raphlenain

Hello everybody,

I am new on the forum, so I'll just present my self really quickly : my name is Raph, I'm French and American, currently studying math in the UK, and I'm more of a road biker, even if I almost switched to fixie/singlespeed at some point.

So here's why I am posting : a few friends and I wanted to cross America cycling, however we only have about 30 days, and considering we're not trained athletes, I doubt that would be possible (that'd be ~110 miles a day, wouldn't it?).
So my questions are :

If we are young people (18-19-20) so kind of athletic but not especially trained for long distances or just cycling in general what kind of distance can we be looking at a day? And therefore for 30 days what distance could we achieve? Bear in mind that we are going to start training now till the summer, so about 5 months of training.

Following that, are there any cool trails around America that would go on that distance? We were thinking to start from California, but we could also do the east coast. I don't think we'd want to stay in the center though. And then maybe loop around back to where we started, or maybe just stop halfway through America, I don't really know. We saw the western express that could be cool : ~1600 miles, that seems doable doesn't it?

How many people would you suggest a group for such a distance should be? I feel like if there's just two of us we'll get on each other's nerves, or it might just get awkward, however if there's too many of us, then we'll fight a lot and like everybody obviously won't be as athletic.

Alright thanks everybody for reading, and if you have any answer to any of these questions, thanks for your answer, really appreciate

Later skaters

mkadam68

These guys do it in 24-25 days or thereabouts. And they have oodles of experience.

These guys have extensive & very detailed maps.

But, if you've never done any long rides, I wouldn't recommend it. For newer riders, with an experienced tour group, it's generally recommended 50-60 miles a day, for about 45-60 days to cross. You need experience (or to be with experienced riders) to know how to handle different situations, so there's that.

MegaTom

With a definite time limit and little experience, I'd do something like the C&O Towpath and GAP between Washington, DC and Pittsburgh, PA. It's about 240 miles each way and I'd bet you guys could easily do an out & back trip well within your 30 days. I went one-way for my first touring/bicycle camping trip last year and I plan to repeat this spring, this time both ways, with my 13 y/o son.

https://www.nps.gov/choh/index.htm
https://bikewashington.org/canal/
https://www.atatrail.org
https://bikewashington.org/trails/gap/

StanSeven

You might have time to train and build up for 100 miles a day. Five months is a long time and you and your friends are young.

But you also need to go longer some days (maybe 130) to make up for bad weather, mechanical issues and mountains.

While you physically might be able to train and accomplish a trip like that, it won't be fun and you might end up with chronic fatigue. Better to set your sights on something less ambitious.

valygrl

Check out the Touring forum. https://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php/47-Touring

Riding across the country self-supported in 30 days is VERY ambitious. You won't have time to do anything but ride your bikes, and you'll be too tired to do much anyway. I would pick a shorter route and give yourself more time to have fun.

I'd recommend the Pacific Coast route (Canada to Mexico)- www.adventurecycling.org has maps, or you can buy the book "Bicycling the Pacific Coast" by Kirkendall & Spring - or you can just keep the ocean on your right. Start in the north and go south to take advantage of prevailing winds. There are tons of hiker/biker camp sites (cheap camping), great scenery, some hills but not too much. You can probably get the whole coast done in 30 days but if you run out of time you can catch a bus, train or hitch-hike. Fly in to Seattle (or connect to Bellingham) and fly out of San Diego or LA. Southwest Airlines has reasonable fees for transporting the bikes, and has a lot of flights between western cities, so if you have to fly out of the same place you fly in to back to Europe, this could help. Alaska and Frontier are also good, United/United Express & Delta are expensive.

Western Express is really really empty in Nevada. I've not ridden it, but I have driven it and would say it's probably not your best choice for first time tourers. Lots of stretches of 80 miles with no services (water, food) and not much traffic to give you a ride if you get into trouble.

Another great thing to do, especially if you are here mid-summer, would be the Great Parks routes (also adventure cycling). Lots of mountains, and a bit more variety than the coast.

Can't tell if you are from here or from France.... in case you are not from the US, notice that the US is very big in the north-south direction, and the time of year you are traveling makes a big difference about where you will find the best weather. If you're here in summer, you don't want to ride in Arizona and New Mexico, it's too hot, but Wyoming and Montana and Colorado are great. And of course, the opposite if it's closer to winter.

Most tourists who are carrying their own gear and camping average 60-65 miles/day. If you are traveling really light and staying in motels, your distance can go up, maybe up as far as 75-85/day, but you get caught up in logistics of finding a hotel, so you may have to have shorter days to make the hotels work, and of course, its more expensive. If you are counting on high mileage, even one missed day (sickness, meet the boy/girl of your dreams, waiting out bad weather, etc) can be a disaster for your schedule, so try to build in a little slack time.

prathmann

I agree with valygrl that the Pacific Coast route would be far preferable to coast-coast if you have the 30 day time constraint and are riding unsupported. The direct coast-coast routes have some very long stretches that are remote with few services, and not very interesting scenery. OTOH, the coast route is popular with cycle tourists so there are plenty of lodging and food options, there's a variety of ocean plus mountain scenery almost the whole way, and you're likely to encounter quite a number of other cycling groups and individuals that can also make the trip more interesting. As mentioned, definitely go north to south. The winds can be terrible if you try going north and you also get much better views of the coast when heading south.

njkayaker

Valygrl has a lot of good advice.

