Newbie, Summer 2016 - where?

[Patricia49]

Hi! I'm new to the forum and planning my first ride in about 25 years, this summer. I'll be starting around the beginning of June and hope to have all summer free - with one major hiccup I'll mention below.

My general criteria are probably predictable: not too strenuous, pretty scenery, good camping options, not too hot/humid, not too much traffic. I'll be solo so would like a route with other cyclists around. I think I want to ride pretty slow, not try to cover a lot of ground but really soak up the places I ride through.

I'm open to going pretty much anywhere in the lower 48. Now the hiccup: I have an obligation in eastern Arizona (Globe) from July 1 to 15. Maybe two different routes, one in June and one for the second part of the summer?

Thank you!


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[indyfabz]

What do you consider not a lot of ground in a day, and do you want to avoid mountains?

Any transportation constraints/issues?

Will you be cooking?

If you don't want high heat and humidity that eliminates a lot of obvious places. (E.g., deep south, Midwestern places like Iowa).

Maybe the Oregon coast. Plenty of other cyclists there. It's the Oregon DOT I believe that has a nice on line guide for the route, which includes camping locations.

[planeguy5]

I would recommend the Pacific Northwest like the previous comment. The San Juan Islands and Western Washington are beautiful in the summer, and there's a great network of cycling routes available all over the internet. You could go from Portland to Vancouver, B.C. and take a detour to go to the San Juan Islands, Olympic Peninsula, or North Cascades for a bit. While I haven't ridden this route, I have spent a considerable amount of time backpacking and camping in the North Cascades, Olympic Coast, San Juan Islands, and Vancouver Island. They're hard to beat in the summer.

[jamawani]

So, what you have is two tours of about 1 month, each.
And you have to get to Globe, Arizona and back in July.
(I certainly would not want to be cycling in July in southern Ariz.)

Is there a place with cheap airfares to Phoenix that could act as a midpoint?
How about Portland, Oregon? Oregon is, unquestionably, the most bike friendly state.
You could drive/fly to Portland and do an Oregon loop in June.
Then fly to Phoenix for Globe and back to Portland.
Then ride up to Glacier National Park and end with Going to the Sun Road.
And take Amtrak back to Portland if your car is there or head straight back home.

Pic - Going to the Sun Road

[Patricia49]

Wow ... that looks absolutely beautiful. Thanks jamawani for the motivating picture! And looks like there's a consensus.

Thanks so much, all of you. I will start looking at logistics.