route from portland oregon to colorado springs

[squarewheel]

folks i'm new to touring.  would like to go from portland, or to colorado springs in the july-august time frame.  i notice the transamerica route goes east through idaho, then montana, then down south.

has anyone taken the more direct route through southeast oregon, nevada, utah, then colorado?  any reason this is not a listed route, aside from it being mostly desert?

[ferndinho]

Hey there -

I'm new to touring as well and also looking to go from Portland to Colorado (denver specifically).  In my route research so far I have come accross a few different routes that are more direct to CO than going north to Missoula.  Although they do go through yellowstone - but I am planning on doing this anyway to meet a friend there.  Here are a some links to this type of route...

http://bike.porkbelly.org/state_index.html
http://www.biketouringtips.com/showJournalPages.php?jid=29&username=&from=threadEntries
http://wermenh.com/biketour/idaho.html

Given these more direct routes I am still thinking about sticking to the adventure cycling maps.  I think the other info they contain would be well worth having...especially for my first tour. 

I would enjoy talking routes and more over a beer or coffe.  Let me know if your interested. 

Matt

[valygrl]

Can't really answer the "why" question, but I would recommend Lewis & Clark then detour through Bozeman to Yellowstone, get on Great Parks route from there.

The parts of NV & UT you would use for a direct route are pretty exposed (sun, wind) and lonely, with limited services.  Better to spend some extra time & miles and have the actual riding be enjoyable, than to pick a "fast" route and spend all of it under the hot sun by yourself.