Many, many things have to go right to be able to cross the country in 30 days (and you might not have 30 to devote just to riding). And the focus of such a trip will be almost 100% on riding. Given your lack of experience, you are already behind.

A less ambitious trip will allow time to deal with problems you might encounter as well as allowing changes of plans to take advantage of opportunities you might run across.

Looigi

You're the math major and you're asking us?

I suggest 100km/day avg as being more reasonable, with rest days every 3-5 days. You're going to be riding on roads. Plan a trip through interesting spots rather than just attempting to go cross-country. North or south through the Rockies, Sierra Nevada, or along the West Coast would be good.

raphlenain

Alright, so I'm going to try to get a little summary from what you guys are saying :

First off crossing from west to east in a month is 100% no.

Now the Western Express would be too hot wouldn't it? Yeah I guess the west coast would be safer and nicer too. I'm thinking like flying in to Seattle and flying out of Los Angeles, which if we follow the coast is about 1400 miles. And yeah we're definitely looking to meet people so the west coast looks like a good idea.
Now yeah I'm American, so I kind of know America, like I've been there a lot, but I've never lived there.

Also overall, people seemed to be advising ~60 miles a day, which would work with the 1400 miles, and we could then probably have some days off or like stay in SF a few days or whatever.

Anyway thanks for everything everybody Big help !
Also I was wondering, what would you advise we do for bikes? Because some of us already have road bikes, so then we could just add something to add bags, but then one of my friends doesn't have a bike, should he buy it in America ?
Or then we could just rent bikes ?

Thanks guys !

woodcraft

If you want to cover the maximum ground, a small group i.e. 2 is best.

W/ decent training miles beforehand, and moderate to light loads, starting days at 60 miles, and ramping up to 100- especially in less interesting terrain- with occasional rest days.

OTOH, you can miss some great experiences while keeping to a schedule and a route.

raphlenain

Yeah that's why I was thinking we're gonna go with 3 people and then like just get a start point, an end point and then like maybe at the beginning of the day set where we want to sleep and stuff

RollCNY

As everyone has put in plugs for the West Coast, keep in mind that the US also has an East Coast, which includes things like the Delaware Water Gap, Skyline Drive, and the Great Smokey Mountains.

RPK79

Forget the coasts. Everyone knows the best rides take place near corn fields. It's a proven fact.

StanSeven

The problem with corn fields is you don't know when you are lost.

For variety there's a ride in Maryland we call the succotash - it's a mix of corn and bean fields

njkayaker

Bike rentals are (at the low side) around $100 per week (about $430 for 30 days) and you'd have to figure out a way of getting it back to the starting point. I suppose you could pay a shop $75 (or so) to ship it back to the place you got it from.

Typically, what bikes are available for renting are recreational/hybrids, road bikes (without racks), and mountain bikes. Keep in mind that you might be able to rent bikes but not the other stuff (like racks). Though, if the bikes can take a rack, you could just buy a rack to put on it.

Keep in mind, too, that renting may or may not be practical (you won't be able to rent decent bikes in every city). San Diego is OK (based on experience). Seattle might be OK.

The west-coast trip might be popular enough that there could be a small chance that there is some renting arrangements related to it.

Buying a bike in the US might make sense but you'd have to figure-out what to do with it at the end of the trip. Plus, unless you could figure out what and where to buy before the trip, you'd have to plan some extra time to go shopping.

You should look to see what the airlines would charge to bring a bike.

donrhummy

There's two things you need to worry about:

1. Fit/comfort on the bike
2. Fitness

The first one is very important when biking long distances. You need to get a professional bike fit and you'll need to work on your core, flexibility and get really comfortable shorts, shoes, socks and some chamois "butter" (DZ Nuts is good, Bag Balm and there's others). This is actually more important than fitness. If you get a sore back, saddle sores or Shermer's neck after 5-10 days, your ride is finished no matter how good your fitness is.

bikerjp

There's an easy rule. If the corn is on the left then you are lost. However, if the corn is on the right you are lost.

Be safe, if you see corn on the horizon turn around.

Machka 

Not necessarily ...

https://www.pactour.com/northern.html
https://www.pactour.com/southern.html

Long Tom

Do the West Coast! Start in SoCal in the spring and end in the PNW in the glorious fall that we have up here!

You should try to be in the Eugene area the 2nd weekend of July. Not kidding here. Details upon request.

raphlenain

Well my friends and I were thinking of the month of August to be honest, but yeah we actually might do the east coast also, I think it could be pretty nice. The only thing is that I think one of us really wanted to go through cali, so we'll see

f4rrest

East coast in August could be pretty humid and miserable.

njkayaker

Useless.

The OP was talking about doing it self-supported in 5 months and has no experience. One person in his group doesn't even have a bike.

Why, exactly, do you think mentioning an expensive supported tour for high-mileage/experienced cyclists is relevant or helpful?

It doesn't seem you read or understood the thread.