Author Topic: Cross-Country Tour Route  (Read 7973 times)

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Offline starman

Cross-Country Tour Route
« on: August 30, 2004, 05:02:00 am »
 Hi all,
I'm working on organizing a cross-country charity ride that will originate in Philadelphia, PA. The group will consist of a mix of experienced and inexperienced cyclists and everyone will have been training for quite a while before the ride starts. I'd love to get some input on which route we should take for the tour. Here are the options I've come up with:

Philly-Astoria, OR - We'd take the Trans Am pretty much all the way after connecting from Atlantic Coast

Philly-San Francisco - Trans Am to Western Express

Philly-San Diego - Trans Am to Western Express to GC Connector to Southern Tier

I'm leaning toward the last route, but I don't know much about the ride conditions along the GC connector. Does anyone have on thoughts on which route will allow us to strike the best balance between ride difficulty and scenery given that we will have some inexperienced riders.

Thanks!


Offline rtwbikerider

Cross-Country Tour Route
« Reply #1 on: August 30, 2004, 05:51:47 am »
I cycled San Diego to Philly in 2002 using most of the Southern Tier route and some of the Donna Ikenberry Aitkenhead Atlantic Coast route. If the weather is in your favor, the Southern Tier should be a good way to cross the country. In what month do you plan to depart Philly? Have you considered starting in San Diego instead? Try to find the Tim Kneeland "Disney to Disney" route on the web. They did it right, IMHO. The East Coast can be a lot of fun if you stay close to the Atlantic (Cape May ferry, Delmarva, Ch. Bay Bridge-Tunnel, Outer Banks). Let me know if you need any more detail.

Mike


Offline DaveB

Cross-Country Tour Route
« Reply #2 on: August 30, 2004, 10:26:25 pm »
I've never done any of these routes so I'm only going on what I've read but isn't the "Western Express" part of the route pretty severe?

I understand it's got very sparse water sources and towns so taking "inexperienced" cyclists on it doesn't sound like a good idea.  


Offline starman

Cross-Country Tour Route
« Reply #3 on: August 31, 2004, 12:06:37 am »
I've heard that the Western Express route is pretty difficult as well.  I'd really like to avoid the Nevada portion of the Western Express by either turning north or south, so the Philly-SF option is the least desirable from my perspective.  

The group that will be participating in the ride is from Philadelphia, so I'd like to ride east-to-west so that we don't have to worry about the logistics of getting everyone across the country for the ride.  We're planning on leaving Philadelphia in late May and arriving on the west coast in early August.