Bike Box Packing

 Let's just say good thing I started a day early. Originally I thought it would only take my about half an hour to pack up my bike to take on the plane. Definitely not the case. The first hour was spent taking my bike apart and deciding which bike box I was going to use. I came to the conclusion that the two boxes I had were not going to work. Off to the bike store I went to get another box. I got a third box, this one packed slightly different and would require me to take of the rear wheel but makes it easier to fill the box with the rest of my gear. Another hour past with me trying to figure how to arrange the frame and the wheels in the box. At this point I was getting very sleepy so I put packing on hold and had a solid 90 minute nap, ate some food and then got back at.

Now, I had everything arranged the way I wanted but I still needed to make the box wider so I used one of the other boxes to cut strips out and increase the width of my current box by about 2 inches. Then I started zap straping everything  and filling the spaces with all my gear that I don't want/need for the plane ride. Everything was wrapped in foam or bubble wrap. Oh bubble wrap so entertaining.

Everything I wanted to be in the box fit and I had to double check that all the pieces I took off my bike ended up in that box so when I get to Amsterdam I will be able to fully assemble my bike (no idea how long that will take me, but should be a very entertaining process).  From start to finish, only took me 7 hours, no big deal.

 Next I put the lid back on the box, covered it in fragile stickers, added my name, address and phone number, and Dad strapped it shut.

That was all done last night. When I got up this morning, I was informed by my Mom that I was going to have to open the box and remove the derailleur. I actually didn't take to long to open the box, remove the one screw that attached the derailleur and then seal the box again. Whew. Of course my dad supervised and helped throughout the entire process. I am just hoping that it makes it to Amsterdam safely and I will be able to put it back together on my own.