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We gave up on the suitcases for the BikeFridays because it is fiddly to fit them in (for us anyway) and boxes can be hard to come by, we think. We have used the large plastic bags supplied by WestJet and Transat in the past and they seemed to work reasonably well. Last year, coming home from Mexico, we used the bags but also used cling film to wrap the more sensitive bits inside the bags. Will do the same this time round so stay tuned for stories, photos and the story of how it really went in the next few days.
2 years agoIt sounds as if you bag your bikes, rather than box them, for air travel? I'd like to hear more/see the result. We are planning on our first European tour next summer. One friend, a frequent European bicycle tourist, swears by wrapping her bike. She lives in Napa, flies from San Francisco. Big city. We shall see. It is all intimidating.
2 years agoMaybe when we are all back on the same continent, in the same country, we can arrange a meet up.
2 years agoIt is lovely, but gets repetitive when you cycle it regularly.
2 years agoLooks beautiful!
2 years agoNot only that, but the longer the time interval between getting packed up and actually leaving the more "necessary" stuff we seem to find and add to the bags. Thank goodness we leave tomorrow or we would not be able to move the bikes at all.
2 years agoLeaving after biking to the ferry and airport on the right, biking in England for 5 or so weeks on the left and then crossing to France for another 6 or so weeks on the right should have us thoroughly confused.
2 years agoThings add up so quickly. A few grams here, a few grams there. Next thing you know you're talking kilograms.
When I went to Italy last summer, I ended up with a faulty weather report and thought I needed a lot of warm clothes. Between that and too much camera gear, uphill was a real slog. It is a struggle we touring cyclists face.
Scott has an excellent point. In Australia and New Zealand, walking, biking or driving we routinely call to each other ‘look right’. What we found really interesting is that after several months of being on the other side of the road, it took a few days for us to adjust back when we got home!
2 years agoOur up island favourite!
2 years agoSo true. The real problem with touring in a shoulder season is that one must carry clothing for changing weather which adds to the weight. One can cart around several pounds of stuff that is not used until half the tour is over. Our addiction to electronics does not help weight wise either.
2 years agoMy touring load usually comes in around the weight Dodie has, partly because I was hauling around a big DSLR camera. The e-bike aspect does add quite a bit of weight. I’d say your loads are not unusual, especially when you consider the variety of weather you’ll hit.
2 years agoThanks Scott. Valid point, duly noted. The other problem might be in using the mirrors to check for overtaking traffic. Our brains are wired to interpret signals coming from the right (being North American) and this also might take a bit of getting used to. Also, turning left is easy but right turns are now the issue-maybe until comfort levels increase we might walk across when it is time to turn right. It will be interesting for sure.
2 years agoSomething for you and two to think about: for me, the greatest risk riding over here wasn’t finding myself biking on the wrong side of the road, though that did happen a few times. It’s forgetting which direction to look for traffic when crossing a street or highway. It’s hard to break your lifelong instinct to look left first when you cross the street, while the nearest traffic is racing at you from the right. You might practice calling out to remind each other which direction to look first when crossing a busy street.
2 years ago
It also may depend on the airline you are flying with. The ones we use most require that each bicycle be in a bike case or box and further that it be only the bike in the case. We push it a bit by including bike-related items (tools, helmet, cycling shoes, bike lock, etc.) and have never been required to remove them. And they know they are there. We've been required to open our cases and (temporarily) remove objects other than the bike for a thorough inspection when checking in at Vancouver, Victoria, or Calgary airports. Better that we do it than an inspector, though.
2 years ago