The Ramblings of MTBBill

Good Question – My Travel Case

So I got a question in the email yesterday that I thought the answer would be worth sharing.

Don Maneth wrote:

“…I know you travel with your bike a ton. Which travel case do you use? Do the airlines accept it as recreational equipment for an additional charge? Typical fee?”

Well Don, I have traveled quite a bit with my bike and I would be glad to pass on some of my observations.

The Luggage:

The travel case I have is a Trico Sports Ironcase. I have been quite happy with the one I have have since 2005. It was first called into action for a trip to Copper Canyon in Mexico but it has been used for trips to the East Coast, Japan and the Pacific Northwest. When I first bought mine, I got it as part of group buy deal that run me $200. These days it retails for around $329. I will say this about the case. I have yet to have one of the airline baggage gorillas damage this case or the contents.

Packing these things are pretty particular and the TSA nearly always want to take a look in the book. I have gathered this from the numerous times of getting the “We looked in Bag” note from the TSA. I typically mention at the counter that the arrangment of the stuff in box is pretty particular and I would like to be prsent for the TSA looksee. It typically depends on the airport you are at wither they will accomidate the request or not, but I pack the box with the thought of this happening in mind.

Notice that my lightweight short-travel XC bike will fit with the fork still in the headset. With my longer-legged and slacker geometry bikes (6″ and 7″ travel forks) I have had to remove the fork from the headset. If you have to do this I highly recommend that you take a piece of string and runn it through the head tube and tie all the bearing/headset bits together. Also place any spacers back on the steerer tub and screw the headset cap back on to make sure the bits don’t go off an unplanned adventure.

The Airlines and Luggage Fees:

The only consistent thing about the airlines (particularly United with whom I do most of my flights through) is that they are inconsistent. You should however plan on paying the worst case scenerio costs which are steep. The Ironcase box along weighs 31lbs so unless you have a road bike (and since you are my site, I’m assuming we are mountain bikes) you are going to be over 50lbs. Being over 50lbs makes your luggage overweight. Being over 70 lbs puts you in the excess weight catergory. My Intens Uzzi (7.5 ” travel go do stupid stuff rig) weight in at 34lbs toss in a helmet, shoes, and multi-tool to put thing back together and you break the 70lb threshold. Here is an old story about getting my Tricocase packed under 50lbs

United currently can hit you for a Special Item Fee (currently $100) as well as overweight fee ($100 if between 51 and 70lbs, $200 if over 70lbs) This is for each direction! So that plush downhill couch could cost you $600 bucks for the trip. I have only gotten smacked for the special and the over 70lb fee once. I moved enough stuff around after that to get the box under 70lbs. I have sometimes gotten as lucky as to have the box just checked as regular luggage for no special fees whatsoever. More commonly I have often only got charged the Special Item Fee. It all depends on the airport, and the person at the counter. Being nice and cordial, calling them by there name on thier badge, and generally doing the social engineering/Dale Carnigie thing may help to keep you from getting both of you ass checks slapped while the airline has thier way with your wallet.

Alternative Shipping:

USPS: Big thing here is you have to get the weight under 70lbs and you can not let the width go beyond 10.5″ (This is part you sandwich down with straps) $107 each way for a shipment for San Diego to North Carolina and will typically take 8 days. For you folks that have access to military bases, USPS ships to all the military bases and you can ship through them parcel post on the cheap. It cost me just $68 to ship my bike to Japan once. Once, I missed the fine print when it said it could take up to five weeks to get there. They meant it!.

UPS: For this type of box, you will be paying for billable weight (96 lbs) versus the actual wieght. $170 each way for a shipment from San Diego to North Carolina and will typically take four for days. This is a fairly good way to ship, but you should call ahead to the local UPS store you are going to go through first as some stores and less educated on thier polices than others and may balk at the case.

Don’t use bike luggage: A carboard box and bubble wrap weighs a lot less than 31lbs. This could get your package down under 50lbs to reduce your airline luggage fees but it could also make your bike more likely to get damaged enroute. Particurly if bike gets handling by this gal or this luggage chimp. If you are going to go the cardboard box route, I would suggest talking to your local bike shop and have them set aside one of thier boxes after thier next incoming shipment.

The Renting Equation:

Sometimes bringing your own bike is the obvious choice, for a whole slew of reasons. However often times I have to weigh my options when it come to the cost. Some of the things I think about when it come to renting are: How long am I going to be at my destination; How often do I expect to ride; What kind of riding am I looking to do (what kind of bike do I think I’m going to need); what are the cost of the rental offering at my destination.

