Flying with a Bike

I went out to Colorado Springs last week to spend a cycling phantasmagoria long weekend with my brother Craig. Having never flown with the bike before, I needed to figure out how to handle that.

The BIKND Helium bike case.
Product review: real good possibly excellent,
but with a price.

So I got this kick-ass BIKND Helium bike case for flying with your bike. Great little item (okay, not so little). Easy to follow instructions on how to break down the bike, pack it and protect it. The thing actually has sides that inflate to protect the bike.

I did a little research, but ultimately, I just did what Nate told me to, and Nate said "get this". As usual, that worked out real well for me.

The whole adventure worked out pretty well despite the extra set of wheels (somehow, I picked up a great set of used Zipp 404's while I was in Colorado Springs, which is a major outdoor sports mecca) I had coming back putting the case over the 50lb limit - I just took my toolkit out of the bike case and repacked it into my - uh, sir, sir, may I have that bag back? the one that's on the conveyor belt

Race Report: NYC Triathlon, August 7th, 2011

NYC Triathlon

With 3130 competitors, one of the largest Triathlon events in the country
  Sunday August 7th, 2011
  Swim 1.5k in the Hudson River
  Bike 40k along the West Side Highway
  Run 10k in Central Park

Well, here it was. The "A" event of my season. All the training, planning, four previous events to increase my experience level, fund-raising for the American Cancer Society Team Determination, all done. Now within just a few hours on an early Sunday morning, it would all be over.

Honoring Friends and Loved Ones

During the race, I wore the tri-top colors of Team Determination, and carried ribbons of memory and honor pinned to my race belt. On these ribbons were the names of friends, family-of-friends, friends-of-friends and my own family. Cancer survivors and those struggling with cancer, as well as those who had succumbed to it. Honor and best wishes to them and thanks to the more than 60 people who donated so generously to support my entry in this event. We raised more than $5,300 to support the American Cancer Society.

From  my own family, I carried the names of my mother, Mary Lou Meese, who died of ovarian cancer, my father David H. Meese, who passed away earlier this year and survivied prostate cancer, and my beautiful wife, Karen, who is a breast cancer survivor, and with whom I celebrated our tenth anniversary this summer.

And if anyone has any video of me flying up the West Side Highway on the bike at 37mph Sunday morning, I'd like to see it! It must have looked wild with all those ribbons flying around!


Let's get this out of the way - the results

Overall time: 2:34:34
Place: 9th in division (out of 97), 413 overall (out of 3130)