POLICIES
AND PROCEDURES
Bicycle Transportation
Means
Transportation
of Bicycles That Require Special Handling and Care • Preparation
for Transportation
Vehicle Loading
While
transporting people and their baggage is relatively easy because the transportation
infrastructure already exists to do so, none of the trains and busses we
rely on to transport participants as part of our transportation services
also have the capacity to transport large
amounts of fully assembled, unboxed bicycles. As a result, we will always
transport your bicycle ourselves
as part of our transportation services.
The only exception will be if an Amtrak train serving our stopping towns
allows fully assembled bicycles to be transported on board, up to the maximum
number of bicycles allowed. In this case you will carry your bicycle and
baggage with you directly aboard the train. If more participants
travel than the maximum number of bicycles allowed however, we will transport
all bicycles ourselves instead of onboard the train.
- Click
Here for more information about carrying bicycles aboard
Amtrak trains.
Each
individual will be allowed one bicycle for transportation with registration
for each transportation service and you will indicate what type of bicycle
you will be riding when you register.
Transportation
of Bicycles That Require Special Handling and Care
There may be an additional
charge to transport bicycles that require special handling such as recumbents,
e-bikes, and tandems because these types of bikes are typically heavier
and/or
take up more room in our vehicles than
standard upright bicycles. In addition,
they
also generally cannot be transported
on any outside roof racks
and must be transported inside a support vehicle,
and also may require special handling and care.
There will not be an additional charge to transport a tandem bicycle
if both people riding it also both register for the same transportation
service. This is because we would have to transport two bicycles
(one for each participant) anyways.
We cannot accomodate trikes (any bicycle with three or more wheels)
on any of our transportation services because we cannot
guarantee that we will be able to easily and quickly transport them
in any support
vehicle at any time and they also cannot be carried aboard any train.
Preparation
for Transportation
All bicycles can be transported fully assembled and unboxed - you
will not not need to remove your pedals or loosen your headset and turn
your
handlebars or disassemble it in any other way. The only exception to
this is that we may require you to remove your
front wheel and/or any racks if they do not fold up
or take up an unreasonable amount of space.
Before your bicycle can be loaded, you must have at least your
name and your cell phone number on a piece of masking attached
tape directly your bike frame and your
front wheel. If we need to remove your front wheel to transport
your bike it's amazing how alike bike wheels look, especially in
the dark, and identical wheels have gotten mixed up before. We
will not have extra masking tape or markers available.
In addition, we require that you
remove all loose items from your bike that could easily fall off
or get lost,
damaged or mixed up in
transit and
store those items in your
baggage.
These items
include such things as water bottles,
frame pumps, saddlebags, panniers, cycle computers, and anything else
which might fall off or takes up more significantly more room that
a normal bike frame. You should have the bare minimum number of items
on your
bike
in transit
to minimize
the possibility
that something could get damaged or lost. If your bike is transported outside
a vehicle, these items could easily get lost or damaged in the wind or
if your bike is transported inside a vehicle they could get easily
damaged
from
another
bicycle
or heavy
item placed on top of them or confused with someone else's identical item.You
should also prepare your bike for being transported outside in
the wind, such
as making sure you have no loose handlebar tape. Aerobars are not required
to be removed, but it is strongly recommended. We will not transport any
bikes that have not had all loose items removed that could easily fall
off or get damaged
in transit.
You should not plan on relying on us if you know or will reasonably
expect to need any parts, tools, or mechanical work done at all in order
to prepare your bike to be transported or ridden again. We cannot
guarantee that we will have the part, tool, or mechanical ability
you need, especially anything uncommon, or the time to do it.
- Click
Here for our information about our mechanical support
services.
We can also transport your boxed bicycle if you would like but it will
be your own responsibility to unbox it and reassemble after we reach
our
destination. However, it may be better to
ship it directly to
or from
the stopping town you will be arriving at or departing from
instead.
- Click
Here for more information
about shipping your bicycle to and from our events.
Vehicle Loading
If there are multiple arrival locations, such as a main lodging site
and supported hotel, you will put your bicycle in separate
piles going to each location because we need to load all items going
to each location together so they are easier to unload when we arrive.
- Click
Here for more information about item staging for multiple
arrival locations.
You will
help our staff member load your bicycle and once loaded he will then check
it off our master bicycle loading list. That way every participant will
be
assured
that their
bicycle has been loaded and has not been left behind and that we don't have
any stowaway bicycles.
When available, bicycles will be transported on outside racks as much
as possible to leave as much room as possible inside vehicles to transport
baggage and gear. This is because baggage and gear must be transported inside
vehicles and to prevent it from getting wet, particularly if it is raining.
Upright bicycles will be loaded
on roof racks first because they fit on the roof rack structure the
best and are generally the most lightweight to lift. Bicycles with aerobars
will be also loaded on roof racks as much as possible to prevent damage from
heavy items being placed on top of the aerobars
inside a vehicle. This also allows us
more room inside our vehicle to transport bicycles that do not fit the
roof rack structure
well
or are very heavy or not upright and require special handing and care such
as recumbent, e-bike, or tandem bicycles.
We will leave spaces on the outside racks available to quickly load bicycles
if we need to stop at multiple transportation staging points in one town,
such as if we stop at the supported hotel after the parking garage.
Once the outside racks are full, any remaining bicycles will be loaded inside
a vehicle and protected during shipment from scratches and other damage by
putting moving blankets between them which we will provide. Bicycles will
also be tied down snugly to prevent movement in transit.
If you want your bike to be protected with more than a moving blanket,
we recommend taping cheap pipe insulation or other packing material onto
all frame tubes and your fork which you can buy at any hardware store. If
you choose to do this you will need to store these materials in your personal
baggage yourself - we can't store your packing materials loose on our vehicles
during the event itself.
Once loaded, you will not have access to your bicycle until we arrive at
the destination. |