That’s it. Have their regulations forced you to not pack powders,gels, etc? Thus, risking showing up at your race hoping that your faves aren’t sold out because there’s 2000 other trigeeks with the same plan. I’m finally flying to a big race and I don’t want any surprises, being OCD and all.
And what about packing the bike? Same flight as you? Do any of you guys send it the the race’s host bike shop?
Of all the restriction, rules and regulations I was able to:
-Carry gels in my carry on
-Carry powdered drink mixes in small zip bags in my checked baggage
-Carry sodium pills and vitamins in small zip bags in my carry on
-Carry CO Cartridges in my checked baggage
Don’t might look dumb but they know what they are doing. I had all my stuff in my transition bag returning from NYC (except the bike) they didn’t even open but they asked how I did at the race.
They do not open each and every the bike boxes. They swipe and, if the chemical returns explosive alert they open and inspect.
No.
Funny you bring that up. Prior to Vineman we (my buddy and I) were concerned about the same issue. Flew from DFW to San Fran via Denver with 5 waterbottles in my tri-bag full of Infinit and a few servings in plastic zip lock bags. Also included were a few gels. No issues for either of us though I probably appeared to be more likely to be a cocaine dealer then terrorist threat.
Recently flew to a race. All my powders, gels etc were in checked baggage. I had a backpack full of food for the trip as carry-on. (you laugh now but if the plane had been delayed or diverted…)
Had an empty water bottle that I filled up after security. (I guess this would be the only change I have made due to increased security)
I thought you couldn’t fly with CO2 and we have had so much trouble with camping gear that I didn’t pack those. But I inadvertently carried two back in my carry-on and no one noticed. I realised it during the flight and sat there wondering if they were going to blow up.
I once carried two kilos of white powder into Thailand.Try explaining to the customs guys there what race nutrition is.Luckily I had a note from the Pres of Triathlon Thailand written in Thai to explain what I was all about.I didn't even try to take any of it home with me.
Thailand is not a place you normally want to be caught carrying bags of white powder.
To the OP: only thing I do differently for travel is carrying empty water bottles with me through security, then filling them up with water once I go through the checkpoints. This has worked for me every time, except for a return flight from Mexico where they did another bag check at boarding and wouldn’t let people bring any fluids onto the plane. I finished my water while I was in line and they had no problem with the empty bottle.
So, I guess I’d say make sure you know each country’s rules if you plan on going overseas.
mm
When I flew to Inverness last year to do the Loch Ness marathon the rules about what you could carry on were very strict, so I packed everything in my checked bag. I was arriving in Inverness a week early and I tend to err on the side of having too much, so I had clif bars, gels, a tub of e-mend, e-caps, oatmeal ( yes, I brought oatmeal to Scotland ) as well as my running gear in the bag.
I’'ve just boarded the connecting flight from Heathrow to Inverness when a guy in a British Airport Authority uniform gets on the plane, comes directly to my row, looks at his clip board, looks at me and asks “Are you Mr. Nowlan?” , I said yes, he asked to see my boarding pass, and baggage check looked them over, handed them back and said “Thank you, enjoy the flight”. At this point I’m starting to panic a little because the last thing I want is to arrive in Inverness without my running gear.
Meanwhile the two people who had been sitting next to me have moved to anpother row, well away from me.
I asked the BAA guy if there was a problem, he said “No, no worries” and left the plane.
As I sat back down the guy seated right in front of me chuckled and said " They’re afraid of you mate, they were confirming that you were on board the plane before putting your bag on the plane".
Sure enough when i got to Inverness there was a red BAA tag on the bag that said “DO NOT LOAD Refer to despatcher”, I still have the tag as a memento of the trip.
All amusing now, but a bit worrying at the time.
The only thing I can think of is they x-rayed the bag, saw suspicious looking lumps and electronics ( gels, clif bars, garmin, hr monitor) and took apporpriate precautions. The bag wasn’t locked, one would have hoped that given the security climate at that time ( just after the ban all liquids event) that they would have opened it up and had a look.