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Routes / Re: Brit riding across the US
« Last post by jsc on January 12, 2023, 11:14:16 pm »Are you still there, Oscar's dad?
My brother and I have finalized our route for an east to west crossing of the continent this year. We will depart Washington DC on May 4. The Potomac River at DC rises and falls with the Atlantic tide, so I consider it close enough to the coast for a starting wheel dip. We will head west pretty much along the TransAm Eastern Express route as it was laid out on the website that ACA took over last year (they adopted most but not all of the route). It avoids some of the worst climbing on the traditional TransAm route (about 40,000' by my estimation). We follow the C&O Canal towpath, then the GAP rail trail to near Pittsburg; then across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to just north of St. Louis. We follow the Katy Trail across half of Missouri before we start angling WNW across the rest of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado to Fort Collins, then over Cameron Pass to Walden, Colorado. At Walden we join the original TransAm and follow it to Missoula, Montana, where we switch to the Lewis and Clark route west across Idaho to the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon to end up at Seaside, Oregon. Then back to Portland for a plane home. I've laid it all out in Ride With GPS and it totes up to about 3850 miles and 140,000' of climbing. The most challenging parts I think will be getting over a few high passes in the Rockies and the potential for a strong blast furnace headwind through the Columbia River Gorge (80-120 miles worth?). The attachments give a general picture of the route, though this iteration is many months old.
My brother and I have finalized our route for an east to west crossing of the continent this year. We will depart Washington DC on May 4. The Potomac River at DC rises and falls with the Atlantic tide, so I consider it close enough to the coast for a starting wheel dip. We will head west pretty much along the TransAm Eastern Express route as it was laid out on the website that ACA took over last year (they adopted most but not all of the route). It avoids some of the worst climbing on the traditional TransAm route (about 40,000' by my estimation). We follow the C&O Canal towpath, then the GAP rail trail to near Pittsburg; then across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to just north of St. Louis. We follow the Katy Trail across half of Missouri before we start angling WNW across the rest of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado to Fort Collins, then over Cameron Pass to Walden, Colorado. At Walden we join the original TransAm and follow it to Missoula, Montana, where we switch to the Lewis and Clark route west across Idaho to the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon to end up at Seaside, Oregon. Then back to Portland for a plane home. I've laid it all out in Ride With GPS and it totes up to about 3850 miles and 140,000' of climbing. The most challenging parts I think will be getting over a few high passes in the Rockies and the potential for a strong blast furnace headwind through the Columbia River Gorge (80-120 miles worth?). The attachments give a general picture of the route, though this iteration is many months old.