How Far in a Month

[bikeguy54]

I will likely have to break my Trans Am ride into three segments. Wondering how far I can get in a month going West to East from Astoria. Is that time enough to make it over the Rockies into Colorado.

Thanks in advance.

Mike

[John Nelson]

I'm assuming that you plan to take three months (90 days) for the total ride. Let's assume that you take 3 days off each month, riding a total of 81 days. The route from Astoria to Yorktown is officially 4262 miles, but it'll be a bit longer for any given rider with detours and side trips. So let's call it 4500 miles. 4500 miles in 81 days of riding is about 56 miles a day. That's very doable. Although your mileage can vary a bit depending on the hilliness of the terrain, let's ignore that because it's not that significant. So in your first month, you will ride 1500 miles, or 1420 miles of the official route. Leaving from Astoria, that gets you somewhere in the middle of Yellowstone National Park.

So no, you won't get across the Rockies in a month if you break the route up into equal thirds.

To get "over the Rockies" you need to get in about 2000 miles from Astoria. Suppose you shoot for Pueblo, a large enough town to stop and get transportation out. Pueblo is 2065.5 miles from Astoria. To do that in 30 days would require 69 miles a day, riding every day (plus perhaps 5-10% more for side trips and detours). That's still doable if you keep your load reasonable and start out in good shape. If you take a day off here or there (especially in Yellowstone), you'll need to average a bit more on your riding days.

Note that if you have three one-month segments to do this trip, you don't really need to get "over the Rockies" in the first month. You could just get through Yellowstone and Grand Teton and arrange transportation home from Jackson WY. That's what I'd suggest. But perhaps your second month will need to be in some month with weather not suitable for crossing the Rockies???

P.S. I'm confused by your words "over the Rockies into Colorado". Once you get "into Colorado", most of the Rockies are still in front of you.

[staehpj1]

What John said pretty much agrees with our TA experience.

We were in Yellowstone in a month and finished the TA in 73 days.

[litespeed]

I do my touring in one-month legs, flying home for a week or two to take care of things then returning to my stored bicycle (I fly free). I have crossed the country a number of times in both directions. Two legs were always more than enough to cross the country. I usually had about 5 days to kill before flying to and from home here in Florida. I admit that I pound out more daily miles than most touring cyclists. Pueblo CO or even Wichita KS would do for a halfway point for you. You might pick an interesting, scenic place like Estes Park in case you arrive early and have a few days to kill. There is a shuttle service to Denver International.

However, you stand a good chance of having to face nasty SE headwinds in Colorado and Kansas.

[Westinghouse]

In my experience, two weeks from SE coastal FL to New Orleans and one month from SE coastal FL to El Paso

[sackcycle]

I'm driving out of  Colorado tonight and headed for Missoula,Mt. to start my NT. I crashed and burned out last year and did not finish the NT. No time table, will stop at ACA. If I can be in Great Lakes in a month I'll be happy.

[litespeed]

In my experience, two weeks from SE coastal FL to New Orleans and one month from SE coastal FL to El Paso

As a matter of fact, I once gave myself a month to get to El Paso from my home near St. Pete FL but got hit near Slidell LA and had to abort the trip. I was 9 days out.

[Westinghouse]

I read about your getting hit. Was it 190 where you got hit? That Tammany Trace is a very excellent ride indeed, but when it lets you out onto 190 east of Baton Rouge, very excellent can change to a very rude awakening, especially with the white flight from BR at closing time.  Every redneck with a bad attitude, a noisy muffler, and a driving problem converges on the roadways going back to the hinterlands, and watch out.

[litespeed]

190 (where I got hit) across Louisiana is no place for a bicycle. It is one state where I now use the ACA maps and/or stick to back roads. I have thought that US90 where it parallels Interstate 10 might not be a bad road but coming from the east would still mean getting past Baton Rouge or New Orleans. My last couple of times through I have swung north through Bogalusa - a truly depressing town.

[Westinghouse]

90 into New Orleans and west on the sine wave river road can get you to roads south to the gulf along the redneck riviera and over to Beaumont. From there you can get 90 west, or go south to High Island and swing around to Galveston and go NW to get 90 west of Houston. It works. To get arounf the hill country tou can keep west out of Galveston which will dip you SW a ways, and then go NW to intersect 90 again west of hill country and east of Del Rio. I think ACA has a pretty good route mapped. It's not the only way but it might just be the best way.