Messages

16

Routes / Re: Сredit card touring in Europe

« on: January 29, 2024, 05:40:45 pm »

Supermanism, it sounds to me like one of the many river cycle routes would be the right thing for you. Plenty of infrastructure, good bike paths and signage and a lot of culture and cuisine. Depending on the river it can be very scenic, too.
Do you have any further preferences which countries you want to see? Loire, Rhine, Elbe, Danube are all great starters for bike touring in Central Europe.

17

Routes / Tucson to Grand Canyon

« on: January 26, 2024, 11:14:05 pm »

Hello everyone, I already got mighty input last year for our tour this spring / summer from Tucson to Canada.
For the part from Tucson to Grand Canyon, I have two alternatives.

#1 via Apache Junction
#2 via Globe


I lean towards #1, since Picacho State Park and Casa Grande NM seam worth visiting as well as doing a hike in the Superstition Mountains. Also there seam to be nice shoulders every part of the way. But surely a lot more suburban environment.
#2 is surely a bit more remote and maybe more scenic? But there seem to be stretches without shoulders, but steady traffic and inclines at the same time.
I would be grateful for some input. (The route planer I use doesn’t work very well on mobiles. You would have to turn your phone sideways and then close the statistics)

18

Routes / Re: Cycling the Parkways from Washington DC to New Orleans

« on: January 26, 2024, 10:28:34 pm »

Maybe it’s of interest to some here: We did the tour in September, but ending in Savannah instead of New Orleans.
Leaving DC on the C&O Canal until Harpers Ferry and then connecting to Skyline Drive was great. In between is Sky Meadows State Park, beautiful and only (!) walk-to campsites.
Traffic on the Parkway in September was low, temperatures perfect, drivers almost every time respectful.
Many small groceries that were mentioned in the last edition before Covid of “Cycling the Blue Ridge” don’t exist anymore. Some nice camp hosts helped as out with food at one point.
We went until Great Smoky Mountains National Park and then turned southeast to Savannah.
Georgia State Parks are nicely spread out from 60 to 80 miles, well maintained, beautifully located and have nice staff.
We chose very remote routes through Georgia, but itself it was rather boring.
Savannah again is a great place to end. US Bike Route 1 leads into the city, but was neither signed nor adequate. The DOT and the city clearly don’t care at all.
Taking Amtrak back was nice, although it hurt to see how the old station in the city center is no more used by trains.

19

Routes / Re: Cycling the Parkways from Washington DC to New Orleans

« on: May 13, 2023, 05:23:09 am »

Thank you. The ride from Lebanon into Downtown doesn't seem to bad.

It's of no more importance to you, HobbesOnTour, but I might have found good advice to other cyclists that want to go from Downtown Nashville to Natchez Trace Parkway:
The local buses from WeGo Public Transit transport up to two bikes. One can take Line 3 from Nashville Central (right in front of the Municipal auditorium), direction West End. Or even visit the Centennial Park with the Parthenon before and boarding the same bus on West End Ave & 27th Ave S WB.
Getting off at Todd Preist Dr & Sawyer Brown Rd WB, the rest is an easy ride on neighborhood streets and cycle lanes to the start of the NTP.

From the bus stop it's a 40mi/64km ride to Tennessee Highway 50 Bike Campground: https://classic-maps.openrouteservice.org/directions?n1=35.896273&n2=-87.102909&n3=11&a=36.071033,-86.946863,36.064364,-86.949406,36.058467,-86.949041,36.049498,-86.961594,35.721932,-87.262162&b=1a&c=0&k1=en-US&k2=mi
Stronger riders can do 62mi/100km to Meriwether Lewis Campground.

20

Routes / Re: Cycling the Parkways from Washington DC to New Orleans

« on: May 11, 2023, 05:19:44 am »

Nice, that reassures me that we will go to Nashville and that we will take the commuter train from Lebanon into Downtown to avoid that nasty traffic. Well and going to NTP seems at elast doable. Thank you! I will check other parts of your journey as well.

