Team an I are flying to Lubbock for Collegiate Nationals again this upcoming April.
Last year it was no fun driving down, so we are having the school fly the team down.
Now, how to get our bikes down? I’m sure an airline wont be happy when a whole team comes up and tries to get bikes onto the plane.
(Let alone assume that they will get there)
I was thinking of possibly shipping UPS/FEDEX in a crate (or two or three)
The only other idea I came up with (and REALLY do not want to do) is to have two athletes make the drive in a Uhaul or something else that can hold all the bikes.
I am sure you guys have some Tri “groupies” that would not mind making the trip down for the race. Offer to give them a place to crash out and maybe pay for there food and that should be cheaper than paying excess baggage fee’s for 15 bikes @$100to$200 a pop…I am sure there are some other options…
What school are you from?
How about a parent volunteer for the uhaul job? Pay for their hotels, etc.
Stevens Institute in Hoboken, NJ
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Part of the reason that we are shying away from driving is the excessive amount of accidents that our team saw last year on the way down.
Wow, you’re far. We are like 550 miles away and I thought the drive sucked hah.
Easy solution!! You can ship LTL - 18 wheeler - dedicated carrier. I feel certain that would be a lot cheaper than UPS or FedX AND much less likely to have your bikes destroyed!!! Probably well under $1k. The issue you would need to address is securing the bikes. You could easily and inexpensively build a few skids with quick releases mounted on them or just find some pallets to mount them to. Since the bikes and your other equipment would be the only cargo, that should work.
Get several quotes. Someone associated with your school should be familiar with shipping LTL. My company ships in our raw material via LTL several times each month. Let me know if you need more specific info.
That would be great!