Rental Costs: In most places you are going to be paying a premium for a a full-suspension bike that is not of the department store genre. $50-90 a day is not uncommon. Hardtails are cheaper but you are most likely looking at $25-30 bucks a day. Now for you folks who have access/priviledges on military bases the Outdoor Recreation Centers typically have hardtails for rent at the best rates you will find anywhere. You also need to factor in the time required to go get the bike and return it. So if you want to grab and afterwork ride, you really need to rent it the day before and you may not be able to get back to shop prior to closing. You may have to rent a bike for two days just to get in a full day of riding particularly if you want to go someplace that takes a bit of driving.

Riding Style/Required Bike: A lot of my travel biking is work related these days. When I am on “The Man’s Dime” I typically ride more more within my abilities. I would feel pretty bad if I jacked myself up out on the trail that impacted by ability to do my job. So with that it mind maybe a hardtail is all I need and then maybe I will just rent a full-suspension bike for just a day or two if I want to go do some more aggressive type riding.

Here are a few of examples:

#1. A couple of years ago I was going to be in the Seattle area during the summer for six weeks. With the long days I expected to be able to get in at least one ride during the week after work and one a ride on Sundays. I was also contemplating a run up to Whistler for a couple of days should the job go well and were ahead of schedule near the end. So at least 12 outing and maybe some downhill fun bonus days. $50/day rental x 12 days = $600 bucks. Okay I’m taking the bike.

#2 I had a four week trip to Japan coming up. I was mostly going to be riding the local trails on the Muria Pennisula where the Yokosuka naval base where I was going to be working. Once again I was planning on two bike rides a week, but know that it was nearing the raing season that might not happen. Additionally, there was some talk with some folks I know there of a potential trip to the Fujimi Panaorama Downhill MTB Park. I could rent a hardtail on the base for $130 for a month (killer deal) and it runs about $100 to rent a full blown downhill bike and the protective gear for the day Fujimi. $230 was a no-brainer I left my bike at home.

Closing:

Just get on a bike when you are somplace out of your normal haunt. It is good times for sure. Airfare luggage fees and short length trips make it really tough to justify the cost. Then again luggage is typically a reimbursable buisness expesnse 😉

Daley Ranch Hack-O-Rama Ride

Being sick sucks! I have had a lingering cough/congestion for going on two weeks now they is really getting annoying. My get well plan is based on schedule of copious amounts of NyQuil, Vitamin C, Cascadian Hops and English Two-Row Barley. I have found it works quite well for either improving ones symptoms or reducing ones attention to the symptoms.

I have been getting in some rides but not to either the length or intensity that I would care to do. I have been feeling better for the last few days so I decided to do a larger loop out at Daley Ranch today. There is plenty of climbing to do out in this area so there would a good bit of effort-per-mile here.

It was a great day to be out and about and I was not the only one with the idea. The parking lot was packed and there looked to be lots of folks out who were obvisously trying to keep to thier New Year’s resolutions. That is all great for people wishing to improve themselves but I think there should be a federal regulation banning the manufacture of Spandex apparel in sizes greater than 18. Ladies, if your waist/arse is measured at 325/85R17 or greater then maybe a nice cottton baggie short and fluffy blouse would be a good starting point. It is like dudes in Speedos (in the US) if you ain’t sporting six-pack abs and could make a living in the adult film industry stick to board shorts cause nobody want to see that kinda stuff!

Post tramatic apparel viewing stress aside I had an alright ride despite not being 100%. I had plans for doing a 23 mile ride out here, but the hack-o-rama was taking it toll and I snipped off the last segment to make it an 18 miler. It was still a good day to be on a bike.

La Costa Stroll

Rancho La Costa Preserve is really close to Casa Del Bill so it is often on the menu you when I only have time for a quick fix of dirt. Despite its close proximity it had been sometime since I last rode out here. It seems like Elfin Forest, Lake Calvera or Daley Ranch had been getting more play as of late.

Some nice new trail markers can be found throughout the trail system.

Strolling up the switchbacks trail

Flag at the top. There was some drama a couple months ago as the flag up here (which was put up with permission of the land manger) kept getting stolen by some unpatriotic Jack Ass. It is awesome that we live in a country where even the idiots are free to express thier views in any manner they are willing to accept the consequences for. Too bad the Jack Ass was also a monumental coward as I’m quite certain the general public would have expressed themselves in a manner that he would not enjoyed. I’m thinking getting your ass whooped with a flag pole is adequeate consequence.

