A Cross-Country Adventure

[redrhodie]

I'm sorry, I think I was the one who misunderstood your timeline. I thought you were leaving between Aug and Oct, not that that was your plan for completing the trip. My bad.

[KnottedYet]

How do you post pictures? My dog weighs less than 50#. My gear weighs less than 40# with trailer. My own bike weighs less than 15# (WITHOUT ME ON IT LOL).
I could show you all the set-up, but I am techinologically challenged.

I'm computer illiterate, but here's how I post pictures:

*when I get to where I want a pic in my message I click the little square "picture" of mountains and sun up in the toolbar above my message

*a little fill-in-the-blank box comes up, and I paste in the Photobucket URL of the pic I want

*my message now has the URL with appropriate HTML tagging so that the picture will appear rather than a clickable link

There are probably better ways to do this, but this is the only way I know.

[Flybye]

NOT late in the season!!!!! REALLY!!! Late JULY, August, September and October will be damp, maybe cold, but not snowy. Let that part go, someone misspoke and people are repeating it.

Hello there!
I live in Idaho and I just wanted to chime in - It really is technically late in the season for the northern states. We have lots of mountains and are typically colder than other US states.

In Idaho just know that you can get snow in July. Honestly, esp in higher elevations. It truly has snowed on tenters on the 4th of July. Not at all typical, but it has happened twice in my lifetime.

Not that a little snow would kill you, just be prepared IN CASE! We take coats with us when we camp in the hot summer.

Right now (8:15 am) in Cour de Alene, is it 46 degrees - which is perfect riding weather, here in southeastern Idaho, it is only 33 degrees and windy - cold and not great riding weather.

I can think of more Halloweens that we trick or treated in the snow than not, of course, that is late October.

I am not trying to put a damper on your plans, I just want to give you information because information is power. Weather around here is not predictable. Saturday, Pocatello, and Idaho Falls (southeastern Idaho) each received 2 inches of snow. It didn't stick for long, but it was cold. We were in Sun Valley, which is central Idaho, and they received snow there, too. Just be prepared. It is likely that you will see snow. Will you live through it? Yes! Will you have a great adventure? Yes!

Congratulations on your decision to do this adventure. If I didn't have other obligations (kids) (husbands) (college) I would consider it, too.

Infamous last words, I have never been on a bike ride I that I regretted! Even the ones that started out bad or had their mishaps were worth it in the end. Can you tell I haven't wrecked yet

[onimity]

Wow, that sounds like a great adventure and a great reward!

I'm wondering, though, about the weight? I am planning a 5 week ride and am amazed at all of the things that are necessary to bring to be reasonably safe. I am wondering how you are going to keep it all under 40 lbs minus dog...especially when you not only have to carry all of your gear yourself but also food & water for your dog? Granted, I am planning on camping most of the way on my trip & won't have regular access to bike shops, don't know if that is your plan...

I just ask because I am trying to get my gear down to < 50lbs, trailer included and that means going ultralight & very minimal. If your trailer weighs, say, 13lbs, that means that all of your gear weighs 27 lbs.

The daily water requirements for you and your dog on a normal day amount to ~8 lbs. And that doesn't account for the exercise...

Also, what kind of bike are you taking? 15lbs seems very light for that kind of load...is it capable of handling that? Not to be a buzzkill, but you might want to make sure the logistics are really practical before you get too excited/sure that taking your dog is a good idea without someone to carry a good portion of your gear. I would hate to see you and your dog get into danger on such a cool trip.

Regarding weather, keep in mind that you'll get much lower temps at high altitudes, I've had miserably cold camping experiences in August in both Colorado and Wyoming, so you'll want to make sure that you have good cold-weather gear for crossing mountains, even if it is only just-in-case. We're a lot further south and still can get snow in any of those months at altitude...

I'd love to ride part way with you but don't live near your route. Have fun planning!

Anne

[DeniseGoldberg]

There are no women that have done this route. Zero, zilch, zip. Too bad.

Edie Harbaugh did a large chunk of the Northern Tier this year. She did a variation though, and cut down to Washington DC as opposed to following the northern route all of the way across the country. Her journal is at Never a Bad Day to Ride: Washington State to Washington, DC if you are interested.

There are many women who are touring solo and self-supported. As a previous poster mentioned, I'd encourage you to check some of the journals on crazyguyonabike. There are other women there who have posted Northern Tier journals too.

What bike are you planning on riding? I'm a bit concerned by your post saying that your bike weighs 15 pounds. That sounds like a super-light road bike, not something that I'd recommend for loaded touring. (But hopefully I just mis-read that post...)

--- Denise