US Perimeter Tour?

[staehpj1]

I am thinking of the possibility of a US perimeter trip at some time in the future and have a number of questions. I have done the TransAmerica unsupported, so I have some idea of what a long tour involves, but wonder how much difference extending the trip will make.

Do you need to allow more rest days? On our TA we really didn't use rest days much. One day for rafting and one day for one of our party to recover from a crash were the only rest days. We preferred to take a low mileage day (30 or 40 miles) once in a while rather than stay in one place for a whole day. Does the extra length of a perimeter trip require a different strategy.

At the end of this post is a first attempt at a rough schedule. I would like to hear suggestions about whether it hits the various regions at a reasonable time.

Regarding pace, I think the 60 mile per day pace is conservative. The assumption is that a relaxed pace may be required to manage this long of a trip. I am basing the 60 miles per day on what we did on our TA, but we started that with two riders not really having trained and none of us having trained with a loaded bike. Our low mileage in the beginning kept our average down a bit. I am thinking that the length of a perimeter trip may require more frequent rest days and an easy pace. Is this reasonable or will it just keep getting easier to do long days back to back?

                           Miles   Days  Start      Finish
Baltimore to Bar Harbor     1000    16    05/01/08   05/17/08
Northern Tier               4295    71    05/17/08   07/27/08
Pacific Coast               1836    30    07/27/08   08/26/08
Southern Tier               3159    52    08/26/08   10/17/08
St. Augustine to Baltimore  1000    16    10/17/08   11/02/08

Miles per day ~60
Starting date 05/01/08

This message was edited by staehpj1 on 10-2-07 @ 6:16 AM

[litespeed]

I think your schedule is plenty conservative, especially if you are travelling alone. You will probably find yourself well ahead of schedule even if you do a lot of sightseeing and take plenty of rest days. But I'll admit that I tend to cover a lot of ground, especially when I'm on a familiar route.

[John Nettles]

Sorry for late reply.  I did a last-minute 3/4 perimeter tour (9k miles in 4 months) many moons ago.  They had not developed the ST yet so I headed home.

I think your 60mpd is fine but my biggest hassle was the weather.  Due to me going on at with about 10 days notice, I started late in early July in San Diego to Vancouver to Maine to Key West.  I left San Juan islands August 1st so I had to hook it to beat the snow in Maine.  Then the cold chased me down south to southern Virginia.

If you route timing is not totally finalize, you may want to reconsider heading into AZ in late August/early September as the temps can be quite brutal.  If time/money permit, at Missoula, go north and do some Canadian touring for a couple of weeks so you can not sweat to death and maybe make up some time going to Florida.

Either way, enjoy the ride!

Happy trails and may the wind be at your back!

TulsaJohn

[FredB]

Hi World Traveller,

Did you ever do the perimeter tour?

I am thinking of the same type of ride and looking for feedback.

Fred

[staehpj1]

You probably already saw in the other thread, but no.  It will probably be a few years before I can get enough time for that.  I hope to do another longish trip next year, but not six months.