Dumbassness aside the trails were in fairly good shape and fun as always. Vista Del Mar Trail goodness above.

Daley Ranch Gruntage

Life has me way behind on all sorts of things these days and the blog has been taking a hit on the priority list as of late. I have been getting in some rides but at the end of the day the pictures have been having a tough time finding thier way off of the memory card. Here are a few pics from an outing out at Daley Ranch in Escondido.

Stanley Peak. There is quite a bit of grunt work required to get up here but the views are nice from the top.

The old water tower as seen from the fire road that takes up to Stanley Peak.

The Old Water Tank trail that connects the fire road up to Stanley Peak to the water tank. This trail has erroded nicely into a fun little snippet of a trail.

These pictures were taken fairly early in the ride and before I knew it I was chasing daylight. I’m no fan of the short days of this time of the year but something about being mindful of the remains of the days to push your pace of a ride.

A Zushi – Kamakura stroll about

Okay I have been back from Japan for nearly a month now and I am just starting to get caught up of some of my goings on while in land of the rising sun. On one of my weekends there I set off to do a ride that I would involve a bit of this and a bit of that as far as riding goes. I know quite a few trails over here and while I wanted to get in some dirt time I was also interested in taking in some of the sights and sounds of Japan life as well. So I set off on my ride with a bit of eye for looking for new things along an old route.

I started out in Yokosuka on the eastern shore of the Muira peninsula (about an hour and change south of Tokyo) and pedaled the streets over to the city of Zushi. The route itself is always interesting with lots of Mom and Pop stores, stairways to temples and narrow streets and sidewalks. There is this school that I pass by along this route and while I Have seen kids at play on it a few times in the past for the most part it was empty during my passings. Today was quite different. There was some kind of the school function that involved both the parents, kids and facility. There were lots of chants, shouts, cheering and laughing on the playground. I was already well down the street before I decided I needed to check this out with more than a pedal by so I hit the brakes and went back.

There was a hilarious race being held that had me laugh my arse off. It looks like four groups of parents and children were split up into four teams. They were in lines at one end of the field and some guy/official was sitting in chair at the other end of the field. At the man’s feet were two burlap sack filled with something. One sack was small and the other was large. Once the whistle went off, the person at the front of each line ran across the field to their corresponding guy in the chair at the far end. As they approached the guy that had to play the guy in a single hand of “rock paper scissors”. If the runner won, they got the small sack, if they lost they got the big sack. Either way you the runners had to take their sack back across the field as fast as they could and hand it off to the next person in the line. For the subsequent runners, winning the rock-paper-scissors bout meant you got to keep or get the small sack. The entire race we exceptionally funny to watch.

After getting in my fill of giggles I soon veered off the narrow streets and onto trails on and around Mount Sengen. Most of the locals refer to this area as “Duck Pond” as the most common route has you starting at a small pond. It has rained quite a bit over the past week and the trails had a lot more moisture than I had expected.

The soil here is clay based and while it does not cake up on your tires at all , it is some exceptionally tricky stuff to ride on where power and balance but be carefully finessed to keep yourself from becoming an amateur geologist taking unplanned soil samples.

Now sprinkle in some leaves and wet roots over this clay and you have some exceptionally interesting bit of trail to content with. You can find more information about this kind of stuff on Slickopedia.

One of my favorite little curves along the route, the ferns in this area almost popping. Like many of the hiking trails in this area they have a long history of use to connect between the numerous temples throughout the peninsula. This particular trail dates back to around the mid 1300s. After dropping this trail off of west of Mount Sengen, I did a bit of residential street riding before hitting up another series of trails. Shortly after this I found myself at several trail junctions enjoying the scenery while I sorted through the scribbled on maps and disjointed GPS files floating around in my brain. Eventually I channeled “The Schwartz” and figured out my way (The other ways, are now officially on my to-do list).

The series of trails I was on at this point where leading me to Kamakura on the western side of peninsula on Segami Bay. These trails were created sometime between 1185 – 1333AD. It is really kind of cool knowing that you are riding a trail nearly four times as old as my home country.

The drop into Kamakura proper is not a gentle one, there is some seriously steep and slippery steps to contend with as most of your elevation is cashed out rather quickly.

The final bit of the trail before hitting tiny concrete pathways and alleyways that led down into the streets of Kamakura.

With its numerous temples and cultural shops and restaurants one could spend weeks enjoying Kamakura before they would feel as if they have done more than scratched the surface. For me it was a quick stroll along the streets.

