Monday, August 8, 2011

Boxing and shipping a Hoopty plus gear.

Today's mission was simple: get a bicycle box and prepare the Hoopty to be shipped back to Pennsylvania. I set out on foot and ate some pizza that I found. I got a bicycle box from Clever Cycles. I schlepped it back to Steve's where I set about taking apart the Hoopty and putting it in the box. This bicycle is going to need a fairly serious overhaul when I get home.

I checked the US Airways website to see about checking luggage. $25 for the first bag; $35 for the second. Shit. I had tons of camping gear and bullshit. I had two loaded panniers to check. Fuggit. I dumped out the panniers once again, and set to the task of making everything fit into the bicycle box. Tent parts and clothing were pulled out of stuff sacks and squeezed into any tiny space inside the box. The box was a giant hunk of rattling crap, and I could picture someone dropping it on a corner and getting blasted with bear mace. Not my problem.

Matt took me to the UPS shipping hub where the rear brake caliper had already gouged a hole in the side of the box. Terrible packing job. My solution was to insure it for 500 bucks. At 75 honkin' pounds plus insurance, it was $98 to ship. Not too bad! Especially considering that I now had no luggage to check, and I could fit tent parts and electronics in my $5 backpack as a free carry-on bag.

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