help needed: route selection (June-July)

[Pieta_43]

Dear touring enthusiasts,

with an unexpected opportunity appearing on the horizon, I finally get the opportunity to hit the road again. Due to the short notice and the time slot of only four weeks I cannot do the ACA TransAm as intended for such occasions.

In detail I considered the following options as a possible alternative:
-   ACA Route 66 (not sure about the timing in terms of heat and winds?)
-   ACA UGRR
-   ACA Sierra Cascades
-   Plaskett/Breuning: Great Divide Road Bike Route: read about it earlier today and this sounds like an interesting route – but couldn’t find more details.

In terms of the timeframe (4 weeks) and timing which one would you suggest. I´m in for the experience of the journey only.

Timeframe: Mid-June to Mid-July
Surface: Road to Gravel (no mountain biking)
Experience: bike and bikepacking (incl. ACA Pacific Coast, TransAlp, etc.), - done a bit of racing and guiding back in the days so 10hrs of riding per day should still be possible 😉

Thanks for your help!
Safe rides,
Peter

[Pat Lamb]

Given the four options A, B, C, and D, I'd suggest E: fly into Jackson, WY.  Pick up the TransAm (I'd go up the east side of the Tetons, and go through Yellowstone, but AC has an alternate route up the west side).  When you get to Missoula, go north to Glacier, then take the Northern Tier west.  When you get to Anacortes, WA, make your way down to Port Townsend, then down to Bainbridge Island where you can catch the ferry into Seattle.

[HobbesOnTour]

I appreciate that I'm on a different continent to you but have you considered where you would like to go?
What places interest you? Have a think and look to link them up.
Apart from busy roads there is little reason to stick to an "official" route, is there?

[John Nelson]

Except for the fact that you said that you'd already done the Pacific Coast, I would have suggested that you do the Pacific Coast from Bellingham to San Franscisco.

With that out, I'll suggest that you do Route 66 from Chicago to Albuquerque. Or maybe from St. Louis to Flagstaff.

But I also like Pat's suggestion to do part of the TransAm, perhaps from Pueblo to Eugene (or maybe stop in Missoula if you want a shorter ride).

[jamawani]

I'm not a fan of the ACA Route 66.
Too many miles on I-40 or right next to it.
Plus this summer is likely to have a heavy monsoon in NM & AZ.

The UGRR is likely to be brutally hot and humid.
But if you're o.k. with that, then 4 weeks is reasonable.

Do you have your passport?
Can you speak Canadian?

My bet would be Jackson, Wyoming to Jasper, Alberta.
If you need to stay in the U.S. - then Taos, NM to Glacier NP.
Lots of possible variations.

[Pieta_43]

Thanks all for your valuable feedback!

Somehow I like the idea of "finishing" a route, that’s why linking together various routes wasn´t on the plan so far. @Pat Lamb your option D sounds interesting, I´ll have a detailed look at that.

As I do not have much time for planning, I prefer to use the ACA routing as it worked out well on the Pacific Coast Route back in 2018.

Did anyone do the Plaskett/Breuning: Great Divide Road Bike Route so far – it sounds quite interesting but I wasn´t able to find neither the book nor any journals or GPS in the www.

Another option would be the ACA Great Parks N & S.

I´m doing it for the joy of touring, getting my head clear – nothing to prove no sights on the bucketlist either. However getting to know ‘small town America’ or whats over that’s the goal.