Touring - Route from Jacksonville Florida to Maine?

Hey all, this is my very first post. I am probably very inexperienced when it comes to actual bike touring. Last summer my friend and I covered the entire beach from Jacksonville, to Miami. We had no prolems at all and did the entire thing in 7days and taking one day almost completely off. But the problem is that we use beach cruisers as we are simply always on the beach because of where we live. So we dont think that beach cruisers would be a bright idea for htis long of a trip. So we need advice on what sort of bike we need being a moub=ntain bike or some sort of hybrid, and where is the best places to get them. But we are both trying to carefully plan a trip from north Florida to southern Maine. We plan to bike there and simply fly back. The MAIN thing we need though of course is a route. We got by by using the beach 90 percent of the time to Miami. But i think going that far of a distance there are so many breakers on the beach we would lose so much time. So anyone know where i can find an easy to follow direct route and how long it would take. We are both very athletic and figure we can cover about 60-70 miles a day, of course we are going to continue training. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

adventurecycling.org has a route.
If you're buying bikes, get a real touring bike like the trek 520 or Surly LHT. Make your life much better.
60-70 seems reasonable, but I'd do some test rides.
I'd put a buffer in as well. Sh*t happens on a long tour and you want rest days.

thanks for the reply. I definately agree on the test rides. I called my local bike store and said they rent out their Treks for 35 dollars a day and every five days u get 2 free so thats 175 a week I believe, not too bad. And if i decide I like the bike, if i buy it within a month I get all that money put towards the purchase of that bicycle. So i think I have the bike covered. What i am worried about is something busting and so I definately need to get an adequate edication on how bikes work and how i can fix it if it does. Now aobut this adventure cycling site you posted, where exactly does it give a route, i see very vague descriptions but maybe I'm looking in the wrong links. Thank you!!

>>about this Adventure Cycling site...>>

Here's a link to the Atlantic Coast route info. It runs from Maine to Florida.

http://adventurecycling.org/routes/atlanticcoast.cfm

You hae to buy the maps to get full routing.
They're well worth it as they're like mini travel guides too.

Hey thank you. I'll have look into purvchasing that map package. Another question thought, Is a gps absolutely necessary. I'm sure people go without them. But being rather inexperienced it might be a good idea to have them. Anybody suggest a mid price range product, i heard garmins are among the best, any particular model? Thanks!

Most bike shops and community colleges offer simple bicycle maintenance classes. They will show you how to fix a flat, do a pre-ride check, and so on.

From the context of your message, it reads as if you are a relatively new rider. You might want to try some shorter rides to get the hang of touring. A little more experience will help you work out the "bugs" of touring. Adventure cycling has tours where an experienced rider leads a self supported tour. It might be a good idea to try to hook up with a group.

Florida to Maine has to be at least 1500 miles. Including some rest days and you will average 50 miles a day at best. That implies 30 days. Plus you need to get the bikes back to Florida. Let's estimate 35 days ... 5 weeks ... $925 just for the rental. What happens if the bike is damaged?

Three good "cheap" (this is a relative term, less than $900) touring bikes are
(1) Bianchi Volpe
(2) Fuji Touring
(3) Jamis Aurora
All are pretty good at regular club rides and such. The Trek 520 has a strong following but is quite a bit more expensive. After reading another post on the Touring thread, I noticed that last year's Cannondales (T800 and such) are on sale. If you decide to really tinker with bikes you can find a good used steel bike from the 90s to build up into a tourer. You can probably save some bucks that way; but don't screw up. ;)

A lot of areas have strong cycling groups. Around here--Washington DC--you can check out BikeWashington.org. There is an associated YAHOO group. If you want to plan your trip through the area, I suggest that you post something on those pages.

Good luck!