Airlines: Airlines will charge you $80 each way and reportedly will not give your bike much TLC. They also have limitations on how much they have to pay out if they damage or lose your bike, often NOT the full value of a repair/replace. For that reason, a hard-case bike box is recommended (maybe try to borrow one from a friend or if you are in a tri club see if anyone has one). In addition, the TSA will open the box and may or may not put everything back the right way. On the pro side, you can use your bike right up until the day before and when you leave the airport, 95% of the time you'll have your bike with you.

UPS: Pros: cheaper and you don't have to lug your bike through an airport. Also, you can insure it up the wazoo against damage. Cons: you'll be without your bike for a few more days. It's also labor intensive. UPS should charge around $50 each way. Go to your LBS and get a cardboard bike box--they'll usually give them away or sell for $5. Beg them for a plastic fork block too; this keeps the fork from damage and you can return it when you're done. Find some styrofoam board, or get some from home depot to use for padding the inside of the box. Buy some soft foam wrap (also from the hardware store) and wrap the frame, using packing tape on the foam to keep it in place. Disassembly can usually be done with a hex wrench and a pedal wrench--you just take off the wheels, remove the skewers, remove the pedals, take out the seat & seatpost, and take off the stem & handlebars (but you don't need to remove any cables). Fit everything into the box and pad as well as you can. Tape tightly. There's better step-by-step instructions here: http://www.ehow.com/how_1627_pack-bike-ship.html

You can usually find an LBS that will unpack & assemble your bike, and maybe even repack it to ship it home, for $50 to $100.

Best option: If the race you're going to is served by Tri Bike transport, sign up with them. They'll ship your bike on a truck mostly assembled (you just have to remove the pedals), insured at whatever dollar amount you want, and will even ship a 25lb gear bag for a few extra bucks. After the race, you just drop it off with them again and they'll ship it back to you. They are somewhat pricey, and you are without your bike for at least a week before & after the race, but offer the best peace of mind and reliability.

If you decide to ship it, I've shipped with DHL for $20 before a couple times. Look for a block for between the chainstays in addition to the fork.

I'm doing my first race that I'm not driving to. I looked at lots of options, and this may sound out there but for me the cheapeast way to go was by train. I think trains are trying to be very bike friendly because they know airlines aren't. Amtrak was $0-10 to either bring the bike and put it on a rack in the train or box it up and check it. This compared to $65-100 for the airlines I looked at. Downsides of course are the limited path of train tracks and their longer trip times. I'm excited about it though (first time on a passenger train, as well as going to the Duathlon National Championships). The tickets were about $10 more expensive each way than flying but came out much cheaper after you would pay to go with a bike. Just an alternative to think about.

How about shipping bikes overseas. I was planning on taking an extended trip to New Zealand in the next year or so. Any way to get it down there without paying an arm and a leg?