Nana informed me several weeks ago that Seino Kangaroo service was available to have my bike delivered for the Tour de Tohoku. It sounded a lot better than humping the bike up and back on the shinkansen (which I’ve done before — to Kyoto).
Unfortunately, I was really busy with other things at the time she brought it to my attention, and then I put it off a bit too long before getting back to it. Nana and I finally had a look at the site on Sunday. It seemed pretty straightforward, and we could even rent a box for the delivery. When we tried to place the order, though, we hit a snag. It looked like we were being told we couldn’t have the bike delivered until after the Tour de Tohoku was finished. After some poking around with the various options, though, we finally figured it out: I was too late to get a rental box. As soon as we selected the option of packing the bike ourselves, the rest of the order fell in line.
The delivery charge turned out to be nearly three times what I had first thought. And the kicker: They’re going to pick it up on Sept. 5 for a Sept. 15 event! I assume the early pick-up is necessary because it’s a very big event and Seino is at its capacity limit. But the important thing is that only left me two days to get everything ready!

The immediate issue was my current bike bag: it’s a very light bag that can be rolled up into a small package, but it’s not padded at all. Seino requires a padded bag to protect the cycle. So I got on Amazon and found a bag that could be delivered in one day.
I got started on the packing this morning. I brought the bike up from the parking garage nice and early, when the elevator’s not in high demand, and I soon had the wheels off and made a stab at getting the bike into the bag. But it was immediately apparent it wasn’t going to fit as is.

Taking the pedals off was a no-brainer, and I should have thought to do it before taking the wheels off the bike. With the help of a long-handled pedal wrench, though, I was able to get them off without reassembling the bike first. Then the question was how much else I’d have to disassemble before the bike would fit in the bag. I wanted to avoid taking everything off because I only have to put it all back on again for the tour, and then have it all off once the tour’s over and I need to put the bike back in the bag.
The first thing was to lower the saddle. It’s a rather narrow saddle and so I don’t have to remove it completely, but I did have to remove the dry bag from under the saddle first. Another trial fit in the bag and still … not quite. And so in the end it was the step I’d been trying to avoid: removing the handlebars. Fortunately it all came apart quite easily with the multitool, and I didn’t even lose any parts!

The good news is I feel I’ve had my exercise for the day, without having to put on my helmet and cleats!
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