PBC Perks
Ask not what your bike club can do for you, ask what you can do for your bike club. There are plenty of opportunities mentioned throughout the Quick Releases, and hopefully you see something that jibes with your skills and abilities, and reach out to a board member to offer to fill the need.
In fact, your bike club does have things it can do for you, aside from the great daily offerings of bike rides.
For example, perks or benefits of membership include access to bike boxes to carry your own beloved machine if you are traveling and want your bicycle with you. ✎
PBC has three hardcase boxes. To borrow one, call club member Jackie Seguin by logging in to the website and finding her telephone number in the members’ only Member Directory. She can advise whether a box is available for the time period you desire. If so, you travel to her house in northeast Portland to pick it up. You will leave a check in the amount of $100 as a deposit. If you return the box safe and sound, then you will take possession of your check. So yes, it’s free.
To travel with the case on most airlines is NOT free and will cost an additional $75. Each way. Obviously, the box will be checked. You cannot lock the box as it needs to be inspected by hand – it does not fit into a scanning machine.
The photo is one of PBC’s bike boxes on the tarmac in Denver.
My older son Brent and his wife Melody borrowed one recently. The directions on the box advised letting the air out of the tires. Brent was taking a mountain bike on which he runs tubeless tires. He didn’t want to let the air out because the sealant would run all over and he would not have the means to re-inflate them properly at his destination. He said it worked fine without letting the air out. The case followed him cross country and was with him at his destination – both directions.
This perk is one of the ways we try to help our club members. I think it’s pretty sweet.
Ann Morrow, Vice President