There’s a process and a technique that has evolved over the years. I didn’t know a thing that first ride, California AIDS Ride 8, commonly referred to as CAR8. After seven days of having my bike number flap in the wind and slap my bare knees, I learned.
Now it’s a science, not the techniques employed but a science to get in and out of bike parking without fixing the bike numbers for too many fellow cyclists. It’s all about timing and getting in and out so there’s time to go home and re-pack, and re-pack again, and maybe again.