TransAm season

[EGHama]

Several questions, so please pardon. I am moving from long distance hiking to cycling, and am looking at doing the TransAm. Given variables in weather from year to year, is there a typical "season" or start date for doing the TransAm going West to East?  What about going East to West?  If anyone keeps stats, do most riders go Eastward or Westward?  Is there a cycling "bubble"?  If so, when do the bulk of the riders start at each coast?  Thanks for any info you can provide.

[staehpj1]

Several questions, so please pardon. I am moving from long distance hiking to cycling, and am looking at doing the TransAm. Given variables in weather from year to year, is there a typical "season" or start date for doing the TransAm going West to East?  What about going East to West?  If anyone keeps stats, do most riders go Eastward or Westward?  Is there a cycling "bubble"?  If so, when do the bulk of the riders start at each coast?  Thanks for any info you can provide.

Not sure when the bubble is, but we started W-E early June in the west and McKenzie pass was not yet open to cars but was for bikes.  That was perfect that year, some years McKenzie might not open until sometime in July.  There is an alternate route, but I'd hate to miss McKenzie.

Going E-W I'd go a good bit earlier.

[Pat Lamb]

Most people riding east to west seem to start in May.  Most of the worst spring rains are usually finished by then, and then you're just trying to beat the heat in Kansas (at which we failed).  Western passes will be open when you get there.

[DaveB]

A caution.  Even if riding East to West and staring in mid-May, take clothes for cold (say mid-30's) conditions.  The Appalachian /Blue Ridge mountains can produce cold days and nights and even in summer and the Rockies are always unpredictable.  Don't let the Great Plains in mid-summer fool you into sending the tights, jackets, etc. home.   

The "conventional wisdom" is that the prevailing wind is from the West so many riders go West to East to take advantage of expected tailwinds.  Apparently that is a myth and the headwinds going West to East can be just as pervasive as the other way.

[John Nelson]

The first half of May is prime time to start from Yorktown. Wait until June to start in Astoria or Florence. The ACA guidance is, "This route can be ridden from May through September."

[staehpj1]

Don't let the Great Plains in mid-summer fool you into sending the tights, jackets, etc. home.   

That or if you do, plan on having them mailed back to you before you are back in the mountains.  Never count on it being warm in the mountains or at night in the desert for that matter.

[John Nelson]

I toured with a guy in 2012 who sent his sleeping bag home after 3-weeks of 90-degree weather in the Midwest. Heat does strange things to people. If you're hot long enough, you can't imagine how you could ever be cold again. That guy was freezing when we got to New England in August. He practically got no sleep at all in the campground in Ticonderoga.