Aug 28 2010

Take your bike or rent?

So you’re going on a bike trip across the country and you face one of the dilemmas:

Bike trips are fun but take some planning.

Do you rent a bike or ship your bike there?

Of course that depends on numerous factors:

  • Are you inexorably attached to your bike?
  • Is your bike custom fitted?
  • Are you a bike snob?
  • Do you like trying out new bikes?
  • What are the financial advantages/disadvantages?
  • How do you get your bike from point A to point B?
Normally, I enjoy renting bikes on my many biking trips. I like trying out new ones, meeting the rental company owners, and helping out the local biking economy. Besides, in many cases, renting is cheaper and way less of a hassle than shipping your bike or taking it on the plane/train. Let’s take a look at the pros & cons of each option:
renting
shipping
taking on plane/train
pros
cons
pros
cons
pros
cons
sometimes cheaper
sometimes expensive
sometimes cheaper
sometimes expensive
sometimes cheaper
sometimes ex-pensive
meet locals
shop not available
use your own custom fit bike
can be a hassle
use your own custom fit bike
can be a hassle
service
your bike style not available
possible bike damage
possible bike damage
try new bikes & styles
bike not custom fit
ability to get bike from point A to B if it’s a one way trip
convenience
ability to get bike from point A to B if it’s a one way trip
Getting bike and/or box to airport
Some airlines/trains won’t take bikes
On my upcoming trip to ride the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal Towpath trails, I decided to ship my bike rather than rent one. Since my ride will be over 300 miles one way, renting just wouldn’t work. Here are the factors that went into my decision:
  1. If I rented a bike in Pennsylvania, it would have cost me more than the rental charge to get the bike back to Pennsylvania from Washington D.C.
  2. Taking the bike on the plane was a hassle because I would have had to get the box to the airport both here in Colorado and at Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C. That would have been really hard in D.C.
  3. I’m taking an Amtrak train from D.C. to Connellsville, PA, and Amtrak wouldn’t allow me to take a bike off the train at Connellsville.
  4. Once my trail trip is over, I’ll spend another five days in D.C. I’d like to have a bike available to try out some of the D.C. paths, but it would cost a lot to rent a bike for ten days.
  5. The (little bit of) money I could save on shipping rather than renting would allow me to buy bike luggage for the trip.
So I made the decision to ship my bike. Then I researched the cheapest way to do that. For shipping alone, UPS would charge $133 with only $100 worth of insurance. For $100, I found out the REI will box my bike and ship it; and they include $1000 worth of insurance in that price.  In addition, if I shipped it to another REI store, they would reassemble my bike for free. (I won’t be taking that option on the trip there, since I assume there’s no REI store in Connellsville, PA. But I may choose that option on the way back and have them ship my bike to the Boulder, CO REI.)
I know, that’s a lot of information, but I hope it will help you make an informed decision for your next bike trip. The bottom line is, sometimes it’s better to rent and sometimes it’s better to ship. If you’ve got an expensive bike and a hard case for it, the airplane/train method may be best for you. I was able to save over $100 by checking around, so carefully weigh the options, then have a great bike trip.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/08/28/take-your-bike-or-rent/

Aug 27 2010

Denver Bike Sharing is a great idea

I did another one of my Denver bike rides yesterday. It was a bit different than my other rides. As usual, I rode the RTD bus into Denver, but instead of riding my bike back to Boulder County, I headed south on my bicycle.

To make a long story short, I rode what I call the Southwest Denver Loop Trail which is a combination of the Platte River Trail, the C-470 Trail, and the Bear Creek Trail. When you combine them, you get the Southwest Denver Loop Trail.

But I’ll talk more about that in a later trail blog. My subject for today’s blog is the Denver Bike Sharing program. It is also called Denver B-cycle. I won’t say much about it in the trailsnet blog because their bikesharing.org website has all the information.

However, I intend to ride the RTD bus into Denver again sometime soon, but this time without my bike. Once there, I plan to try out one of the loaner bikes available at the kiosk found at the RTD Market Street Station.

If you haven’t tried it yet, join me in giving it a shot. If you have tried it, I’d love to hear about your experience. Share it here on the trailsnet blog.

Thanks to Kaiser Permanente for sponsoring the Denver B-Cycle program. It’s a healthy, environmentally-friendly program.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/08/27/denver-bike-sharing-is-a-great-idea/

Aug 24 2010

Big Dry Creek Trail in Westminster, Colorado

If you want to see trail pictures, a trail map, and a trail description, for Colorado’s Big Dry Creek Trail, click on this trail link.

Below is a quick look at the trail as seen on my Everytrail trip guide. It is approximately ten miles long and can easily be done with a trail bike, hybrid bike, and some recumbents. Although many people ride the trail on road bikes, it’s not ideal w/ high pressure tires. A little less than half of it is cement. The rest is mostly gravel and a bit bumpy in places. It’s a good trail for bike trailers, so bring the kids out for a weekend bike ride.

Big Dry Creek Trail


Plan your trips with EveryTrail Mobile Travel Guides

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/08/24/big-dry-creek-trail-in-westminster-colorado/

Aug 23 2010

Should Segways be allowed on trails?

Okay, readers; here’s a tough question.

Should Segways be allowed on trails? An article by American Trails shows a recent ruling by a federal judge that says that Segways aren’t in the same category as wheelchairs, so in essence, the answer appears to be, “no!”

I can certainly see the reasoning behind this ruling, but I’ve also got to admit, I’ve enjoyed riding Segways on trails in the past. They are motorized, and I’m not a big fan of motorized vehicles on trails, but they’re also different than most motorized vehicles. For one thing, they’re a lot slower than motorcycles and ATVs.
I would also guess that, in addition to being safer, they probably don’t cause much trail damage, either.

So, I’m curious what you think. Take the poll in the right hand column and send in any comments. I’m torn between my previous experience on Segways (positive) and my previous experiences w/ other motorized vehicles on trails (negative).

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/08/23/should-segways-be-allowed-on-trails/

Aug 21 2010

Awesome tool for changing bike tires

Just when I thought that I was the only one who had trouble performing the simple task of changing a bike tire, along comes a device that makes me think,  “So I wasn’t the only one who hated using those little plastic tire-changing lever doohickies.”


How to use a Kool Stop Tire Jack from Kris R on Vimeo.

The name of the device is the Kool Stop Tire Jack (personally I’d have named it differently, but…) and my hat’s off to the guy who invented it. For all of us weekend warrior bicyclists, it’ll be a knuckle saver when it comes to changing bike tires.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/08/21/awesome-tool-for-changing-bike-tires/

Aug 21 2010

Check out the Bike Portland blog

Many cities and towns have their own biking websites that relate to bike racing, bike commuting, and bicycle recreation. One of my new favorites is the Bike Portland blog

It is well written and very lively. It stands to reason that one of America’s greatest biking towns would also have one of the best websites. So for those folks at Bike Portland, keep on riding and writing.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/08/21/check-out-the-bike-portland-blog/