21

Routes / Re: Cycling the Parkways from Washington DC to New Orleans

« on: May 09, 2023, 12:53:09 pm »

Thank you very much, Pat Lamb, that seems like a well thought out route. Would you recommend to avoid Nashville because of traffic and other reasons? I must say though, I am interested in music, so it might be worth passing through?

22

Routes / Cycling the Parkways from Washington DC to New Orleans

« on: May 05, 2023, 11:29:03 am »

I got already great input for my south to north route next year. This late summer and fall, I want to tour from DC to New Orleans together with a friend. We will start right after Labor Day. 
The route felt pretty natural to me:

• From Washington to Harpers Ferry alongside the Chesapeake and Ohio Channel
• Roughly following Shenandoah River to Fort Royal
• Blue Ridge Parkway
• Going to Nashville via Cherohala Skyway, maybe taking the commuter train from Lebanon into Nashville to avoid city traffic
• Natchez Trace Parkway
• Mississippi River Trail into New Orleans

I feel well informed about the parkways and also bought the Blue Ridge book. But any recommendations concerning season, nice places and towns and especially the connecting piece between Smoky Mountains and Nashville would be very appreciated. 
Here is the route:
https://classic-maps.openrouteservice.org/directions?n1=34.764873&n2=-84.345978&n3=6&a=38.89837,-77.005863,38.890143,-77.052907,38.907665,-77.090539,38.922057,-77.104132,38.927132,-77.110462,38.937122,-77.118144,38.942238,-77.123272,38.952217,-77.128465,38.962746,-77.137198,38.970362,-77.149917,38.971838,-77.164975,38.972289,-77.167454,38.971154,-77.19492,38.977093,-77.222772,38.983231,-77.235775,38.996374,-77.247963,39.008347,-77.244315,39.014982,-77.239895,39.035186,-77.247276,39.045119,-77.274742,39.059183,-77.305727,39.068447,-77.335167,39.067514,-77.379799,39.071579,-77.409239,39.081307,-77.449751,39.121671,-77.506485,39.179445,-77.49258,39.20765,-77.46769,39.233051,-77.463055,39.256848,-77.504339,39.271733,-77.531633,39.286549,-77.552919,39.307339,-77.583904,39.315972,-77.648621,39.334297,-77.758141,38.989036,-77.961731,38.881145,-78.209953,38.760308,-78.297844,38.543869,-78.387451,37.918337,-79.013844,37.637072,-79.330902,37.25602,-79.869232,36.749063,-80.406189,35.966475,-81.933031,35.441302,-83.396358,35.323669,-83.962927,35.58887,-84.472353,36.189222,-86.651402,36.184719,-86.697063,36.1569,-86.780512,36.129972,-86.84834,36.033275,-86.976185,31.545479,-91.369858,31.322407,-91.60778,30.053345,-90.594635,30.002814,-90.441856,29.928587,-90.199986,29.946085,-90.078503&b=1c&c=0&k1=en-US&k2=mi

23

Routes / Re: Best route from Pueblo, Colorado to San Francisco ? :)

« on: April 12, 2023, 04:24:24 pm »

Hugo, you found the right place, a lot of friendly and very experienced cyclists are around. They helped me a lot planning my route for the same time next year. Let us know here how your trip has been, I would be very interested to hear impressions from another European cycling the US (I am from Munich, Germany).

Oh, and when you're in trouble finishing your trip, you might want to check Amtrak. They transport bicycles. It's only a skeletal network outside the Northeast, but most Europeans I talked about it didn't even know passenger trains exist in the US.

Have a good trip
Stefan

24

Routes / Re: Route Tucson to Glacier [AZ, UT, CO, WY, MT]

« on: November 06, 2022, 05:25:01 am »

I've been away for holidays.

Honest answer, so far I glanced at an article. But of course that doesn't suffice. I will practice it before I leave. Thanks a lot for the other tips, panniers, bear boxes and so on. Sounds great.

