Southern Tier onto Route 66

[runner_runnered]

A friend and I are cycling from San Diego to New York starting in early March.

We are cycling along the southern tier to begin with, however we want to head north as soon as possible. Looking at the corridor map, it seems that we could cycle to El Paso, and then eiter head directly north to Albuquerque/Santa Fe, and then head east through Oklahoma before joining route 50. Alternatively, it looks like we could reach El Paso, and then cycle north-easterly up to Lubbock, before then cycling north and joing route 66.

Has anybody done either of these routes, and which one do you think would be best?

Also, I realise that we can buy the ACA maps upto El Paso, and that we could buy maps for a lot of the later journey, but are there any maps available for making the connection, or do we need to just use ordinary road maps for this part?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Graeme

[runner_runnered]

one more question; i've been reviewing the map just now, and would cycling from San Diego to Phoenix, and then north onto Route 66 be a viable option? Would this avoid the mountains as best as possible?

thanks

[ericfoltz]

I just did pretty much the route you are describing as far as Dodge City.

Journal with map at: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/5841

I went ST to Globe then north to Holbrook to catch Rte 66. Rte 66 to Santa Fe then caught the Santa Fe Trail to Dodge City.

I don't recommend the way I did it because you have to cross the Salt River Canyon. You can head north out of Phoenix but you can't ride the interstate so you will have to go through Sedona and then climb out Oak Creek Canyon (tough) to get to Flagstaff.

If I were to do it again, I would either take the ST to Blythe then follow the Colorado River north to Kingman then jump on I-40 to Flagstaff or I would take ST all the way to I-25 in New Mexico then head north.

I would prefer the first option mainly because I really enjoyed the section of Rte 66 from Gallup to Albequerque. I also really liked the Santa Fe Trail.

The route from Gallup to Dodge City was better than anything I've seen on the ST.

[aggie]

There are a number of ways you could connect to route 66 from the Southern Tier route (ST).  Perhaps the simplest is to take the the ST until you meet the Grand Canyon Connector (GCC) route in Wickenburg, AZ.  You then take this route (GCC) north to Ash Fork, AZ where you can connect to route 66.  Some of route 66 is part of Interstate 40 so you will need some good local maps if you want to avoid traveling on the interstate as much as possible.  You are permitted to ride on nearly all this interstate in AZ and NM.  These two web sites should be helpful for planning your ride through AZ and NM:  http://www.azbikeped.org/images/Map2009_v12%20_0409_side1.pdf  and  http://nmshtd.state.nm.us/main.asp?secid=15679

You will have some climbing.  Generally the interstate has more gentle grades than other roads.  To avoid as much climbing as possible you will need to take a more southerly route than the ST.  You could continue on Interstate 8 until it meets up with Interstate 10.  Then follow Interstate 10 into El Paso.  I've driven those interstates but haven't ridden that route so I can't speak to the conditions you would find or what alternative routes to use to avoid the metropolitan areas.