Messages

1

Routes / Re: Am I crazy? Jackson, WY to Los Angeles, CA via UT & NV in June - July

« on: June 12, 2012, 11:23:05 pm »

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. I've been speaking to people, via Warm Showers, who live in the area of Southern Utah that I plan on traveling through, and they have recommended I use Hwy89 instead of I-15. This route looks more elevated, thus cooler, and more scenic, thus better. I have now left Jackson  headed south. I'm not sure that I'll ride the stretch from St George to Las Vegas and also the stretch Las Vegas to Barstow. I'll make decisions at the time about the desert stretches.

I'll be updating the blog as I go so you can drop an 'I told you so' comment if I die.

Wish me luck! And thanks again.

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Routes / Am I crazy? Jackson, WY to Los Angeles, CA via UT & NV in June - July

« on: June 10, 2012, 12:14:10 pm »

Myself and my wife are 2/3 of the way through our cross-country ride. You can have a look at what we've been doing at WWW.BIKEGANG.CC.

We are currently in Jackson Hole, WY. I have a perplexing decision to make and thought maybe some ACA members with experience of the area might have some input.

The situation is this: We had been planning to ride to the coast in Oregon finishing our trip and flying home to LA, then I went and googled the distance of a ride from Jackson, WY to Florence, OR: 870mi and a ride from Jackson, WY to Los Angeles, CA: 930mi. Only a 60mi difference, suddenly I'm thinking I should ride to LA and save the planet a couple of air trips, so on and forth. 

The route from Jackson, WY to Florence, OR would pass through Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, Boise, through to Bend, OR on HWY 20, Eugene and finally to Florence. I know there would be more scenic ways to get to Florence, via Montana and the TransAm trail but I'm looking to keep the distance to the coast as low as possible. The problem with this route is that besides maybe Bend and Eugene I'm not excited about anything on this route, and I'd have to fly back to LA which runs counter to the notion that all you need is a bike and time to get around the country. 

The other route from Jackson, WY to Los Angeles, CA would run through Logan, Salt Lake City, down Utah on I-15 (I've spent a lot of time recently riding on Interstates and don't find it entirely disagreeable), into Nevada, Las Vegas, Desert, Dry Stuff, Los Angeles. This route has more cities I'm excited to see but also has the challenge of a difficult terrain I know little about. Keep in mind that I am Australian and high temperatures don't entirely freak me out (We rode long days in 100+ weather in Kansas). But am I crazy? Is this route basically suicide in late June - early July? And how much distance could we expect between services in southern Utah and Nevada? My preference is to ride into Los Angeles the shortest route possible, and this seems to be it.

Any comments, concerned looks or offers of transportation to the closest sanatorium appreciated.   

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Routes / Any problems with starting transamerican in april west to east?

« on: December 22, 2011, 11:13:19 pm »

Hello forum,

I've spoken to a few people who have said that passes in the Rockies will be closed if we begin the Transamerican in OR mid-April. Can anyone offer some advice on whether this would be a foolish course to take?