Jul 13, 2011

Two Bikes in One Box: Mission Accomplished

I flew out of Montréal on Tuesday night, after work. The plane touched down Wednesday morning in Brussels, Belgium. Juvéderm-Specialized-Mazda will be based out of the Canadian National team's house  in Tielt-Winge for our Europe project.  I stayed here for several weeks last year and know the area a bit.  I still remember where the cheapest places to buy groceries are.  I'm set.

Tuesday's challenge before leaving Canada was to see if I could fit two bikes (my Specialized S-Works Amira road bike, and my Specialized Transition time trial bike) and all of my clothes and gear into ONE bike box.  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Unfortunately, my box got shipped to Bordeaux, France because of a typo that the check-in agent made.  Am I mad? No.  She didn't charge me any ridiculous fees for traveling with a bike.  But I have no clothes, and no gear.  I didn't even take my own advice of carrying my shoes and helmet on board with me.  What a wiener brain.

Note: How do you fit two bikes in one box?  I used a black, rigid, Serfas brand box.  It comes with 3 layers of foam, but I only used two, one on the inside of each cover of the box.  I intertwined the bikes (rear triangle inside the fork of the other bike) and had to carry my wheels separately in a wheel bag.  I only traveled with one set of wheels.  I packed my clothes in grocery bags (one bag for shorts, one bag for t-shirts, one bag for bike kits, etc.) to keep them together and to keep them from touching the drivetrain.  I stuffed the bags in the spaces between the bikes so nothing would move around.  Plus it saved me from checking another suitcase.  Mission accomplished.

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