February 14, 2025
What?
This journal is about the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier tour in the Spring of 2025. I’m writing this mostly for family and friends who might want to follow my ride, but also for others who might want to do a similar thing and learn from what I did.
The riding starts Sunday February 16 in St Augustine, FL and ends in San Diego, CA on April 14. In between there are 52 days of riding and 6 rest days. The total distance is 3130.9 miles with 92,567 feet of elevation gain. That comes out to an average of 30 feet per mile. A typical road ride where I, near Baltimore MD, live has about 70 feet per mile of elevation gain. There will be 9 riders and 3 leaders. (There are 2 leaders at a time: one is going until Austin and the other the rest of the way). I do not know any of the other riders. The tour is van supported, meaning a van carries our gear, and I will just ride my bike. We will mostly camp each night. Cooking responsibilities are shared.
Adventure Cycling is a nonprofit that started in the 1970s as Bikecentennial. They create route maps for things like cross country rides and organize tours like this one. In general they promote cycle touring. I have been a member, but probably not continuously, since I started serious bike riding in the late 1980s.
This is a map of the route.
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
The table below is the itinerary. It shows the ending city for the day, the length of the route for the day in miles, and the elevation gate in feet. Days in bold are rest days.
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 5 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 1 |