# Transcontinental ride



## My Own Private Idaho (Aug 14, 2007)

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## skip (May 27, 2009)

I've thought of it. My understanding if your going to take the Southern tier. You might want to go in the spring. March or April. That way you avoid the desert heat and the hurricance season. I've talked to several people that have done transcontinetal rides. Expect a lot of flats. If I was going to do it. I would go by credit card and stay in hotels. That way I can travel light and make the trip a lot quicker. Theres a quite a few companies that provide transcontinental bike rides. Some expensive and some reasonable. If your worried about getting sagged. Just use google and you should find some resources. Then theres figuring out how to get your bike back home. I got a expensive carbon bike and I don't like the idea of having a bike shop putting it in a cardboard box and having it shipped across country. I was thinking when I got to the east coast. I would spend $300 on a bike case then ship my bike in a hard case. I was thinking the trip would probably cost around $3000. Its kind of a pipe dream for me. Maybe someday. Good luck.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Well, certainly you're crazy, but not in a bad way. I never did it, but I applaud you for considering. I say go for it.

Some thoughts on route. What time of year are you planning? That route would be way hot in the summer. Also, this may be my bi-coastal liberal-elite prejudice talking, but I don't know that I'd choose to ride so much of it through what I think of as ******* country. The advantage is lots of towns with interesting culture and characters. The disadvantage is . . . well, the same thing. Personally, I'd look at other routes, but you may be more comfortable in the South.

In any event, go for it, and keep us all posted.


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## My Own Private Idaho (Aug 14, 2007)

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## pigpen (Sep 28, 2005)

JCavilia said:


> Well, certainly you're crazy, but not in a bad way. I never did it, but I applaud you for considering. I say go for it.
> 
> Some thoughts on route. What time of year are you planning? That route would be way hot in the summer. Also, this may be my bi-coastal liberal-elite prejudice talking, but I don't know that I'd choose to ride so much of it through what I think of as ******* country. The advantage is lots of towns with interesting culture and characters. The disadvantage is . . . well, the same thing. Personally, I'd look at other routes, but you may be more comfortable in the South.
> 
> In any event, go for it, and keep us all posted.


What tv shows have you been watching?
There are ******** in every state.
The country (outside of cities) are full of this.
I digress.
Back to the OP. I would love to do this. 80 miles a day fully loaded is a large number. 60 seems more realistic to me. Except in the flat states.Then ride your heart out.

If and when I get the chance to ride across the country I want to start in Olympic National Park and ride to Charleston SC or Savannah GA.


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## Scot_Gore (Jan 25, 2002)

Sounds completely sane to me. It's the indentured servitude for the next two years that sounds the most nuts. 

The only thing that makes me think twice is a Feb start that puts you crossing New Mexico in Feb or early March. I re-call diggning into Natl Weather Service history for Southern Tier New Mexico cities a couple of years back and being quite surprised at the temps and snowfall numbers I came across. I recommend you do the same type of digging for your projected overnights in the altitude cities in NM. 

The other thing to arrange is for a friend or familty member to meet you at the Texas border or so and swap you into summer riding gear. 

Have fun and keep bouncing details and ideas here. I'd be interested in hearing your plans for overnights, camping, hotels, some mix....and meals, cooking or ordering.

Scot


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

February start sounds more sensible. But 6 weeks doesn't seem like enough. I don't know the mileage of the Adventure Cycling suggested routes, but even on the Interstates it's over 300 miles, so on cycling roads you might be looking at over 80 miles a day, which as someone noted is a lot to do consistently, loaded. And that gives you no margin for weather delays. 

But you can figure something out.


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## Scot_Gore (Jan 25, 2002)

And just so you know that the option exists.

America By Bicycle offers The Fast America South Ride 








For 2010 it's Sat., Apr. 17 to Fri., May 14, 2010 
2917 miles in 27 days. 
ABB is a fully supported ride. They arrange all lodging meals, mechanics, haul all gear etc. Your job is the ride your bike from point A to B. This is a couple of steps away from classic bike touring. You ride these things like group rides. I did Minnepolis to St. Louis with them and had a great time. 

