ACA TransAmerican Summer 2025

[logantrinklein]

Hi jim,
I am also interested in riding coast to coast this summer, but as I am still in school, I would need to leave early June. All other details you listed like route and pacing sound great. Please let me know if that would be a possibility.
-Logan

[John Nelson]

I am also interested in riding coast to coast this summer, but as I am still in school, I would need to leave early June.

IMO, if you leave in early June, it's best to go west to east. If you leave in early May, it's best to go east to west.

[ktdub69]

Hi Jack and everyone,

I am also planning to ride the TAT West to East this summer.  Current plan is to leave Astoria just after Memorial Day with aspirations of being in Yorktown by mid-Sept.  Happy to join others with similar plans.  A few qualifiers:

- This is a Bucket List thing, and my first tour.  I've been training for well over a year on a loaded (~75lb total) Kona Sutra I purchased specifically for this ride.  I've been a road cyclist (Moots RSL) for many years but had an idea to "just keep riding" one Sunday morning a couple years ago.

- I'll be 68 in June [ 9th, thus 6-9, a ying-yang thing ].  Thanks to being gifted a pretty good set of DNA and plenty of working out, I'm in good shape, but, as many of us know, 68 is nothing like 38. For reference, last training ride was 30 miles, 3,415 feet of elevation, 3 hrs 28 mins and could have done a few more after a break.

- Experienced multi-day backpacker, including solo, so very comfortable with packing light, managing a campsite, eating weird combinations that cooks in a steel cup, etc

- I have the Ride with GPS app and downloaded the TAT maps.  Also have the WS app and account. I haven't used either before but have used All Trails app a gazillion times and understand the concept of RwGPS

- I am a little uneasy with the food strategy, especially for ~5k calories, so expecting some trial-and-error lessons. This includes what to do with the bike while I go into a grocery store, what to eat in the more remote areas since I'm vegetarian (+fish, so pescetarian) so riding through Billy's Burger Hut isn't really an option.  Open to others experience and guidance.

Right now, my possibly naive strategy is to ride 3 days and take a day off.  Daily, the idea is to ride 2 hours and take 1 off -  repeat 3 times for 6 hours.  Mix hotel-WS-camping roughly 1-2-1 depending on availability and weather. I'm sure this will change along the way with experience, pain/fatigue, unplanned adventures...

My basic goal is to have fun, meet people, and enjoy a bucket list memory. =)

Best,
Kevin

[jwrushman]

Just a couple of thoughts:

1) Start using RWGPS on your training rides and start playing around with it's route planning features. I think the app is great, but it can some times be a little quirky with turn-by-turn instructions.

2) Despite being pescatarian, I think you'll have no problem finding enough calories. Maybe not always the healthiest options.  But Subways are ubiquitous with plenty of meat-free options.

3) I planned to take a zero once a week but learned I didn't need it. I take time off when I need to for errands or for sightseeing. Regarding my daily ride, I can go four hours straight but my (old) back does best with a six minute stretching routine every hour.  I think you'll find a bicycling routine that works for you once you're riding. 

[msrw08@gmail.com]

I’m a former USA Cycling Cat 1 racer/current tourist, club cyclist and commuter.  I ride about 4,000 miles a year and plan to do the Transamerica route starting in late May.  I’ve been a member of ACA since 2010; not sure why the forums here did not recognize my previous posts 🙂.

Reaching out to the folks who have already ridden this route since I’m debating whether to ride west since I live on the east coast, or fly to the west coast and ride east.

Two questions:

1. Does ACA or anyone else have data on how many cyclists do the Transamerica riding east vs riding west?  Is it actually the case that wind direction is too variant to favor one direction over the other?

2. With climate change and all the fires out west later in the summer, I’m wondering if this may be the decisive factor that favors starting on the west coast to get through the riskiest areas for fire earlier in the season when the risk should be lower?

I’d appreciate any insights or advice from folks here who have direct experience.

Thanks,

Mark

[John Nelson]

Crazy guy on a bike has 451 journals for TransAm east to west, and 365 journals for TransAm west to east. IMO, you should pick your direction based on when you plan to start. If you start before early June, go east to west. If you start mid-June or later, go west to east. This is primarily based on weather. Avoiding rain and snow is primary. Avoid heat is secondary (and impossible).

If you’re flexible, start May 7 in Yorktown. If you start late May in Astoria, you’ll get too much rain in the Northwest, and possibly snow in Yellowstone.

[msrw08@gmail.com]

Thanks, John.  This is super helpful!

[BikeliciousBabe]

Thanks, John.  This is super helpful!

I agree with John.  And for what it's worth, someone on another forum once posted an overlay for prevailing surface winds in the Midwest on top of ACA's Trans Am Map for July and it revealed mostly  headwinds going east to west. When you get further east later in the summer (July and August), flows out of the southeast, bringing in humid air masses and headwinds if you are heading east, are common.