Route planning
A rough outline of where my wanderings may take me
ANYONE EVEN VAGUELY AWARE of the topography of the U.S. will know that there are big mountains out west. The better-informed will also know that the grades in the east tend to be much sharper so, although they aren’t generally as lengthy, they’re the more challenging. I've selected a route that I hope will avoid the nastiest of them.
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To that end, as well as for various other reasons, I'm planning to use a combination of segments of various Adventure Cycling Association routes, the Katy Trail, and some off-network links of my own devising. I'll use segments of the TransAm, Lewis and Clark, Parks Peaks and Prairies, Great Rivers South, Underground Railroad, and Chicago to NYC, along with the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal.
This is intended as a relatively leisurely transit. A key consideration is to not plan on a lot of days of more than about 60 miles in length, with many in the 50-and-under category. Provisionally, I'm planning on six days of riding each week followed by a day off for laundry, rest, bike love, and so on. There are also two longer breaks about in the middle, where I hope to impose on relatives for a few days of high-quality R&R&R (rest and relaxation and rejuvenation).
There are a few days in my provisional itinerary that call for relatively high mileage through areas with few if any services, while gradually ascending most or all day. They have my keen interest and attention, to say the least. For those days I’ll carry extra water, a water purifier, and enough food that I hope not to get into a crisis, should it be necessary to call it quits sooner than planned.
I've discovered that, once I leave the Kansas City area, I'll be roughly following the line that marks the southern limit of Pleistocene glaciation, until I get to Pittsburgh.
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2 years ago
Between now (mid-December 2021) and departure time, I’ll be working to improve my fitness level. At the moment, I probably could not negotiate 50 miles on a flat surface on an unladen bike, I think, and certainly not day after day after day on a loaded bike.
To change that, I’m hoping to be able to ride throughout the winter, and will do so most of the time carrying a full touring load so as to a) measure myself against the objective, b) maximize training benefit from even short winter rides, c) calibrate my expectations, and d) get very familiar and comfortable with the way the bike handles and responds when loaded.
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I've only quickly scanned your journal here so this may be answered somewhere....Do you plan on staying with Warmshowers Hosts? On our Northern Tier last summer, we stayed with 53 hosts.
Rachel
2 years ago
I've got a couple WS hosts in mind, including Jeff Lee and Joy Santee, but many more nights of camping or hotels. Then again, I may make a more concerted attempt at finding WS hosts as the dates get closer.
2 years ago
I haven't detailed it in the journal, but much of my time the last few days has gone into "finalizing" the daily routes and targeting overnight accommodations, from about Missoula on eastward to home.
That was driven by the realization / discovery that although you can use the RWGPS mobile app to "plan" a route, you have nowhere near as much ability to revise the routing it selects. This would have been especially annoying when following the Katy Trail across Missouri; RWGPS seems to have a built-in bias toward selecting roads preferentially. I had to manually add control points between nearly *every* place the Katy crosses a road because the auto-selected route wanted to put me on the road (and write cues accordingly).
I cannot *imagine* how irritated I would have gotten to be told _all day long_ that I was off route, for several days in a row, because I was following the rail trail instead of hopping back and forth across it on roads. It would certainly have cast a pall over my mood- something I definitely do *not* need when trying to ride for pleasure.
2 years ago
That would be in comparison to what can be accomplished with a real computer that has a keyboard and, more importantly, a mouse attached.
2 years ago
2 years ago
Denise and Doug have already basically TOLD me they are going to come kidnap me and hold me hostage for few days in their guest room. I have agreed, willingly. So, you may see me sometime around Labor Day week...
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago