Taking bikes into the hotel...

[Blue_Fedora]

Have fun! I was curious about what ride it was since we like going "away" for rides and So. California qualifies as "away." Alas, I have a tri this weekend.

It looks like it's only in it's second year, so let us know what it's like.


Veronica

How fantastic! Long term... my goal is to do tri's. The biggest obstacle right now is a serious issue with open water swimming (oh and did I mention my intense loathing of running? LOL!)

[Veronica]

How fantastic! Long term... my goal is to do tri's. The biggest obstacle right now is a serious issue with open water swimming (oh and did I mention my intense loathing of running? LOL!)

There are some great tris up here in Nor Cal - with freshwater swimming. I grew up in Maine and one does NOT swim in the ocean in Maine. But lakes, rivers and ponds... woohoo!

The one I'm doing this weekend is the Trek for Women. It's being held at a nice park where I've done 3 other tris and fit my schedule. It looks like a good series for starting out though. They have swim buddies in the water to help you out if needed.

They are doing one in Palm Springs Oct. 10. Just saying...

Veronica

[MtnBikerChk]

RE: the hotel thing

just do it!!

we've done it just outside DC (elevator), MD, NC and ME. Nobody really cares as long as you make an effort to show you are being respectful of other people and the hotel property.

and on the NC trip, we had both the mtb and the roadies LOL. The room was barely big enough for the bikes plus us!

[Kiwi Stoker]

We have always taken our bikes in the room. We usually bring an old sheet to put on the floor.

Have had some strange looks in regards to getting the tandem in the lift (this would work for any bike BTW that doesn't fit in a lift). Lift the front of the bike in the air and wheel it in on the back wheel. Usually lifts have enought height. Just hold the bike up so it doesn't touch the nice lift walls and you can get in anywhere.

[Aggie_Ama]

Take them in, usually up the stairs. We usually stay at Holiday Inn Express and they have ridiculously tight elevators. When we went to New Mexico two years ago we had two mountain bikes and two road bikes, all went in with us! Our lodge owner thought it was cool, he wanted to know where we were riding and what we saw.

We stayed at both a Hampton and Holiday Inn Express during mountain bike season, always ended up having other bikers there and the hotel didn't even blink an eye at all the bikes coming in.

[GLC1968]

We've always brought them in, too. Except when we stayed at the Bicycle Inn and they provided 'parking' for bikes. Actually, now that I think about it, we've had issues at a couple of B&B type places, so we do ask in those situations. Big chain hotels? Just do it.

On our trip across the country, we had two bikes, two dogs and a cat to 'sneak' in the side stairs every night. OMG, what a nightmare that was!

[Bike Chick]

We've always taken them in. Used a side door and the stairs and never had a problem. We get funny looks but no one has ever said anything.

[Tri Girl]

like everyone has said: you shouldn't have a problem.

We stayed at a really posh hotel in Destin one time (booked for cheap on Priceline) and even they didn't blink an eye.

At the hotel in the Grand Canyon- it specifically noted "no bikes" in the room. We just took the wheels off and put them in the backseat for a few days- no problem.

Have fun on your century!!!

[Blueberry]

Here's a funny prior thread on this issue: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...ighlight=Hotel

We usually just bring them in too. Rarely a dirty look, sometimes interested questions. The Fridays confuse people - they come in a suitcase and leave as a bike

[Blue_Fedora]

Thanks for the link, Blueberry

[Eden]

We take our bikes into hotels all the time at races. No one ever blinks - though yes, we usually avoid wheeling them right past the reception desk if we can.... but really most of our races are in pretty small towns. The whole town usually knows there's a bike race and knows all the rooms are booked for it.

When we were touring in Spain and staying in small places we always asked about secure bike storage and were generally provided a nice spot in a storage room or garage.

[Biciclista]

we always just wheel them in, past the reception desk, whatever.
We attended a tandem rally a few years back, and tandem bikes did not fit in the escalators.. The hotel management had us all park our tandems in their dining room!! Entering that diningroom in the morning with all those bikes was very impressive.

but normally on our single bikes, we rent a room with two beds, one bed is for our stuff and the other for us. There's usually plenty of room for two bikes.

[Blue_Fedora]

Glad to report back that we had no trouble at all. The hotel was right next to the San Diego Convention Center where a major convention was being held. Our room was on the 23rd floor (of 25) so we didn't use the stairs We entered and exited thru the rear/side doors and had no problems with the elevators.

The ride itself was GREAT and we finished all 100km of it! We'd definitely do this one again and it was really nice making a weekend out of it

Thanks for all the helpful advice!

[Tri Girl]

Yeah- walking it up 23 flights of stairs doesn't sound too fun.

Congrats on your ride! Glad to hear it went well.

[Bike Chick]

We just took ours in this week on our way to Hilton Head. Just never had a problem with it.