Southern Tier Summer

[leftcider]

My summer plans may have just fallen through which would leave me with about two months time.  I would like to do the Southern Tier, starting early July.  If I did that I would leave at about 5am everyday and get most of my riding done before it got too hot, then maybe bike a bit in the late afternoon/early evening.  How challenging of an experience would the weather be?  I'm normally pretty tolerant of heat. Thanks all, ride on.

[TheDaltonBoys]

Sounds like a plan. Getting up at 5A.M is the way to go. Everything else is classic preparation. Water, water, water!  Humidity will be the killer....already here in Austin, TX. our ambient daytime highs are mid to upper 90's, but the "heat index" has been taking us up to over 100 degrees (107 last week), and summer started just this morning! Enjoy the Voyage...Mark of the Dalton Boys

[MikeK.]

Yes, getting up early is the way to go.

I just completed Pensacola to Gainesville part, and I started at about 5:30 AM Central Time everyday; could not start earlier because it was too dark.

The temperatures were in lower 90-s every afternoon, and it was not much cooler in the evenings. Actually, the heat was not as challlenging as I thought it would be. If you have plenty of water (actually, I used diluted Gatorade) it should be OK; I drank about 2 G per day (=110-130 miles). It was a good ride!  


This message was edited by MikeK. on 6-21-05 @ 4:32 PM

[scott.laughlin]

If you can tolerate the heat it's a good plan.  But buy one of those umbrellas that goes small.  You may need it for shade in some of the areas, and it's will be worth much more than it cost.

Figure your water.  You have some stretches across AZ, NM, and TX that are pretty far apart.  I remember reading about a guy who carried a cardboard sign that said WATER.  He wore it so it showed on his back.  Someone always came to his rescue.   You have to be careful.  I've spent some time in Arizon's Sonoran Desert.  Plan ahead.

Scott