Baton Rouge to Houston Input
 

Hi,
I'm planning a 4 day ride from Baton Rouge to Houston (north side to Airport). I used RideWithGPS and it gave me the following route:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19782329

Last year I rode from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, mostly on the airline highway and was really caught off guard by a 10 mile stretch where the shoulder of the road was so broken up, I blew a tire sidewall and had to walk a good bit of it.

I'm anxious to know if anyone has done this ride and if you have any recommendations on the route and what the road surface is like.

My preferred bike would be the road bike with 25mm tires (what I took from BR to NO). It's great for the long flat rides but as you imagine, not for broken or bumpy pavement.

Another option is to put larger tires on the road bike, I'm pretty sure it will take 32's, maybe larger.

Finally I have my touring bike, 26 x 2.0 tires and it can pretty much run over anything comfortably and is a great cruiser, but normally I'm 2-4 mph slower on it (which is not necessarily a bad thing, just different).

Any input on the route and conditions would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Jon

The Red Cross has a ride called the Tour de Rouge that travels from Houston to Baton Rouge. You should look at their route.
The Arc.org

I'm a roadie rather than a tourer, but I live in the area and have driven (not ridden) that route in Louisiana numerous times.

The US 190 bridge over the Mississippi is an older one with NO shoulder. I'm not sure bicycles are permitted on it, something to check on. US 190 is a four-lane highway with a divider but no median from there to the bridge over the Atchafalaya at Krotz Springs; there's a shoulder on that part in various states of repair. There is another bridge over a floodway between the two bridges, and there's no shoulder on that bridge. From Krotz Springs to west of Basile the road is four lanes and at various places either has or doesn't have a median; when it passes through towns it narrows. Usually the shoulder is in decent shape. West of Basile it turns to two lanes with a shoulder.

I see that you're planning on leaving the main road before you pass US 171. I live just south of there near Lake Charles and have ridden in that area. It's not especially scenic and there are a lot of twists and turns which can mess you up if you're not familiar with the area. I'd recommend staying on US 190 (which turns into LA 12 at Ragley). The part after you cross into Texas and turn north at Deweyville I'm not familiar with so I can't comment.

Best of luck on your trip!

Thanks, the two sections I was worried about are the ones you mentioned. I could probably get someone to follow me over the bridge in BR, but the long section over the swamp has a bridge with no shoulder as well. It looks like I could go down to Plaquemine and catch a ferry across the river, then take side roads through Grand Tete and up to the bridge at Lottie, it would probably add 10 miles, but could be fun if not eaten by alligators. Then maybe try to get an escort at Lottie to get across that bridge.