Trek420's story is scarey enough...I sure hope that bike turns up.

Two friends of mine, did RAGBRAI last July, and had their bikes packed by a LBS out there for shipment via UPS back to the Bay Area. All four bikes were seriously damaged, two of them beyond repair. Please be careful with the bike box option. UPS has been NO help whatsoever...and I don't think the LBS has either. A really really bad situation there. And yes they had paid for insurance with UPS...no help at all.

Myself, I'd buy one of the good hard cases, pack the bike myself, so that I know how it's been packed, and pay to ship it where it has to go. While I know it's an expense...a wrecked bike is no fun at all.