Boxing The Bike

My training for the Alyn Bike Ride is over. I did my last outdoor ride, a short 30 miler, early this morning, concentrating on hills. I then brought my bike over to Brands in Wantaugh and had them box it in my travel case.

It's pretty pathetic that I don't box it myself (it really isn't that difficult) but the following story illustrates why I spend a few bucks and have someone else do it.

When I arrived at the Alyn Hospital staging ground for my last ride, in 2008, there was another American rider trying to assemble two bikes, his and his wife's. Since there were 5 Israeli mechanics whose sole job it was that day to assemble bikes, I thought that was quite strange. Keep in mind that these guys all served in the Israeli army and chances are they were tank mechanics who learned to fix on the fly the most sophisticated tanks in the world. Who would I rather have assemble my bike? Them or me, a little guy from New York with a law school degree who is proud of that fact that he can actually change a flat tire? Exactly.

In any event, this guy was shvitzing for a half hour and wasn't close to finishing even one of the bikes while the mechanic assembled mine in less than ten minutes.

So, I leave on Wednesday night comfortable that my bike was dis-assembled by someone, while not an Israeli tank mechanic, is far less likely to mess up than I.

Because of how busy I've been at work I have barely been able to think about the ride. Boxing the bike brings home that I am leaving in 3 days.