I am planning on traveling to Florida for the Key West Triathlon in December and I am working on the logistics. My major concern is what to do about my triathlon bike. I would love to use it but I live 1,300 miles away. That would mean that I would have to ship it. My choices for shipping it would include driving it down to key west, shipping it by UPS (or some other shipping service) or to box it up for travel on a plane.
I have pretty much eliminated driving down because this would require me to drive it back up. Also, it is doubtful, that I want to disassemble it myself and then reassemble it both times. There are a lot of steps to doing that. I do not think that I am up for that.
I spoke to a couple of shops that would disassemble and reassemble it for me. The cost of these steps would be about $500 combined and the cost to ship and of course I would have to do it again. So I am probably looking at $1,500 all in.
The last option would be to rent a bike down in Key West for a few days and then return when I am done. While this would involve a totally new bike and probably not as well equipped as my own bike, I feel this is the easiest approach. Also this would be the lowest cost option. I could be for less than $150 (including the cost of my pedals).
I will just have to arrange it so that I have time to pick up the bike and ride it. Then allow time to drop it off after the race. This may require an additional day or two at the venue. Since it is key west this should not be a real sacrifice for me.