The “scramble” crosswalk. All traffic briefly stops and pedestrian pandemonium ensues. Very cool to watch.

This was what I was really looking for on this day, some of the tasty street vendor offerings. This stuff is some form of grilled chicken skin/bits will tasty sauce and shredded veggies.

So what if is bad for me, but yeah there were a bunch of skinny Japanese folks eating this stuff so how bad can it be. After mowing this thing down and a bit of Japanese fashion watching I made my way back over to Zushi along the streets. I had big plans to hit of up the trails of Fugato-yama on my way back but by the time I reach the turnoff street my legs were wanking so I continued along the streets back to Yokosuka. Turns out I did just a few yards under 27 miles so I did not feel bad about bailing on the last riding area. Another good day to be on a bike and a great day to be out stroll around in Japan.

A Rising Sun Ride

Work has me in Japan for a few weeks so it was about time to get out and hit the trails. The fall weather here is pretty nice so I opted for a crack of dawn ride as my Saturday midday was already booked up. The previous day had been remarkably clear and tomorrow was supposed to be overcast so I was hoping to catch a window to see Mount Fuji at dawn on top of Ogusayama the tallest peak on the Muira Peninsula near Yokosuka. It was still pre-dawn when I rolled out of the hotel at 5AM but not by much. The ride along the city streets was really quite and almost surreal. It was pretty much just me and the cats along with couple of early risers like myself.

The street riding to the trails is mostly uphill the entire way. Before long I turned off the primary streets to smaller and smaller secondary streets as things became more rural and I started passing little family farms. I was nearly to the dirt trails when the rising sun joined me on the ride.

In 2004, I spent the better part of year living over here and I rode the Ogusuyama trail network numerous times so this place is kind of like home away from home dirt. Fall is just thinking about starting here so the colors are not happening yet but the leaves on some of the trees are starting to get a little sparse so views occur a little more often. This typically reveals just how steep some of the hillsides are that the trails cut across.

I made pretty descent time to the top of Ogusuyama, but there were some distant clouds so Fuji was in hiding. So while the planned far-view scenery was not to be had, the nearby stuff was pretty awesome as a clearing near the top of the mountain was flush with flowers.

After the stopping to smell the flowers break, I opted to continue heading west down the other side of the mountain to the Segami Bay side of the pennisula. The trail I took has a lot of fun flowing sections but it makes you work for them as thier are some really rooty sections that require all of your bike handling attention. If the roots alone were not interesting enough the soil in this area is mostly clay and with the rains a few days prior the bare clay sections had traction qualities that are best described as “I Can’t Believe Its Not Butter”. There were many times along this trail where I’m sure my facial expression would be best described as being that of a “terrified smile”.

Below is one of the sections that was just blissfully fun.

Eventually the trail came out on a tiny litte street about the size of the golf cart path that feed to a series of other streets each a little wider than the last until I came out onto the main two-lane street down by Segami Bay. I did a bit of flat-land street riding to connect up with a another street that would turn into a fireroad that would take me back up into the Ogsuyama area. Before getting back into the climbing gears, I had to grab a bit of morning coffee. The vending machines over have canned hot coffee which are simply awesome. I am big-time addict of these coffees and being able to grab a quick fix on a ride is pretty awesome. Coffee Crack in a can — Good Stuff!

After getting my coffee buzz on I was climbing back up the mountain. The grade was a bit steep in spots and it felt good to get some burn in the legs. Once back up near the top of Ogusuyama I took a different set of trails that would take me to southeast and down into the community of Kinugasa. As I rolled off the trail I was quitely in the town which was fully awake now with lots cars and people fluttering about getting their day taken care of. It was a little bit taken back by it at first due to the juxtaposition of the sleepiness of the streets a few hours ago. From there is was quite a bit of street riding back to the hotel and before long I too was fluttering about getting the rest of my day taken care. I think I am going to have to do another rising sun ride before I leave Japan.

Playing At Iron Mountain

Friday I met Brian and Steve from some TGIF chunkage out at Iron Mountain.

After spending the last month riding (between work stuff) in Washington state it was nice to get back onto some turf/chunk. Of course it is always good to catch up with friends. The light was good and the temperatures were great in comparison to the mega-hot temps from just a couple of days earlier.

Steve playing

Brian rocking out

My turn

Trickier than it looks.

Newberry Hills

Here are a few pictures from one of the last rides I did while up in the Seattle area.

This place was pretty close to Bremerton and was a mesh of tight and twisty XC trails.

The trails were for the most part fairly atechnical but I have to admit that muscling around my slack and long wheel-based bike around the twisty bits was a bit challenging ing spots.

