 marathon. Came close in 2008
  • Sub 35 minute 10k. I think I just missed it in 2008 on a supposedly long course

I’ll mix these up with bike road races, time trials, duathlons, 5k running races, trail running, and adventure races, so might be spread thin.

I’ll be very happy to break at least 2 of the 3.

There. It’s in writing. Bring it.

Update: Today, April 19, I did accomplish #3, running a 34:48 in the Vancouver Sun Run 10k. I thought it was fairly hilly for a 10k, but that means downhills too which is good for me. The first km was downhill, and people flew off the line. I started easy and must have passed nearly 50 runners from 1km mark to the end, passed only by 1. It’s an incredibly deep event, with 80 runners faster than me (and, well, about 59,920 slower). This bodes well for a distance I really enjoy and is new to me. I’ve only been running 40-60km a week these days, balanced with all my cycling and swimming and skiing. I think with 100km+ weeks and later in the season, I could make a run at 33:xx.

Update: I did my first triathlon, a sprint distance (so about half an Olympic), today, the Delta Triathlon. So I can finally call myself a triathlete?! It was early season so the swim was in a 25m pool (not open water thankfully), but it was still plenty hectic with people piling up at points, getting punched and kicked, and missing breaths. That was a fair first swim for me! Bike was strong, but it was windy and the faster guys seemed to all have plenty more aero gear than me! Run started tough, but picked it up and finished the 5k in 17:42. Total time was 1:02, which got me 7th overall, 3rd in my age group, and which should make a sub 2:10 Olympic very realistic for me this year… well that is if I can find an exact, standardized Olympic tri! They seem to love half Ironmans only here in BC.

Delta Triathlon

Update May 3: I didn’t mention I also wanted to break 1:20 in a half marathon. For some reason that seemed a longshot, but thanks to a lovely morning today at the Vancouver Half Marathon and despite the ominous Prospect Point hill in Stanley Park, in the second half of the course, I was able to negative split the course and run a 1:17:37! I’m thinking that there’s more speed there — I went out conservatively for the first half as I haven’t done many runs this year over 21km, but had lots of legs in the second half. I also hooked up with a fast fellow from Seattle who had lots of speed coming down the hill.

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19 Feb Vancouver cycling: big climb to Cypress

Just outside of Vancouver, you can ride big mountain climbs, like this one to the base of the Cypress Mountain ski area. The main part of the climb is over 15km, up to an elevation of 3000 feet. And it’s even doable in the winter. What a way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

Here are the details from Map My Ride. Here’s the route profile:

Cypress climb from Google Earth

Here’s how it unfolded:

Vancouver cycling: big climb to Cypress from Noah Bloom on Vimeo.

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