Messages

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Routes / Re: Latest date to leave - TransAm East to West (2016)

« on: April 23, 2015, 05:27:30 am »

Thanks John   Maybe I should plan for making up time if I need to on the downhills!  (Kidding, honest). 

Averages are really helpful for me, our climate is so different I really don't have much idea what to expect.  I've just discovered the Washington Parks loops, I figure weather might be even more of a factor there.  Over here cyclones (hurricanes) are the unpredictable factor, so I guess I'm swapping that for potential snowstorms.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a weather service website with reliable seasonal information?  Or as reliable as weather ever is.

This is my Big Adventure, so I hope it's as awesomely fun as you guys make it sound 

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Routes / Re: Latest date to leave - TransAm East to West (2016)

« on: April 22, 2015, 04:36:18 pm »

Thanks very much for your very helpful answers   I am planning on camping as much as possible.  Snow is an unknown quantity to me - riding through it seems impossible to me!  I'm very aware that there's safety factors there that I don't know anything about, and as I'll be travelling solo avoiding potentially dangerous snow conditions (possibly that someone who lives there would find routine) would probably be smart for me.  Holing up in a hotel for a day/few days to wait out a snowstorm is definitely ok with me.

Cold and dry is good, cold and wet not so much but if it's for a day or two I think I'd manage ok.  I live in the north at the moment so humidity is something I live with eight months a year and hate with a passion, so if I need to adjust my timing for hot-and-dry rather than hot-and-humid I'll do that if possible.

I'm aiming for later to give me more time to save for the airfare (and also time my time off work to suit my boss)!  That being said, I'll be as flexible as I can to suit the weather and conditions so I enjoy my ride.

Time - I'm thinking about 11-12 weeks?  Is that feasible?  Slower than necessary?  I'll be moderately fit by then but am by no means a speed racer, and I expect I'll be taking the mountain sections quite slowly but with longer days to make up for it in the flat stretches.  I hope to catch the Coast Starlight train from say Portland to Los Angeles at the end, for the experience and also because flights home from LA are exponentially cheaper, but that doesn't need to come out of my cycling time ^

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Routes / Latest date to leave - TransAm East to West (2016)

« on: April 22, 2015, 02:23:03 am »

Hi folks

Just doing some initial planning at the moment - for various reasons, I really want to travel East to West and ocean to ocean.  Just wondering if locals could give me any advice on the latest date I could leave the east coast, without baking slowly like an unbasted turkey in Kansas?  I'm Australian so I'm used to heat, but I have a high cold tolerance and I'd rather use my good cold-weather gear as necessary and be travelling in cooler weather where possible.

Many thanks
100th monkey