The trail elves have been at work out here.

While I had a good time riding out here, I would have really loved to have had my snappy hardtail to flick around this trail network. Right tool for the job or not anytime you can get out in the woods is a good time in my book.

Kachess Ridge, WA

This past weekend, I headed out over the Snoqualmie Pass area about 70 miles east of Seattle to check out the Kachess Ridge trail. I have passed through this area a handful of times over the years between MTB and flyfishing trips and I had eye-balled the mountains through here on every occasion. The ride is billed as dirt road climb that seems to go on forever followed by a singletrack that you wish would go on forever. It was time to find out first hand.

The first part of the ride is along a mildly undulating dirt road that heads north above the eastern shore of Kachess Lake. The lake is quite large but its rather difficult to see the expansive view due to all the trees. It was kinda fun keeping an eye out for the open spots in the trees here and there than offered views of the lake. This was a good mellow six miles or so of a cruising warm up.

The cruise fest was soon over as I turned up onto a forest road that started working its way up onto the mountain. The grade was fairly steep in places and I was reminded that my UZZI is optimized for festivities in the downhill direction. I would gain around 2,700 feet in just under the next five miles. There were numerous little brooks along the climb. I’m nearly always surprised at how loud even just a little bit of moving water can be. I couple of times I was expecting a torrent of water ahead only to see just a little spit of water in a real hurry.

The further up the climb I went the better views kept getting and with the lake as a reference below it was easy to see how much elevation you were gaining. I’m pretty sure I was past the halfway point when the iconic Mount Rainer starting making an appearance above the far ridgeline. While working up the climb and stopping here and there to take some pictures, I met up with a couple local riders, Mike and Justin, working thier way up as well. I was pretty happy to see that they were also working some long-legged bikes up the ridge as well as it gave some hints that maybe the downhill had some terrain worthy of the rigs.

We would leap frog each other a couple of times before the forest road eventually went up to a saddle on Kachess Ridge. The photo above completely fails to capture the true beauty of the landscape.

From the saddle it was time to the leave the forest road behind and hit some singletrack. Here is where Mike and Justin’s local knowledge came in mighty handy as the published route does not include a newer trail that is more contouring and a good bit of fun. The kind of fun you have when narrow trails test your ability to stay on line while wildflowers brush your legs on both sides. This first bit of trail was a sweet little descent that all too soon rejoined the main trail and turned into a tough hike-a-bike over the 1/3rd of a mile or so up to the saddle between the spires in the photo above.

Above are some of the views along the hike a bike section. The hike-a-bike was both steep and rocky with some scree to contend with. Some of my best epic adventures ever have included hike-a-bike bits so I tend to view them with a sense of optimism for trail goodness to come. Then again I have had some nearly former friends threaten to eviscerate me on the side of the trail for some “new stuff” exploration gone wrong.

For this SoCal boy, anytime a hike-a-bike across snow in mid-August is required, it automaticaly puts the ride soundly in the cool category.

Once over the saddle, sweet trail goodness was indeed in bountiful supply. It was good. Real Good. So much so that I selfishly (and unapologetically) blazed past a ton of Kodiak moments as the trail shed elevation through alpine meadows and evergreen forest goodness.

For you SoCal Peeps, there were sections of rocky chunky bits that conjured up thoughts of Noble Canyon while other sections would make you think of the steep hillsides of the Santa Ana River Trail except the trail was pointed in a much more downhill direction. Of course this trail had the awesome Pacific Northwest forested feel to it with lots of greenery. Yeah it was good!

The final section of the trail gets pretty steep as it cashes out over 1,000 feet of elevation in a little over a mile. There are plenty of switchbacks through this section and some of them can sneak up on you. Additionally there are a couple of these switchbacks where you simply do not want to blow the turn due to the exposure. I wish I had more pictures of this section to share but the little devil on my left shoulder was whispering evil things in my ear like “EFFF Everyone Else –Ride You Fool, Ride!”. The only thing I was able to make out over all wind noise coming from angel on right shoulder was lots of giddy giggles and “Whaaat heeeee saaaaid!” This was not a suckie day to be on a bike!

A Couple More Duthie Hill Pics

Ahhh more stuff from Duthie Hill

I was here earlier in the year and since then the trail elves have been busy working on Phase 2 of the Duthie Hill Park. I like this over-under setup, cool.

The real reason for this post it that I did a tweaks to the blog software and only way to fully test it is to make a new post.

So isn’t these much better than some “This is only a test” image?