I have noticed that most riders do the Southern Tier in February. I am thinking about mid-September, going West to East. I plan to ride between 50-70 per day (weather and terrain permitting). What are the reasons that most people go in February? Is September to hot in the west? I realize that I will be losing daylight as I head east but from the maps it seems like camping and hotels are closer together in these sections of the map. Thoughts!!! I could use some sound advice. Thanks!
If you don't mind hot weather for the early part of the trip and can deal with shorter days, mid-late Fall through early Winter are probably okay, but I hate hot weather and much prefer for it to be cool. Frost overnight is fine with me. So it wouldn't be my first choice.
For me the reason for doing the ST was that it could be done in the winter. At least for my preferences there are really a lot nicer routes to ride in October IMO.
I didn't look at the weather and daylight charts for September. I assumed it would be too hot for my tastes so I looked at dates from October until spring. What I found was that early October was likely to be warmer than I want and that the daylight hours get pretty short late fall through mid winter. By mid February the days are getting a lot longer and it is unlikely to be hot.
My mid Feb thru mid March ST was a great choice IMO. It did get cold at night, but the daily highs always hit 50 F. I had one really cold night (18F), and a bunch of nights with frost. Days were cool and pleasant for the most part. I had only one day that was really unpleasant (50F, pouring rain, and a howling wind), but I could have taken a rest day if I wanted. I did see a little snow on the side of the road on top of a couple passes, but never had to ride on snow covered road.
