SANTEE – A longtime bike mechanic, Dan Plummer traveled to a 1999 Ironman race in Florida to follow some friends and check out the scene.  Listening to athletes, he learned many of them were dissatisfied with the hassle involved in transporting their bikes.  They had to break down their ride, pack it, lug it to the airport, pay the airline's bike fee, hope it arrived with their luggage, rent a car big enough to carry a bike, reassemble it, hoping all the time it wasn't damaged.  After the race, the athletes have to do it all over again, sometimes paying $80-$100 each way for the bike to be transported.

“When I started hearing how much it cost,” said Plummer, “I said, 'Holy cow.

He also got to thinking. Passionate about bikes – he was a mechanic for two pro teams – Plummer decided to start a bike transport business, Wheels on Wheels.  He transported bikes to one race in 2000. The past five years he has moved bikes to three to six races.

“My only complaint,” said Cardiff's Mark Barnett, “is I wish he would go to more races.”

Beginning next year, that's Plummer's goal. He's planning on buying another trailer and expanding his service to 10 or more races in 2008. Plummer can currently transport 45 bikes to a race. He plans on purchasing a bigger trailer that will carry 80 bikes.  Depending on how far he's transporting bikes, Plummer charges $175 to $250.

“It's a little bit more money for a lot more convenience,” said Barnett, who had a bike box destroyed by one airline.

In addition to bikes, Plummer lets each athlete pack a bin that can carry a wet suit, helmet and clothes.

About the convenience, Ed Hall of San Marcos said, “It's absolutely enormous. Unless you really enjoy taking things apart and putting them together, which I don't particularly, disassembling and putting your bike in a bike box is a chore.  “When you get to an event, you walk over, he has your bike sitting there for you; it's tuned, he's run through the gears. It inspires some confidence. This guy offers exceptional customer service.”

Plummer, 46, grew up in Mira Mesa. Cycling, he said, gave him a sense of belonging to a community.  “My mom went through a couple of divorces,” he said. “Living in different places, I never had a lot of solid friends. I don't know what got me into bikes. Just commuting, I guess.”  By his teens, Plummer began hanging out at a local bike shop. He suffered a bad crash that required 17 stitches and remembers the only people who visited him in the hospital, outside of family, were friends from the bike shop.

Then came his first race at 16 and I'll never forget it.  “The gun went off, they took off and I was in the back, dropped,” he said. “I never saw somebody take off so fast. I thought, I'm either going to quit riding a bike or figure out how to go fast.”

He raced on the road, advancing to Category 2 events, a highly competitive level for amateur cyclists.

The best part about transporting bikes, said Plummer, is seeing the satisfaction on customers' faces when they pick up their rides at races.

“You get that warm, fuzzy feeling,” he said. “People appreciate what you're doing.”

From Wheels On Wheels LLC