How Do You Travel with Those Things?

A question we get asked often is how we travel with our bikes? Well...we take them most everywhere we go. If we are traveling nearby we have a bike rack on the car that attaches to the hitch. If we are flying somewhere we have bike cases that we put them in. Is it easy? No! The cases are large, although not that heavy, are hard to navigate through the crowds. They also require us to take the bikes apart, but it gets easier over time. So I am told. Steve is the real work behind the job. I just assist, or sleep. HA! HA! HA!  Funny story there, but back to the bike cases and traveling with them.

Often times our bike cases weigh the same as luggage. If we keep it below 50 pounds we do not have to pay extra to take it on the flight with us, on certain airlines. American Airlines is our airline of choice because if we travel in the US we get to have two bags for free (the two bikes) and then we pay fifteen dollars for our regular bag. Not a bad deal.

Sometimes traveling with bike cases can present a challenge. As with any luggage the bikes have to be inspected by TSA, because well they look at everything especially over sized things. Putting the cases back together is somewhat challenging because there are many straps on them and you have to sit on them and then pull the straps tight. Does the TSA care if they get them tight and put together well? Of course not. We have had them put back together in a variety of ways, but they have still kept them safe and secure.

So, why did I say all that. Well...I had to setup the backstory so you could understand the situation you are about to read. Okay, so back to the funny part, or not so funny if it happened to you. lol! Right Steve? When we went to Hawaii last summer we traveled with our bike cases. We had noticed that the TSA does not allow CO2 cartridges, but our bike buddy Jonathon assured us he had traveled many times with them and never had a problem so we left them in our seat bags. (Seat bags carry tools that allow us to change bike tubes during a ride in case we get a flat.) We arrived in Hawaii with our CO2's still in the bag and no hiccups, but on the return flight that was not the case.

During our stay in a Hawaii there was an Ironman race so there were an increasing amount of bikes coming and going. So as we arrived at the Kona airport to depart the Island and go home we were asked by the TSA agent if we had any CO2's in the case. Well...Steve being the honest guy he is of course told them yes. So as we stand at the airport, which is one hundred percent outside in the heat and humidity, Steve has to take the bike cases apart (remember, many straps) and dig the CO2's out and throw them away. We are already in line and all the airport patrons are watching a frantic Steve pour the sweat trying to get these out of the seat bags.

He finally gets them out and the cases back together and we proceed to the airport security line. As we are going through the body scanners Steve gets flagged. Why, do you ask? Because he was sweating half to death and they said he had hot spots show up on the body scanner. 😂😂😂😂 Now, if you have ever been through airport security and know how fast paced and nerve wracking it is. You will understand the craziness this was.

So there you have it. Traveling with bike cases can present complications, but we get to explore the world in the way we enjoy the most.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A little bit about us.

Image
      Welcome all! This blog is about the adventures/misadventures of my husband and I as we travel the world and take our bikes along for the ride.     A little bit about us:            Steve and I started running over a decade ago. When our bodies started hurting, due to all the pounding of the pavement my husband started cycling. A few months later we were both hooked. Cycling offered us less wear and tear on our bodies while still allowing us to live a healthy active lifestyle. Fast forward to 4 years later and here we are. We have met many lifelong friends, which we will reference in this blog, that we would not have met otherwise.      Last year we traveled to many places and even experienced our first trip out of the country. Yes, our bikes came too! We never leave home without them. Some of the places we traveled included: Hawaii, Washington D.C., The Smokey Mountains, Whitetop Mountain, Southern Illin...
Read more

Dog Knotted?

Image
So...recently we ventured out for a winter ride in Ohio. The weather was a bit chilly that day.  I think the high that day was 41 degrees, which sounds horrible to be on a bike, but when you dress in the correct gear it's not so bad. Who am I kidding it still sucks. I want summer back. Just like any other winter ride we had to avoid the usual obstacles: ice on the road, dogs, so many dogs. (PSA: Please keep your dogs on a leash or in a fence. They like to chase those of us on bicycles and cause us to wreck at high speeds.) Anyway, the ice, well really slush, was from the heavy rain we had one weekend where we had gotten 3 inches of rain in one day and then the temperatures plummeted one night causing a hard freeze in areas that were flooded. That is what we had to cycle through. As we maneuvered through the slush slipping and sliding we thought this would be the only obstacle that we would have on our ride. We were wrong. When we got to the end of this road we turned on this v...
Read more

Ironman Steelhead 70.3

Image
 Let me start this by thanking everyone that helped me train or trained with me. Without your support this would not have been possible.  Pre-race: The weather in Michigan two days before was stormy and windy. The forecast for Sunday didn’t look much better. When we arrived Friday the venue had been moved indoors because it was raining so hard. We still held out hope that the race would go on. On Saturday Bill and I went to packet pickup and to check-in. We were greeted by a monsoon. Again, still holding out hope that tomorrow would be better. We had planned to get in the lake and get a practice swim in, but the visibility looked bleak. We drove down to the starting line anyway and much to our surprise the lake was calm and the temperature was perfect for swimming in a wetsuit (it was about 68 degrees). Anyway, we got a 500 yard swim in (that’s not long for those who don’t swim, but enough to just get a feel for it) and our outlook was looking brighter.  Saturday night (n...
Read more