Route planning - Rejuvenation? Or Last Hurrah? - CycleBlaze

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.

Longer climbs out west, harder climbs in the east. I’m hoping to skirt the worst of the latter.
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Keith A. SpanglerLooks amazing! Wish you safe and fun travels!
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2 years ago
Keith AdamsTo Keith A. SpanglerThanks! We'll see how it works out, soon enough.
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2 years ago

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.

Although I didn't deliberately set out to do so, I'll be more-or-less following the line that marks the limit of Pleistocene glaciation for several hundred miles.
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George HallThis got my attention! Are you a fellow geologist?
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2 years ago
Keith AdamsTo George HallAcademically yes but never in practice. After grad school I got a job that led me into the IT field, which was where I spent the next 34 years.
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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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Rachel and Patrick HugensHi Keith,
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
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1 year ago
Keith AdamsTo Rachel and Patrick HugensHi-

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.
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1 year ago
Keith AdamsTo Rachel and Patrick HugensHi again-

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.
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1 year ago
Keith AdamsTo Keith Adams"... nowhere near as much ability to revise the routing it selects."

That would be in comparison to what can be accomplished with a real computer that has a keyboard and, more importantly, a mouse attached.
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1 year ago
Linda SearsKeith - you are coming frustratingly close to Cincinnati. Are you considering a stop here? Or should we meet you in KY? Since you are going through Columbia, MO, are you planning a stop with the Huffman's? I'm sure they would be delighted if you did and they are very interesting folks to get to know better. I can give you contact information if you need it. Linda
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1 year ago
Keith AdamsTo Linda SearsHi-

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...
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1 year ago