DC to CA - which direction?

[JBike]

Hi, first post!

Contemplating a cross country ride in 2017 - DC to California, most likely Santa Monica since I'd like to take in as much of Route 66 as possible. 

I live outside DC, curious about the pros and cons of east to west vs. west to east travel.  I am pretty flexible on time of year.

Thanks,
Jeff

[John Nelson]

For most people in most years, it doesn't matter much.

The major factors to consider are: (1) wind, (2) weather, (3) daylight, (4) the sun, (5) history, (6) air travel, (7) what you want.

(1) Many will tell you differently, but based on recorded historical data, surface wind is too variable in most places to favor one direction over the other. There are a few notable exceptions, such as Wyoming and the Pacific Coast, but you don't want to plan your trip around the exceptions.

(2) Typically, when looking for good weather, westbound cross-country travelers can start earlier than eastbound cross-country travelers. So to some extent it depends on when you want to start.

(3) If you're going cross-country, neither direction favors more daylight. But if you're going north-south, then one direction may give you more total daylight than the other direction.

(4) You don't want the sun in your eyes, nor in the eyes of the drivers behind you. If you like to start at the crack of dawn, then you probably want to go west. If you like to start late and ride into the sunset, you may want to go east. If you start late and quit early, it won't matter.

(5) Many people like to retrace the route of westward expansion, which suggests westbound.

(6) If you are riding to or from your house, or getting to one end via automobile, then it's usually easier if you can fly to the start and ride home rather than the other way around. It's just easier to pack your bike at home when you have plenty of time.

(7) None of these factors are overwhelming, so if you just have a hankering to go one way or the other, then go that way.

[staehpj1]

One thing to consider...  It is easy to know when you will start a tour and harder to know when you will finish one.  As a result I like to get air travel out of the way up front.  For you, living in DC, that would favor starting in the West.

If flying with a bike, be sure that you check on any bikes as baggage issues before choosing an airline.  Some will soak you for a BIG fee.  I typically fly Southwest for their friendlier baggage policies.  They serve the DC area airports and LAX so they would be my choice.  I have Flown BWI to LAX and ridden right out of LAX a few times and it worked out well.

[cdhill]

We did the TransAm east to west in 2013 and this summer we are going from Washington DC to Seattle Washington. We think east to west is by far the better way to go. We like to ride early in the morning to beat the heat. We feel ever so much safer with the early morning sun at our backs making us more visible to drivers coming from the rear. As far as the wind goes, our experience is that the surface winds in the summer are out of the south/south west. Not really directly from the west. Prevailing winds are one thing, surface winds something entirely different. And as the previous writer mentioned, we really enjoyed experiencing the history of our country from beginning to end so Virginia to Oregon was perfect for us. The last factor we discovered about midway through the east to west TransAm is that the climbs going east to west are not quite as steep. This held true for the majority of the climbs. You'll enjoy it either way but we think east to west has more plusses.