25

Routes / Re: Route Tucson to Glacier [AZ, UT, CO, WY, MT]

« on: October 29, 2022, 12:14:36 pm »

Juan, I saved the route right as you described it. Sounds very nice. Colter Bay Campground has hiker/biker sites too, that would be a nice second stop in Grand Teton, right?

Oh yes, I am interested in a backcountry camp for a night. But I don't want to ask to much of you!

26

Routes / Re: Route Tucson to Glacier [AZ, UT, CO, WY, MT]

« on: October 28, 2022, 04:44:25 am »

Juan, yes, now that I have longer gravel roads in my route, I would definitely have gravel tires on my bike. It's a high quality steel touring bicycle that has seen a lot of really bad roads. But things can go bad always, as in your examples. And without a friend I would probably stay on regular roads completely, too much risk if something goes wrong.

I know about Zion and the tunnel. It's nice that you are urging the NPS to improve conditions for cyclists. It is in their own interests to do so. Good to know about Bryce and Capitol Reef, too. I will be there in the morning to be safe.

27

Routes / Re: Route Tucson to Glacier [AZ, UT, CO, WY, MT]

« on: October 26, 2022, 03:36:36 pm »

Consider this route https://goo.gl/maps/YZnkZQQeJmmQp7rG7 for the return from Islands in the Sky.  Check out the photos near the twisty part.  Nice ride but definitely easier toward Moab as it is downhill.

Done, thanks. I did see it on the map, but wasn't sure if it's possible without a mountain bike.

28

Routes / Re: Route Tucson to Glacier [AZ, UT, CO, WY, MT]

« on: October 26, 2022, 01:48:13 pm »

Thank you John, I added your first suggestion to my route and saved the second one.

Doing it later in the year, I changed the route also between Moab and Grand Junction, taking the La Sal Loop Road, then North End Taylor Flat Road and CO141. It's around number 37 in my updated route now.
Any feedback on that route are still very welcome :-)

29

Routes / Re: Route Tucson to Glacier [AZ, UT, CO, WY, MT]

« on: October 26, 2022, 02:48:10 am »

jamawani, thank you. I try to answer to all the points you made.

- Nein sagen, yes you can. I totally see your point concerning the seasons. So I will start in May.

- I will have a proper Visum, so I am not restricted to 90 days

- The shuttle for the bike from South to North Rim sounds great, another argument for a later start

- I am experienced in dealing with heavy traffic, but avoiding it is still preferred of course. The AZ 89A Sedona to Flagstaff sees mostly leisure traffic? Then an early start on weekdays would be advisable. In general I prefer cycling on paved roads, but longer stretches of unpaved road are also fine if they are worth it.

- I did some cycling in remote areas, like in the Balkans, but not for several days like would have to in the US. But I think I can scale that up, so im not that concerned.

- I already thought about continuing to Prince Rupert and taking the ferry, depends on how fast I advance on my trip. Taking Via Rail to Prince Rupert would save time and looks great, too. It's good to hear you would recommend it.

- Native American culture, yes I am interested, thats why I would do a detour to Mesa Verde and other monuments.

- Friends, well, only one in LA. So I could start there instead of Tucson, but Tucson is more suitable for a south north route.

So far, still happy about recommendations further north.

30

Routes / Re: Route Tucson to Glacier [AZ, UT, CO, WY, MT]

« on: October 25, 2022, 11:26:10 am »

John Nettles and jamawani, thank you very much for your detailed information concerning roads. I will certainly retrace it on my map.

Also thanks to everyone for the deliberation between Canada and the Appalachians - it is going to be Canada then.

Seeing now that starting mid-March in Arizona might be between 2 and 4 weeks to early, I am thinking if I should do the trip the other way round:

- Starting in Canada mid-August
- Hitting Glacier just after Labor Day
- Entering Yellowstone mid-September
- Utah in October
- Grand Canyon end of October (maybe even North Rim)
- Arriving in Tucson Mid-November

Does this seem more realistic? Or is there just no reasonable way to avoid the summer holiday season in the US without getting in trouble with the weather?