This kind of option might allow you to cut back on your indentured duty to the job. 

https://www.americabybicycle.com/FastS/

Scot


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## zriggle (Apr 16, 2008)

I want to do the Pan-Am highway, so you’re slightly less crazy than me. I figure that if I do it, I have to do it after I graduate, before I start work full-time. I’ve effectively got 2 years to plan it, train, camp, and save up, so hopefully I can pull it off. It’d be the better part of a year to do it. I’ve played with the thought of doing transcontinental first to get a taste for it, but I’d have to move my PanAm trip back a few years.


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## tarwheel2 (Jul 7, 2005)

I would love to ride across the country and have thought about it for years. The hard part is getting the time off. I have 5 weeks vacation accumulated right now, and earn 4 weeks a year, so it might be feasible in a few years. However, I doubt if I could ride cross country in 6 weeks; even 8 weeks would be pushing it unless on a supported tour.

I've been building up my commuter/touring bike with a cross-country tour in mind, if I can ever swing it. I just ordered some bomb-proof wheels and got a Tubus Cargo rack for Christmas, but still need to get some decent panniers and lighter camping gear.

The other catch for me is my age, 56 as of next week. Although in some ways I am in better shape than ever, my knees have bothered me a lot this year, and I'm starting to fear that might be my weak link. So, if you are still as young as 40 and can get the time off, give it some serious thought because you might not ever have as good an opportunity.

BTW, I live in the South but would probably ride one of the northerly routes. I don't particularly like hot weather, and riding 60-100 miles per day in 90+ heat could be miserable, as well as trying to sleep at night. The southern route would be more feasible in spring or fall, but weather can be inconsistent and surprisingly cold and variable in the South.


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 20, 2007)

Killer! If you have the chance to take that much time off and still have a job when you get home I`d say don`t miss out- who knows when the opportunity will present itself again. Ever? Six weeks sounds kind of short to me, too- if you want to see how long it takes other riders doing it the same way as you`re thinking and see what kind of luck they have with different starting dates, give a look through the Crazyguy journals. Also, if you start and it looks like you`re going to run out of time before you get home, there`s no rule that says you can`t change plans. How old is your son? From what I remember of your ride reports, it seems to me that your kids are still pretty young. That wouldn`t kill the trip, but unless you`re talking about at least 14 YO or so, you`d have to scale down your mileage expectations a good bit. Did you read about Gus Riley`s attempt last year? On the other hand, the Vogels have made some seriously long trips with their very young twins and are currently over half way to Argentina on their ride from Alaska. www.familyonbikes.org


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## Mr. Versatile (Nov 24, 2005)

"If you had the opportunity to do it at 40, would you?" 

Bwwaaahahahaha! I'm in the middle of planning to ride from San Fran to Maine with a friend or possible two. Our wives would drive a small camper and carry all of our stuff. They could see the sights, shop, or whatever during the day and meet us at our destination in late afternoon or early evening.

BTW...I'm 67.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Adventure Cycling*



My Own Private Idaho said:


> I recently joined Adventure Cyclist, and their publications aren't helping.


Is this a complaint, or are you saying that they're encouraging you to hit the road? If it's a complaint, you should head to their web site and click on the "How To Department" on the right hand side of the page. All kinds of helpful stuff there.


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## nonsleepingjon (Oct 18, 2002)

Go for it! And post daily ride reports so we can live vicariously through you!


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## seeborough (Feb 3, 2004)

pigpen said:


> ...What tv shows have you been watching?
> There are ******** in every state.
> The country (outside of cities) are full of this.
> I digress. ...


Plus, I would wager that one is safer riding through Mayberry than LA.


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## My Own Private Idaho (Aug 14, 2007)

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## Scott B (Dec 1, 2004)

Do it! I did the Northern Tier from the west coast to Minnesota this past summer and it was great. I highly recommend it, it was my first tour and I really enjoyed the journey. It is a great way to see a lot of huge open spaces.

I started having not been riding too much and we averaged ~70 miles per day for the trip. We took 35 days including rest days and covered ~2300 miles. If we'd started in good shape I thinking that 80 miles per day on average would be very doable. 

Supported might be the way to go if you have more money then time. I had more time then money so it was all camping and cooking along the way which was great fun. Small town grocery stores actually had pretty decent food if you were willing to get creative. Good luck planning the adventure.


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## Dream Plus (Feb 4, 2004)

I rode with a friend from Chula Vista CA to Rehoboth DE in 1986. We averaged @ 85 mi/day with a low of @ 50mi to a high of @ 130mi. We used the Bikecentenial maps. I think they are now Adventure Cycling.

