Adventure Cycling Association Forum
Bicycle Travel => Routes => Topic started by: chili4dinner on December 26, 2017, 10:42:22 pm
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Anyone out there riden the Western Express route from the East to West? I am also considering the Lewis and Clark Trail, but concerned a mid to late August start date may not afford me enough time to do the trip leisurely in fear of adverse weather. Any advice welcomed.
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Welcome to the forums!
You might get a better/more accurate answer if you answer some basic questions like how many miles you do a day on average, are you camping/hoteling it, etc. Also, when you say Western Express (WE) is that ONLY the WE or including the eastern portion of the TransAm (TA)?
For the WE starting in late-August, if you do the typical general average of 55miles/day AND starting from Pueblo, you should be OK if you can handle/enjoy cool/cold weather. Expect average temps with highs frequently only in the mid/upper 60s with lows in the 30s to even mid-20s. However, you may get some nice fall color in places so that would be a plus. If you want to do the combo WE & TA, I think the weather would slow you down significantly and would be cold once you hit the Rockies. Yes, there are a handful of hardy souls who have ridden Colorado in October and even November, but that is definitely not for me or those inexperienced with winter camping. Note that with the WE, you will need to occasionally do more than the average 55 day or have several shorter days, thus extending the tour and slightly upping the chance for more iffy weather.
If you start mid-August, it would average about 5-7 degrees warmer overall so I personally would start in mid-August. It be a very nice time to go.
Since the L&C takes longer about twice as long (assuming you are doing entire route) to do as the WE itself, and since you would have cold weather (most nights in the low 30s to mid-20s on AVERAGE), I personally would advise against starting in late-August going E>W.
WeatherSpark is a good website showing historical weather info: https://weatherspark.com/ (https://weatherspark.com/)
Also, unless you are a strong rider who can do high mileage days repeatedly, you will most likely be camping at least part of the time on both routes.
Best, John