Author Topic: Northern Tier Route Length - Days Wise  (Read 7014 times)

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Offline bikeforkenya

Northern Tier Route Length - Days Wise
« on: January 28, 2008, 11:08:45 am »
For those that did it,

How long did it take you to do the Northern Tier Route? Is 45 days a
reasonable time?

Thanks a lot,

Peter Maher
Bike for Kenya, Founder
www.bikeforkenya.org

This message was edited by bikeforkenya on 1-28-08 @ 7:08 AM

Offline staehpj1

Northern Tier Route Length - Days Wise
« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2008, 12:48:54 pm »
The following is my experience and is based on being self supported.  If they will be sagged it will help some.  Will your riders be carrying their gear?  Will they have to do their own cooking and shopping?

It wouldn't be a reasonable pace for me, especially self supported.  That is 95.5 miles per day.  Certainly possible, but do you really want to ride pretty much a century a day?  I don't and I doubt that many do.  It would seem to prevent spending any time seeing the country as you go.  side hikes, time off to go rafting, rest days; any of that kind of stuff would seem to be minimized or completely eliminated.

We met some folks who thought they would maintain a pace like that on the TA, they fairly quickly decided that it wasn't reasonable.  They were self supported, but I think they would have come to the same conclusion if they weren't.

We did the TA (a similar distance) in 73 days and didn't feel like we were loafing.  We did start a bit slow and trained as we rode, but still I think that our mileage was reasonable.

If the NT is similar in difficulty to the TA...
I would see 8 weeks (56 days) as pushing very hard and 12 weeks (84 days) as taking it somewhat easy.  Longer isn't out of the question though.

Bottom line why make it a grueling ordeal?  It should be fun; it won't be for the average rider if done in 45 days.

This message was edited by staehpj1 on 1-28-08 @ 8:51 AM

Offline Peaks

Northern Tier Route Length - Days Wise
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2008, 07:09:07 pm »
Do the math.  95 miles per day, day in  and day out is a lot.  On top of that, a loaded bike is going to slow you down.  Maybe Lance would do something like this, but not me.

For what it's worth, we did the Northern Tier in 61 days.  But we didn't take days off either.  Most long distance trips take one day off per week on the average.  

For groups, ACA Northern Tier trip lasts 90 days.  So, for planning, I'd suggest allowing 3 months.


Offline rabbitoh

Northern Tier Route Length - Days Wise
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2008, 04:09:33 am »
Peter, my own experience was that it took me 71 days of cycling and an additional 7 rest days. That gave me an average of 60 miles per riding day. I was completely new to self supported touring.

You don't say how fit and strong you are as riders, but nonetheless, I would advise against risking it becoming a chore and a grind.

I would also advise to allow time off, not only for sight-seeing, but for contingencies, such as mechanical failure and illness to any one of the riders.

Enjoy the tour.

Good Cycling
Dennis Schluter
Good Cycling
Dennis

Offline staehpj1

Northern Tier Route Length - Days Wise
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2008, 08:38:08 am »
A comment on days off...
We found it preferable to take a short day once in a while rather than full days off unless the full day off was required for some activity we wanted to do.  For example we took a day off to go whitewater rafting.  The short days may be 30 miles and stop to swim, read, or generally loaf around all afternoon.  You do need to allow some extra time either way though.

Another thing to consider is that towns and other places to stop are limited.  On the TA there were times when you had no choice but to take a short day unless you wanted to do a ridiculously long one.  I assume that will also often be the case on the NT as well.