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Messages - mattdwyerva

Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 7
16
Routes / Re: Oregon fires
« on: July 31, 2024, 08:06:50 am »
Thanks, John.  A lot of good detail there. 

Do you normally tour alone?  I find that when I your with some friends my stopped time goes up if they are slower.  Hard to change my riding speed much, esp after a few days. 

I also find that hot temperatures slow me, esp in early summer.  I expect to feel the heat as we move down into valleys soon and the days warm up

17
Routes / Re: Oregon fires
« on: July 30, 2024, 09:55:58 pm »
Thanks, John, great info.  I don't really like my route either :)

I use bestbikesplits to estimate time and for my route it said probably 7.5 hours elapsed.  We have not exceeded 6.5 hours elapsed on this trip and I avoid 6+ hours on general.   We usually stop for 2 hrs a day, which is not included in elapsed, of course.   That would be a very long, difficult day for us, albeit doable.

I think your route sounds more logical, so I will check that out.  I remain hopeful that we can either proceed or wait a few days and then proceed, but I'm trying to establish options.

Thanks again,
Matt

PS - Bestbikesplits is intended for racing, as you may know, but you can tweak the inputs for touring if you know your usual power output, weight of your bike, etc.   it actually uses weather forecast for the route on the day of your planned ride.  After a month or so of adjusting inputs, it has been surprisingly accurate, especially compared to RWGPS estimates. 

18
Routes / Oregon fires
« on: July 30, 2024, 04:37:25 pm »
Trying to think about alternate routes if we get threatened by fire in the coming weeks.  We are hopeful to get to Baker City OR in mid-August on TransAm (riding west).  Looking at https://inciweb.wildfire.gov, I see a couple large "incidents" south of Baker City that are currently about 50% "contained." 
 
I see the forum for temporary road closures, and I will check that as we go.  As an exercise, I wondered what I would do if we got Halfway, OR and could not get to Baker City due to fire.  I see that a more northerly route from Halfway would land us on NFS roads from Halfway to Medical Springs (https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47804844 ) - yuck as fire roads can be very difficult due to unknown conditions (soft, washboard, steep, washed out, no longer there, all of the above).   Two days ago, we bumped along a reasonably decent dirt road from Twin Bridges to Melrose, MT.   It was all washboard, but not washed out, and annoying after a couple hours, let alone all day (38c tubeless tires).

Any advice here?   Get some masks at a hardware store?   

19
Routes / Montana 43 construction
« on: July 30, 2024, 11:11:05 am »
Fyi, east of Wise River on 43, there is a one way stretch on 43 that is being repaved.  It's one way and about 7-8 miles long.   Once you get a green light, you will deal with construction trucks and other traffic.  Not enjoyable as lanes are tight.  We stopped and got off road a few times when trucks roared by. 

We rode this yesterday on our way to the Pioneer Scenic Byway, a detour on our Trans Am ride.  Nice road, but a big climb.  Saw firefighters on the Scenic Byway, but no obvious fires on the road.

FYIO

20
Routes / Re: GART vs ACA TransAm?
« on: July 30, 2024, 10:46:35 am »
We are going to Missoula, although I just realized ACA is closed on weekend, which is when we'll be there. 

21
Routes / Re: GART vs ACA TransAm?
« on: July 26, 2024, 05:54:03 pm »
Great ideas, John. 

Some of this is they need to understand their customers better if they want customers.


22
Temporary ACA Route Road Closures / Re: Jasper National Park Is Closed
« on: July 26, 2024, 05:20:03 pm »
Jasper is a great place, very sorry this happened.

What a gorgeous place to ride (or hike), although it's been 40+ years for me

23
Routes / Re: GART vs ACA TransAm?
« on: July 26, 2024, 05:12:09 pm »
We are currently in Cameron Montana, riding east to West on the Trans Am.   From start to Great Bend, we met far more cyclists on bike trails (C&O, GAP, OTET, Katy, and other lesser known ones) than on the Trans Am.   Most TA cyclists are more serious, and maybe 1/4 of them have been doing GDMBR actually.

Does ACA have estimated #'s by year for Trans Am and other routes that go thru Missoula?   It might be interesting to see numbers.

24
Routes / Re: New Orleans -> Atlanta -> DC
« on: July 21, 2024, 10:41:05 pm »
I understand. 

Virginia DMV used to maintain paper maps of each county, showing if the road was paved and listing mileage in-between every intersection to the nearest hundredth of a mile.  Man, those were incredible maps, and I kept my set of them, although they are out of date now.  VA stopped publishing and updating them.   There are still county maps for Virginia, but they no longer list mileage, and are fairly crude, imo.

This site has more info, including a link to their interactive bicycle map that lets you check if a road is paved or not -
https://www.vdot.virginia.gov/travel-traffic/maps/

https://vdot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/PublicInformation/index.html?appid=cbb23b8fa14e47dca68b378707b44081

FWIW

25
Routes / Re: New Orleans -> Atlanta -> DC
« on: July 21, 2024, 07:11:38 pm »
I live in Leesburg, VA and ride in the area from Front Royal to DC, so I am tempted to comment, but ... I love Loudoun County gravel roads which tend to have very hard dirt with a sprinkling of small gravel but with some potholes (a lot of potholes after a hard storm).   My wife and I ride gravel instead of paved roads there for the most part, riding 38C tubeless tires usually.  As such, not sure I would be a good reference, unless someone likes gravel.   If you like gravel, we like riding thru Philomont way more than Airmont.  Philomont has a country store plus some porta potties in the fields behind the community center.  Airmont store is closed.   However, Philomont Road south of Philomont is a ford at Butcher's Branch, so not recommended.   

FWIW

26
Routes / Re: GART vs ACA TransAm?
« on: July 20, 2024, 09:39:24 am »
As others have said, preferences should dictate your choice here.

Do you have a bike selected for the trip? 
What size tires do you plan on using? 
Do you want to camp or use hotels?
How do you feel about traffic?

My wife (ebike) and I are riding a modified Trans Am route.  Until Kansas, we mostly used trails.  Compared to the noise and threat of traffic, we love bike trails.  But we rode from Togwotee Pass to Jackson yesterday, mostly on roads and it was just glorious. 

27
Routes / Re: TransAm Alternate Routes You Would Recommend
« on: July 16, 2024, 06:21:36 pm »
Thanks for the feedback

28
Routes / Re: TransAm Alternate Routes You Would Recommend
« on: July 12, 2024, 10:32:48 am »
Whoops did not mean to hijack the thread.  Ok if I remove my post and start new thread or too late? 

Thanks for the feedback

29
Routes / Re: TransAm Alternate Routes You Would Recommend
« on: July 12, 2024, 10:07:29 am »
Has anyone ridden thru Varney, MT instead of Ennis, MT?   It would be a shortcut, but my real interest is possibly being more fun (less traffic) than 287 thru Ennis.  It is entirely gravel, so not sure how tough it would be, but google thinks it is a good bike route (and google is often conservative on gravel, but sometimes wrong).  No services, although I have had good luck (tour + restroom + water fountain) visiting fish hatcheries in other states.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47532082

30
Gear Talk / Re: EBike cross-country experience
« on: June 28, 2024, 01:43:25 pm »
Oh yes, and mileage varies but we aim for 250 miles per week in mountains and up to 350 miles per week on flattish bike trails.   We use one rest day per week, so 40-60 miles per day I guess

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