Traveling with your bicycle

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If you are not driving to a far away event, it is a problem to bring the bike. Here are your options: 

1. Rent a bike at location 
2. Fly with your bike as luggage 
3. Transport your bike with a commercial triathlon bike transporter 
4. Drive anyway 
5. Not go 

1. I have tried renting in Sweden which resulted in a summer with no competitions at all. Basically, there are not that many competitive bikes to rent and I am not a common size. I have given up on that solution. On big events, local rentals run out quickly.

2. I have flown with my bike on several occasions and it works, but includes a lot of preparations. First you have to make sure that the plane you are boarding accept packed bicycles. Small planes do not, and popular routes can have black out dates for oversized luggage during peak season. For example, flying to Europe during the summer months with a bicycle is not allowed on many airlines. Cost for the bicycle is around $150-200 per leg.

Clearing those hurdles, you have to buy a bag to pack your bike in. The safest and most expensive bags are hard case, but they are also the heaviest. Airlines have limits on how heavy an oversized package can be, and I have never seen a hard case that would not go above those limits when the bike is in the case. So I use a soft case made by Speedhound, but there are many other good brands to choose from. I have made 5 flights with this bag, and nothing has ever been broken.




When you have the case, the bike has to be packed. Wheels, saddle and pedals have to be detached and secured, handlebar must be rotated sideways. A professional bike shop can do this for you, but they are not going to be there when you unpack, so I have learned to do this myself (almost). Do a trial packing at least a week before you travel to make sure you can do it and that you have the right tools!

3. Tired of the hassle of packing my bike, and getting exhausted dragging it through endless airports, I have opted for professional bike transport to Worlds. It was not cheap, but promised to be worry free. Dump the bike on a local bike shop (on their list), they pack, they transport and do customs and any necessary assembly and deliver the bike to you in good time before the competition. 

Problem is, they need a lot of time. In my case 24 days before the competition, and I assume a similar time after. This option only works if you have a backup bike. (Problem solved this time, Worlds got canceled, I am not sending the bike. Pity the fee is not returned...).

4. Out of realistic options, I have ended up on multi day driving. Or sometimes, my husband drives the bike and I fly... 

5. Yep, that happens. Too much hassle. You can always consider swim run...

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