Bentley6

A year from this coming Labor day weekend I'll depart on a touring loop from West Central Illinois thru Northern Missouri, Southern Nebraska and then to Denver. I'll then head south to Canon City Colorado and pick up the Trans Am at Pueblo and head back thru Kansas, then shoot across and connect up with the Katy Trail and on home to Winchester Illinois, roughly about 2000 miles. This is kind of late to be starting a trip I think but it's the only time I can get off from my work to do it.

Can any one give me any late season touring advice that might be of benefit? I originally was going to start the route the other direction but someone advised me to start in the north and then go south to take advantage of possibly warmer temps. That's what I've decided to do. I plan on camping mostly in parks and camp grounds or at church grounds. I know I'll need a warm sleeping bag since it's already starting to dip down in the 50's here were I live....53 degrees this morning. I've only got about a month to do the trip so will have to average about 70-75 miles a day.

Thanks for any advice that anyone can provide.

Mark

Machka 

Check the weather stats. You can find these online ... these days all this infomation is at your fingertips. You can find the average highs, lows, and precipitations based on the last 100 years or so. You can also find seasonal predictions for the upcoming 3 months or so. It'll give you an idea of what to expect in the different areas you're travelling at the time you're travelling in them

Bentley6

I've bookmarked certain cities on the weather channel that I'll be close to or passing thru along the way and I'll start checking their morning temps / averages / highs and lows for the days I'll be riding. I did this last year too so I'll have a couple years worth of information to evaulate. I may go into more detail this year and watch to see how much rain passes thru those cities (Lincoln NE, Colorado Springs, Ottawa, KS). Thanks Machka.

Machka 

I'm talking about things like this:
https://www.weather.com/weather/wxcli...nav_undeclared

Or this:
https://countrystudies.us/united-stat...ka/lincoln.htm which you can find here:
https://countrystudies.us/united-states/weather/

There are a lot of different ones like those.

Bentley6

Thanks Machka, I'll certainly study those. Hope you're feeling better. I had read where you were in the hospital earlier. I hope you're recovering nicely and will soon be back to cycling.

gregw

I think the mountain section could be a problem, at the higher altitudes you could get snowed in. The biggest problem I can see is your schedule and bad weather days. Cold rain can shut you down or at least make you miserable. Snow will stop you and mess up your schedule. If you traveled south from Denver but just in the foothills, then cold rain would be the only problem.

Bentley6

I should only be in the foot hills. I'll be staying with relatives or friends once I hit Denver (Littleton). So my actual camping locations in Colorado should only be in the eastern part and around Pueblo before I head back east. I've started purchasing riding attire for cooler temps but don't want to haul too much or things not needed. I might forward some warmer stuff to relatives in Denver and just see if they might be needed or not.

gregw

Gotcha, when I read Canon City, I was thinking farther up into the mountains. Cold rain should be your hardest obstacle to keeping that schedule. My first suggestion is either shortening the route or lengthening the schedule so that you can sit-out cold rain days. But if that's not in the cards then rain gear will need to be right.

Riding in cold rain is tricky, it's all about body heat management. I find a long sleeve polypropylene base layer under a rain jacket (one with pit or other vents) works for my upper body and I use poly leg warmers that overlap gortex socks for the lower. I just sweat-out rain pants, but you need to try that one out for yourself. Next have dry base layers ready to swap-out during the day. Finally adjust your pace to stay warm, but not sweat too much, for me this means slowing down and a longer day.

Bekologist

be prepared to weather in during a snowstorm or and rent a hotel room or hole up inside for a few days if it turns truly foul out there.

think: frozen water bottles in morning, numb toes and fingers.

bring extra hat, total dry change of clothes for camp site, liner gloves for camp chores. pack puffy down jacket and booties for camp.

ride with more high viz than usual.

you'll do fine, people have ridden across siberia in winter and the iditabike riders prove lightweight camp touring can be done in extreme environments.

you're condition is dependent on how prepared you are for the conditions.

Bentley6

There's no way I can lengthen the trip due to my work schedule. I've got some rain gear but I think I may have to purchase more because the Frogg Toggs I have don't breath very well. They are good at keeping water out but also sweat in. I'm used to riding in the rain in Illinois but we are at a much lower altitude here as well. So all this will be new to me since it's my first extended tour. I've did a mini-tour before but never outside of our state.

Foodwise I hope for a good warm breakfast in the morning and a couple decent meals mid day and then a medium sized one in the evening. Hopefully I can set up camp around 4-5 o'clock each day and get some good rest since I'll have to maintain about 75 miles a day to stay on schedule. I'm allowing for around 5-6 rest days at this point. That may change.

