Trial Bike Packing for Germany

I've built the cardboard bike box for my flight to Frankfurt from Seattle. I plan to ditch the box at the airport, then set up my rig like this for the trip into the city. My ticket on United limits me to one piece of luggage, 50 lb, at no additional charge, plus carry on. Before I fold and pack the bike, and stuff about 11 lbs of gear around it, it's wise to do a test run. I used this configuration for my New Zealand trip in 2011, so I know how to make it work. Too squirrelly for long distance touring, but should work fine with my plan to travel point to point on the Deutsche Bahn trains.

The rest of the gear needs to go in my carry on bag, so I'm testing various configurations to make it work.

The red item is a canvas bag, which I'll use to corral the tent and the dry bags when hopping aboard trains. William the Conqueror will fold and on this trip I'm bringing along its clever black bike cover which turns a bike into a sort of wedge shaped canvas bag. Two pieces of luggage plus carry on. Done! This configuration avoids both the steep oversize luggage fee for a full size bike ($USD 100-$200+) on a plane, and the 5,00 Euro bike fee for a full size bike on the train. I have a rail pass that allows 10 days of travel in one month, so if I don't have to pay to load a bike, I have 50,00 Euro to spend on cuckoo clocks, slices of chocolate cake and beer.

In addition to this kit, I'm taking dress clothes and a large picture hat for a wedding in Baden Wurtenburg. My plan is to mail these items on to a friend in London post-wedding. I'm still mulling my options on managing these in my carry on. I am confident I'll figure it out. Several years ago, I brought a wedding cake from Australia on a Qantas flight, and served it at my own wedding. Formal clothes should be somewhat simpler.

Gute Reise

I am off to Frankfurt on May 21, taking William the Conqueror, and planning a month of folding bike + train travel. My first trip to Germany. Looking forward to new sights and new sites alike.

Golden Gardens Park at sunset on a gorgeous May weekend

Bikes, bongos and barbecues on a superbly unexpected riding weekend. Seattle in summer can be magic.

This week's lunacy at the Boston Marathon

I am astounded at all the craziness this week.

With my less-than-perfect left ankle, I'm no marathon runner, nor do I see it in my future. But I know several runners. My dearest Aussie friend Trish (friends since preschool) took up marathon running as her response to turning 50. I expect she's got "Boston" on her top ten list.

This thoughtful post came from the IPhone app I currently use to map my daily bike riding. As I don't run, I usually ignore the posts from the runners. But I really like this map posted by runner samshah27 in San Francisco.

It's such a nice sentiment. As are the comments from Bill Iffrig, the 78-year-old marathoner knocked down by the bomb blast a few feet from the finish. He's from Lake Stevens, WA, a town near one of my regular ride routes.

“Somebody came by with a wheelchair, but I said, ‘I’m fine.’ I wanted to finish,” said Iffrig, a retired carpenter..." 

Rest in peace, Martin, Krystle and Lingzi. Such a stupid thing to happen during such a wonderful event.

At the old school Chelan Cafe on the Alki bike trail

Brilliant sun today so time to drop everything and ride a 28.5 mile loop to West Seattle and the Duwamish Trail. Brunch at this longshoremen's cafe with all the seniors and babes in arms. Along with your eggs you enjoy the maritime decor, including this reminder of the 1930s, the Kalakala, which is a heap of scrap somewhere.

Chilly Hilly 2pm ferry from Winslow

Weather today is breezy and cloudy with sun breaks. Starting at 6:30am I volunteered as a cashier for this year's bike season opener, then rode a piece of the Bainbridge Island route with all the happy customers. Definitely chilly and I've done it enough times to know how to avoid the "hilly", but, hey, it's dry, it's February, and you take what you can get, especially when the bike's been in the shed for a few weeks.

It's All About the Bike by Robert Penn

This charming and illuminating book by a British rider, subtitled "The pursuit of happiness on two wheels," is just the thing for the long evenings of winter.

Had I known in 2010, when I bought my Brompton, I'd have sprung for the Brooks saddle. I was feeling less anxious about money in those days. Still, not to worry. Penn's book wasn't published in the US until 2011 anyway, so I didn't know. I love Penn's description of visiting Chris King Precision Components in Portland, in search of the ne plus ultra of headsets:

"The employees were sitting down to lunch. They looked more like a chapter of Hell's Angels than a light engineering workforce.
'Ah, yes,' Chris said. 'The Portland look. The longer you live here, the more tattoos you have. It works a bit like oak tree rings.' "

After I finished the book, I found it so easy to convince myself to go out and order a custom made bike. Here in Seattle, there are a bunch of handbuilders who'd happily help me part with my dough.

One day. For now I'm sticking to my three bikes. I really shouldn't complain.

I just had ankle surgery to remove some of what I now call my "souvenir of New Zealand" hardware.  I managed a 7 mile spin to Golden Gardens on Sunday, and later this month I'll risk my cleats again. It should feel wonderful to be rid of the ankle tweaking I've endured all year.