Touring - Weekend "tour" and flying

My sister is getting married in Laramie, WYO this summer. I had planned to go on a long, around the U.S. tour immediately after the wedding, but I just got a great job and want to put a year into it before I leave. So, I've decided that I will take a few days off before the wedding, fly into Denver with my bike and panniers, and ride up to Laramie from Denver. I have a few questions though.

I've never packed my bike on a flight and wanted to know how difficult/challenging it will be to check it, etc (if there's a good checklist for flying with a bike, please point me to it).

I've also never ridden in Denver. I have taken 287 from Fort Collins to Laramie, so if anyone knows a good route for cycling north through and out of Denver, please let me know.

I'm still disappointed that I won't be going on my big tour around the U.S., but my wanderlust is stirring and I know I won't last long until I have to get up and go.

Not that it matters, but my future brother-in-law is organizing a mountain bike ride the morning of the wedding, so I'm shipping my mountain bike out with my parents. I would just take the mountain bike but I'll be there (working from their house) for a week and I really really really want to ride my road bike up the Snowies north of town.

If you're only going for a few days, I'd consider renting an MTB or a hybrid rather than shipping all this stuff all over the place.

It isn't hard to pack a bike, basically you turn the handlebars and pop off the wheels. But:

- you need to get a box
- you need to store the box somewhere, or get another one when you get back to the airport
- it's a dirty job
- most airlines charge $80 - 100 each way to take a bike on the plane
- there's always the chance that the airline (and UPS) will screw up, and send your bike to Puerto Vallarta instead of Denver
- it's probably going to take you 30-45 minutes to pack the bike, another 30-45 to unpack, unless you're an ex-mechanic
- you will need to ride to and from the airport, which is usually (tho' not always) kind of a bad plan (too much high-speed traffic and too many highways)

So, I wouldn't recommend it; it's a big PITA for anything less than a week, imo.

Thanks for the info. I'll be catching a ride to the airport, as a bunch of people from here (Atlanta) are flying out around the same time.

As for it being too much money, I think it's worth 100 bucks to have my bike so I can tour for a few days and then ride every day for a week. I'll stop by the LBS this afternoon and ask about them packing the bike for me, or at least getting a box.