Southern Tier Advice Needed

[andinisto]

I plan to ride the Southern Tier, starting in mid-March and finishing in mid-May.  Can anyone offer advice as to what is the preferred direction?  I have heard tales of strong winds from the East in Texas.  Does it make sense to start in the East to avoid the heat and humidity later in the Spring?  What about the winds in the S.W. states?  Any advice is appreciated.

[la2jax]

My 9 year old son and I did the Southern Tier in Spring, '03.  We actually started in LA around March 8 and finished in Jacksonville around May 12th.  We did have some tough headwinds until maybe San Antonio, when everything seemed much nicer and flatter.  
We had not really trained properly, as we live in Chicago and the weather wasn't conducive to riding prior to our trip.  Because of that, we had difficulty climbing, and we were climbing starting on day 1.  Had we been westbound, we would have been in better shape and our load would have been whittled down somewhat also.
We had a great time. Check out our web site at www.cushwafamily.com/la2jax/ .

This message was edited by la2jax on 1-9-04 @ 3:45 PM

[edmilkman]

hi andinisto,
I want to go east to west on the Southern Tier then up the Left coast to San Fransisco also. maybe we can partner up. My e-mail is ednotmilkman@netzero.net
I want to leave from my home in southeast Alabama about March 20 and must arrive in San Fran on or before May 7. According to the A.C. info, this will be a 3380 mile trip. Dividing that by 70 miles per day takes 48 days. I have no self-contained touring experience except 3 day weekends with my YAK trailer, but I have done 6K miles of training and truck SAGed touring in 2003. I can ride 11-12 mph all day in moderate hills with my loaded YAK, but would go slower , or faster (if you "pulled"), to keep pace with parners. I can not afford to be on the road more than 7weeks however. Greyhound is my backup plan in case I get behind somehow.

This message was edited by edmilkman on 1-10-04 @ 4:20 AM

[philipg]

was unable to access your touring reports. would love to read them as I will be doing the same ride this year. got a better URL? Thanks, Philip