Getting up before the alarm this morning was easy – my trip to Kona lay in front of mean and I was ready. The day was going to be a long one, with 2 significant mainland layovers; I would leave Philly at 10:15 and arrive in Kona 15 hours later. Using frequent flyer miles isn’t always as great as it sounds, but I sleep pretty well on planes and am pretty good at keeping myself busy reading, writing, drawing, and listening to music.
Sena, drove me through early morning rush hour traffic to Philly airport where I arrived 2 hours before my flight to ensure I didn’t have any trouble checking my bike. For some strange reason, I felt extremely calm as we drove to the airport. Sena, on the other hand, was anxious about the whole family trip, the coordination required and responsibility she felt getting all four of us to the Island at different times. Believe me, I don’t take it for granted that she has taken on the majority of the burden in planning this.
Extra Airline Charges for your bike
Over the past two days, I spent many hours disassembling and packing my bike. I had gotten both my bike container and my checked bag down to under 50 pounds each in an effort to avoid additional, costly airline fees. Based on the American Airline web site, I expected the airline to charge me, at most, $100 each way for my oversized bike case (greater than 67 diameter inches). Based on my last airline trip with my bike and some additional research, I know that the check-in clerk has some discretion in this matter and how they interpret the rules. The conversation with the airline check-in clerk went something like this..
“Good morning, how are you?”
“Is that a bike?”
“Yes, my pride and joy”
“You know we have to charge you extra, right?”
“I understand, but sometimes they waive the charge if it is under 50 pounds”
“Well it’s going to be 160 dollars”
“Hmm, I looked it up on-line and my understanding was that at most it would be 100 dollars”
“Ok, well it says if it is collapsed in a hard case, under 50 pounds, and less than 67 inches, there is no charge, so I guess I don’t need to charge you”
“Here, let me print this out for you and you can show it to check-in on your return trip”
Hopefully I have the same fortune on my way home. As it turns out, I think she was charging me $160 round trip, which is $80 each way, which is what the printout said. I’m fairly certain my bike case is over 67 diameter inches, but I’m not sure she knew what diameter inches meant, so I lucked out.
The subtleties of bike packing
The flight to Chicago (my first layover) was uneventful and I was able to snooze for about an hour, then practice bladder control in the Window Seat. As we sat on the runway waiting to deplane, I had a birds-eye-view of the baggage handler as he removed my bike from this plane. As he slammed it on the transport, I remembered something a my friend Joanne told me on my last trip – make sure you remove your derailleur when packing your bike. I wish I would have remembered it yesterday when I was packing my bike! I won’t find out if there is a problem until I’m in Kona 10 hours from now.
Is that Bruce Jenner?
So while I’m sitting at Chicago O’Hare airport for a layover in route to LAX, just finishing a McDonalds grilled Chicken sandwich. I look up, and there is Bruce Jenner sitting 30 feet from me. I figure that is a good omen on my way to Hawaii.
Taking Bets
I spoke with my sister Liz on while I waited for my first flight. Liz is my sister whose husband Jim died earlier this year and he is who I have dedicated this race to. Liz will be joining my in Hawaii, but she told me that she had a fear of the big island due to the volcano and no where to run. This strikes me as kind of funny, and I made a few jokes about only the good swimmers would survive, but I think she is really nervous about the whole thing. However, she really wants to be there, particularly since the race is dedicated to Jim.
Anyway, Liz tells me there were a bunch of people down in Florida betting on my finish time. Now I really feel like a pro athlete! I started to think of all of the bets you could place on a race like this – odds against finishing at all; odds against finishing in the top 50% in the age group; odds against finishing in the top 25% of the field. The weather on the day of the race will have a significant impact on finishing time, so betting on finishing time is a bit like betting on the weather. In any case, if you’re reading this and betting on me, good luck!
Venkat
Last week, out of the blue, an old friend (Venkat Ramanan) from Los Angles called. It has been 20 years since we last spoke and it was really good to hear from him. If I had thought ahead, I would have realized that I had a 4 hour lay over in LA that we could use to get together. By the time I realized the potential opportunity, it was too late as Venkat had business meetings late Friday afternoon, but he assured me when he visits his son at UPenn during the fall, we will get together and talk about old days.
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