It was truly a project to find and pack all the various items for this trip. Even with months of preparation I was still ordering last minute items from Amazon with fingers crossed that the water sterilization system or that last piece of bike equipment arrived before I left. Each cyclist had to bring spare parts and tools, as not every bike shop would have the right item for the various unique bikes we had — if we were even in an area with a bike shop at all! And when it was all said and done I needed to be prepared for everything from snow to rain to mud to heat (mostly that so far!) - while keeping weight to 25 lbs per each of my two bags.
Most people had to do some sort of packing of the bicycle for the trip - whether taking off a wheel or putting it in a bike box.
Thankfully, I was able to bring my bike whole on the Amtrak, although we questioned it to the very end.
The online amtrak info states that one’s wheel must be 2inches wide or less. Mine is 2 1/4. One train station staff person on one day said “it’s up to the conductor” and another said “it will not be a problem.” We were prepared to let the air out of the tire, which would make it smaller — and also had 2 spare thin tired wheels, extra skewers, pieces of cut up tire for protecting the fork, a makeshift bike box to put the 2 1/4 inch tires in to pack them if needed — THANKS, EMILY at River Trails Cycles! — all just in case Cami and I had to do a last minute jerry-rig at the train station to comply with the 2-inch policy.
We practiced at home, but needless to say that was stressful to consider if they would tell us to do that in the moments awaiting the train’s arrival - or even worse, once the train was at the station and the conductor rejected it. But when we got there on that Thursday evening all went smoothly and the bike went into it’s home on the baggage car without a hitch.
