Southern Tier Tour(self sustained) this fall

[Alisha Kern]

I am planning on riding this tour. Looking to talking with anyone else doing this tour.

[Catherine]

Alisha,

I just started the route.  Did you decide to do it?

Catherine

[Westinghouse]

I am considering doing it again east to west.

[22hornet]

I will be doing it East to West starting Feb of 2015 lots of good blogs on Crazyguy. Jim

[Westinghouse]

I think I have read and looked at most ST journals on CGOAB. I have cycled FL to CA 4 times, 3 to San Diego and one to Los Angeles. I am seriously considering doing it again starting within a few or several days. Temperatures are already in the 40s in the ST. I slept out one night when it got down to 7 F, if you could call it sleep. I wonder if I have the drive to do the full distance.

[catfishsue]

I am planning on doing this trip west to east beginning in April.  This will be my first big tour. Excited and a little nervous too. I will be with an experienced rider as I am fairly new to this.  I am training as much as I can and hope I will be up to the challenge.  I hear the first part of the trip out of Sand Diego is the hardest as far as the climb. Any advise about riding the ST?

[Catherine]

I'm a little less then 1/4 way through.  Yes, a bit challenging out of SD, but beautiful.  I did it towing two dogs and lived to tell about it

My advice is to make enjoying the experience your first priority and working to stay out of the tunnel of accumulating miles.  Plan in extra time to give yourself wiggle room so that you're not backed into a corner to make time and distance.

Surprisingly, because I'm not very social, many of the highlights of the trip thus far are the people Jve met.

If you haven't already, consider going to a certified bike fitter to fine tune how your bike fits you.

Have fun!

[staehpj1]

Surprisingly, because I'm not very social, many of the highlights of the trip thus far are the people Jve met.

I am not surprised.

I met more interesting local people on the ST than on any other route.  I also met a few interesting folks that were riding the ST.  I found a lot of interesting and really good food along the way too.  Good Mexican food, Cajun food, barbecue, and seafood were highlights of various sections.

On the downside I found the scenery pretty uninteresting or even dreary much of the way, especially in Texas (which was a full 1/3 of the trip).  YMMV on that though.  I tend to like forests and mountain streams, and found day after day of dry brown scrub as far as the eye can see a little depressing.  I hear that some folks actually thought the ST was pretty scenic.  There were some pretty areas, they were just a small portion of the trip.  Fortunately, the people and the food, both of which were awesome, made it worthwhile to me.

[Westinghouse]

That is great' I  am on the ST now and resting in Gainesville. I set out again tomorrow. A wet cold front is coming late Sunday. My highest mileage day so far is 83. I am going E to W. I do not follow ACA all the way. The weather has been good.

[catfishsue]

Any of you that have ridden the ST or are doing so...what is the situation with bike shops?  Are there many on this route if needed?

[Westinghouse]

I have passed several. I am in north Florida now and rain has brought me  to a halt. It continues until 10:00 pm. I am staying here. They say temps will drop tol 21F. Too cold for me.This town is dripping wet. I will find a cozy place to sleep tonight. I made 28 miles by noon, part of it in the downpour.

[staehpj1]

Check your AC maps for specifics, but I recall them being pretty far apart at times.  A guy I rode with had several mechanical problems that required him to hitch a ride.  I don't think he needed to go more than 50 miles or so, but in other locations there were places with not much for a long ways.  The good news is that in those remote locales it is easy to hitch a ride.

[22hornet]

Westinghouse are you doing a blog on crazy guy?

[staehpj1]

Since we are asking Westinghouse questions...  Did you by chance ride the Trans America W-E in 2007?  You remind me of  guy we met then.

[Catherine]

I'm riding the ST w-e, currently in Arizona.  The ACA maps list the bike shops in each section.  So far I've been exceptionally lucky and whenever I've needed one it was in striking distance.  There are stretches when there are very limited resources for food and water, needless to say that applies for bike shops as well.