Is it likely that I will run into people on the Trans Am that late in the year? It would be nice to ride with someone going east thru Kansas but I figured that most people would be either closer to the east or west coasts by that time.

Bentley6

I'm prepared for this. I work for a heavy highway construction company and high vizability is of the utmost importance to us. One thing that I have to deal with here in Illinois during that time of year are grain trucks during harvest. I can ride my little 27 mph scooter to work (16 miles one way) and have no problem with traffice waiting on me but if I'm on my bike, then they seem to get a thrill running me off the road or seeing how close they can crowd me. I figure that Nebraska and Kansas will have the same type of situation.

gregw

Actually, Frogg Toggs are not bad, better than gortex. Again, it's managing your pace to manage your body heat,and how much you sweat. Since your going next year, you can practice and test-out different things this winter. I think you should try out your FT's before buying anything new.

Bentley6

I have wore them before while biking and the only draw back is breathability. But I've never used any thing but them so I don't have any thing to compare them to. They are light weight and probably will go on the trip since I'm on a pretty tight budget as well.

NoReg

Weather stats are OK, but the last few years have been way off the averages, not suprisingly. So you just have to wait till the time comes and make your decision then. I did a trip in late september through an area where we would expect cool 60+ degree temps, and the temps were 35C which is just boiling mid summer weather here, high for that actually.

To continue the Mr Obvious comments... The more out at the margin your trip is going to be, the more sense it makes to consider shorter routes so you can take advantage of short windows in the weather.

dereksticks

I figure that Nebraska and Kansas will have the same type of situation.

I rode across Nebraska last Labor Day weekend and I took Hwy 6 and 34 across. I did go around Lincoln .The drivers were very cool. The road had nice wide shoulders except through Hastings and McCook. You won't be in those towns for very long. I camped at the fair grounds in Hastings for $4. Cambridge was free as was the park in Benkleman. All had electric and Hastings and Cambridge had showers. Oh and the weather was great. A little cool at night but not one drop of rain.

Bentley6

I actually will be taking 34 west across Nebraska but I'm not going all the way to Lincoln. I have relatives that live in Columbus and the furthest north I'll go is possibly Crete close to Route 6. They might come and visit me there. But to shorten the route a little I might run across route 136 and meet up with 34/6 at Edison. Figured I can save a day or two that way and if the relatives want to see me they can drive to around Beatrice area easier than I can ride up to Crete. But this is all up in the air as of yet.

cyccommute 

I can only speak for the Colorado portion. September is a relatively mild month weather-wise along the Front Range. This year has been kind of abnormal, however. It's been colder than usual all summer long. But, as a rule, thunderstorm activity is lower in September and we don't really get early snow or bad storms in September. There have been exceptions, however.

Even mountain travel isn't too risky in September. It'll be cold in the mornings but I really doubt that it'll be too uncomfortable.

From Colorado Springs to Pueblo and further east, expect temps to be 10 to 15 F higher than Denver's.

For routing, I'd suggest going a little off the TransAm from Pueblo east. Follow US50 through southern Colorado from Pueblo to La Junta. From La Junta follow the Santa Fe Trail to Arrow Rock in Missouri where you can pick up the Katy near Boonville. This route is much more interesting than riding through Eads and Sheridan Lake (both just wide spots on an endlessly flat road).

Make sure you stop and visit Bent's Fort outside of La Junta.

Pick up The Santa Fe Trail by Bicycle by Elaine Pinkerton for details and information on the history. A very good guide.

Edit: Another interesting book to read is Francis Parkman's "Down the Oregon Trail". His route, in about 1840, was about what yours will be. His descriptions of the Plains are quite interesting and vivid. Worth looking at.

Bentley6

Great! I've been working on about 4 different route plans and this gives me a 5th, the Sante Fe Trail. I'll look at it closely. Thanks for some great advice.

cyccommute 

Additional advice: Don't drink tap water east of Pueblo. It's pretty horrid stuff all the way to the Kansas line...and maybe beyond.

And if you need any advice on the Colorado parts of your route, just holler

Bentley6

Actually I do. I need a decent route from Joes CO. over to Littleton. I'd like to be able to do it all in one day but I think it's close to 140 miles. I don't have a problem with that but would like to have a option if it takes two days. Are you familiar with a route that runs along the southeast side of Denver to Littleton?

Machka 

I'm out of the hospital now (was in for 2 weeks with DVT) and am slowly building up my strength again. The Warfarin I'm on to keep me from developing more blood clots just takes it right out of me ... I'm managing walks now and may get back on the bicycle again soon. But I'm sleeping a lot too, in order to recover from any sort of effort.