A flying daunder!

Having never taken a bicycle on a flight before it was a bit of a stress worrying about how to get the Daunder to Shetland after my commute to work? as usual i was winging it(pun intended)

         

A ship is safe in a harbor, but ships are made to go out to sea

Staying in a hotel during a pandemic is a bizarre experience firstly on arrival there was no normal check in procedure, on arrival you were asked to say your name then go pick up an envelope from a table with your name on it and instructions along with your room key card in the envelope, only one person allowed in the elevator at a time, which was fine by me as they had no objection to me taking the daunder to my room on the third floor, to strip it down ready for flying, there was no bar or restaurant open we were asked to phone reception with our dinner and breakfast requests, which would be delivered to the door left outside in a bag and the door knocked, it was all rubbish food and what an amount of wasted packaging due to no cutlery or plates, I did use some parts of the boxes and bags to wrap the bike ( I should have used more but the idea came too late)

                I relaxed and caught up with social media along with texting friends and family Wednesday night, breakfast arrived outside my room door at the designated time and I was down stairs in plenty time to put on my face mask nitrile gloves and board the bus out to Dyce where us workers were all getting tested for covid 19, the bus went to Aker solutions head offices at the airport in Dyce where a gym hall had been converted to a clinical testing center, we queued two meters apart then shouted our name on entry, got sat on well-spaced out seating it reminded me of what it was like at a school exam in the assembly hall, when shouted on a nurse took me to a cubicle and explained she would poke what looked like a large cotton bud around the back of my throat while I said arghhhh, then it would be poked up my nose into each nostril. A strange uncomfortable experience but not as painful as I had heard it would be, we hung about waiting on the bus coming back to take us back to the hotel, when it arrived the next squad disembarked we got on, the seats are all segregated with Perspex with double seats all now single ones I sat on a warm seat! and thought perhaps the empty one should be alternated,  we were then to spend the rest of the day isolated in our rooms waiting for our results which was fine by me I had a bike to prepare for a flight  

               It took nearly the whole day of that Thursday to get the bike sorted as best I could with what I had for shipping the daunder through baggage handling, having asked logistics permission via emails to get A bike taken on the flight? the airline had instructed that it would be ok if the handlebars were aligned with the frame- I took the jones bars off the front and taped them to the side, the peddles were tucked in or removed- I removed them and put them in the pannier which would go as separate baggage, the tires were deflated – this was done I also removed the wheels and wrapped and taped them to the frame, the chain was wrapped to stop oil dripping on other baggage- the daunder has a carbon drive no chain no oil! but I wrapped the belt up alongside the frame and secured the chainring by cable tying the peddles to the frame, wrapping it as best I could with the bubble wrap I had carried from home and a roll of cheap masking tape cable ties and bits of the food boxes I cut up, by ten PM it would have to do? Time then for a few relaxing bedtime beers along with what was now the new norm for Thursday nights a zoom chat on the PC with my mates before bed 

                It was a five am rise and a knock at the door from staff who were leaving my breaky bag at the door. Loaded up with backpack on pannier in one hand and bike in the other I was downstairs in plenty time for the bus to the airport, here goes for the bike being a nuisance to everyone else! First of was the bus driver and my fellow passengers (work mates) stuff into bus hold was a nuisance factor to some, most of the team just had hand luggage, I was last on and off the bus due to this, which meant end of the book in que at the airport, the girl asked what weight the bike was I guessed at 15kg but shoved it on her scales and it was 14kg then once she labelled my stuff up, it was off to the outside baggage hatch, where the girl looked at it with a sigh and as she roughly handled it through the x-ray machine said it should be in a box, sorry I said as she went behind a screen for ages she was probably checking the images, but I was thinking she was probably taking photos of my wrapping on her phone and sending it to the baggage handler group chat on her wassap, slating my packaging attempt to the group lol 

                We seemed to be the only flight going out that morning, the charter flights are always small thirty seaters planes, I was trying to see if I could watch the baggage handlers loading the daunder into the planes cargo hold but I missed it, we no longer get an inflight coffee on the short flight due to the pandemic we have to wear masks and the flight attendant cant give us a drink and biscuit, I had my least favorite seat on the plane right up the back where you get bounced about worst when its choppy, thankfully it wasn’t choppy that day on our short flight to sumburgh airport, I stupidly stood at the far side of the baggage collection area, this was a mistake as the bike was first through and got jammed with other stuff bashing into it, fortunately Robbie shouted over at me and gave it a shove to clear the blockage, he then asked me if I wanted any help with it? he was the first and only person to ask and although I really didn’t require a help I had noticed that nobody offered I felt certain that pre pandemic days others would have offered to help someone with extra luggage

            

    Unravelling and reassembly also took a fair amount of time I suppose like most things it would get swifter with practice but I have no inclination to ever take a bike on a flight again, the daunder was reassembled with only a couple of paint scratches on it from leaving home and I had no idea if this was caused by the flight or the journey,

                When I bought Benton’s bicycle up in brae he had thrown in the locker with the bike deal we made and his pump, I had taken that bike home(well marsh took it in his van for me) as it hadn’t coped with a winter in that bike locker and required a full service, my bike locker then lying empty for a few month, the key being lost I decided to burst the padlock and get a new one, when I burst it someone else’s bike was in my locker! I chose another locker that was empty putting the pump my oils and tools in the new one with a new padlock, then secured whoever’s bike was in my old locker with a new padlock also, the daunder is now in its new temporary home being bit by bit kitted out and prepared for Kenny’s big daunder