pacific coast western express, trans am loop

[dicanip03]

Hi all. I'm intending to fly from Australia to Sanfancisco and do the  Western Express and Trans am  to Eugne and Pacific Coast back to Sanfracisco. Has anyone done this? How long did it take? Which would be the way to do first?Inland or up the coast? I have the choice of either a touring MTB and a 700c Trek 520 and am undecided which bike to take. They both have about the same carring campacity, but the mtb has lower gearing.
Any thoughts apreciated.
Thanks. Phil

[staehpj1]

Inland first probably makes the most sense due to the prevailing winds on the coast.

What time of year are you going?  The the passes (snow), coast (rain, slides), and the WE (heat) can all be sensitive to time of year issues.  You probably won't hit them all at optimum times and time will probably necessarily be a compromise.

Edit: Forgot to say that the time it is very dependent on your preferred pace, but I would probably expect to take 70-75 days.  Still 50-90 days would be in what is considered the "normal" range.  I am basing this on my experience with a small portion of the coast and all of the TA (never been on the WE), so take it for what it is worth.

This message was edited by staehpj1 on 8-12-08 @ 4:18 AM