NEW YORK (30-Jan) -- After over nine years and 500,000 miles on the international athletics and road running circuit, my 22-inch Delsey rolling suitcase has gone into retirement. Delsey returned from its farewell voyage last Monday, a family trip to Florida.
Received as a wedding present with an identical bag in 2000 from my brother Geoffrey and his wife Gail, Delsey went into immediate use for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. I stuffed it as full as I could, using the expansion zipper to add capacity, and it carried all the clothes I would wear for a month (I did laundry twice).
Since then, Delsey has accompanied me to countless competitions, including two more Olympic Games, five IAAF World Championships in Athletics, eight London Marathons, nine Boston Marathons, and ten Chicago Marathons. Delsey has been to IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Brussels, Edinburgh, Dublin, Lausanne, and St. Galmier, and European Championships in Munich and Göteborg.
About five years ago one of the wheels disintegrated and needed replacement. When I examined the axle assembly, I found that the axle ends were peened, so the wheels couldn't easily be removed. Undeterred, I drilled them out to get the wheels off, and went to a bicycle shop where the owner gave me some out-of-date in-line skate wheels, which happened to be white. I installed them with skateboard axles, and Delsey rolled happily for another five years, earning the nickname "white wheels."
But those white wheels soon blackened from trips to Berlin, Birmingham, Eugene, Melbourne, Paris, Rome and dozens of other locations where I would happily roll Delsey through the streets. Her black exterior became increasingly scuffed and harder to clean, and the plastic "feet" on the bottom became so worn they developed holes. But overall, Delsey was still fine, her fabric interior as clean as the day I received it.
But like all aging warriors, Delsey's joints began to fail. The retractable pull handle started to become temperamental, and became increasingly difficult to put back in the retracted position. On my last two trips I struggled to get the handle back in so that the bag would fit in the planes' overhead luggage bins. I was literally wrestling with it last Monday, as my fellow passengers in the boarding area stared. I knew the time had come to put Delsey out to pasture.
Delsey will remain for local jaunts by car and train, where fully retracting the handle isn't necessary, and is handy for moving heavy things around the city. Those white wheels still roll smoothly, having conquered the cobblestones of Rome and the empty sidewalks of Los Angeles.
I look forward to going to my favorite Manhattan luggage store to get another Delsey, and hope that she accompanies me to Rio in 2016 and beyond.
PHOTO: Race Results Weekly editor David Monti with his trusted Delsey on their last trip to Ft. Myers, Florida, in January, 2010 (photo by Jane Monti)
Know someone else who's interested in running and triathlon?