It was about half camping and half cheap(seedy) hotels. The people we met were unfailingly friendly, from the cab driver who took us from SanDiego to our start in Chula Vista who offered to hook us up with a "massage" after the long plane ride - "many many pretty girls in Chula Vista", to offers of sodas or pop along the way.

We cheated after visiting a friend in Pheonix and accepted a hungover ride to Prescott.

We left Memorial Day weekend and finished before the 4th of July. Desert riding was usually really early. Yuma to Quartzite was done mostly predawn under a full moon, and we carried about 6liters of water each.

It was a great experience, we got caught in a Dustdevil, didn't get too wet, broke almost all the spokes of both our 36 hole wheels. We experienced every kind of weather. Cold New Mexican high plains, hot dry deserts, hot humid nights, you name it.


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## Slim Again Soon (Oct 25, 2005)

Oh, yeah ... stay out of the South. We're nuts down here. _We just might kill you._


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## My Own Private Idaho (Aug 14, 2007)

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## YuriB (Mar 24, 2005)

Sounds like a great dream and a good idea to me (it's on my list for one of these days). Not sure what kind of work you are in but have you thought about pitching it as something your employer could sponsor and use the PR for?


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Age effects*



My Own Private Idaho said:


> As for my son, he is 12 now, and will be 15-16 before I get this off the ground. He'll be fine to do it by then, particularly since I will carry more than my share of the load.


It obviously depends on the kid and the dad, but we had a local kid riding in our group when he was 14. He struggled a bit but kept up. When he was 15, he had no problems. When he was 16, WE had problems. YMMV


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## MDGColorado (Nov 9, 2004)

After dreaming of it for about 15 years, I rode the Trans-Am east to west in '98. It was flat out the greatest thing I've ever done. If you can make it happen, and you like touring, you will never regret it. It is something that, once you've done it, you always have it.


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## tarwheel2 (Jul 7, 2005)

One thing I've always wondered is: Does it really matter if you go West to East or vice versa? I've always heard that W to E is best because prevailing winds are in that direction. but it would be so much more convenient to start close to home. (I'm only 120 miles or so from the East Coast.).


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## MerlinAma (Oct 11, 2005)

Just saw this:

"Roadie Bret Taylor rode across the U.S. with a bike-mounted camera set to snap a photo about every 5 miles (8 km). Then he put the pictures together on YouTube to show what a transcontinental trip is like. The route used was the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail created by the Adventure Cycling Association, and Bret was riding with a dozen cyclists in a supported fundraiser for MS. Note the amazing lack of traffic when you watch it at http://tinyurl.com/yhd52m8 ." from RoadBikeRider. com

If I ever went on a coast to coast ride, it would have to be with someone like http://www.cycleamerica.com/ but that's just me.


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## MDGColorado (Nov 9, 2004)

tarwheel2 said:


> One thing I've always wondered is: Does it really matter if you go West to East or vice versa? I've always heard that W to E is best because prevailing winds are in that direction. but it would be so much more convenient to start close to home. (I'm only 120 miles or so from the East Coast.).


No, it doesn't. Although the average wind is out of the west, it's wildly variable. I had about 4 very windy days out of 88 on the road. Two were west winds, in eastern CO and in Wyoming, and those were headwinds. Another was out of the south in KS, and another in KS must have been from the east since it was a tailwind. 

It's really fun going east to west, sort of like America did. The more spectacular sights are out west, too.


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## TheWanderer (Jun 19, 2002)

I didn't read all of the replies, so I apologize if I repeat anything that's already been said.

I rode from Virginia Beach to San Diego in 2004 over the course of, I think, 67days. I didn't do much training, but I was in decent shape. Took a rest day about once a week. Long day was 161 miles, but we averaged probably between 70 and 80 miles a day. Honestly, 80 miles a day is no problem when you can ride 10 mph. And I was on a waaaay overloaded tourer because I am terrible at packing lightly.

The heat is also usually overstated. Especially if you live in PHX and are used to it. For most of the SW, we rode in pretty harsh temps. In Baker, CA, it was 122 the day we rode through. Just carry plenty of water, drink lots and douse yourself often.

Remember, a 122 degrees on a bike in the middle of a desert beats 67 degrees behind a desk any day of the year.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: Just do it.


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